In Cologne, in future, a muezzin will be able to call out from the mosque to the surrounding area – this already exists in Germany, but this is a new type of model project. And there is criticism of that.
Anyone who thinks of Cologne inevitably thinks of the cathedral, which can be seen from afar over the Rhine. Perhaps not so much this Friday: Many might think more of the mosque in the Ehrenfeld district, where the call of a muezzin is to be heard for the first time around noon. Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker sees the permit as a sign of tolerance and freedom of religion. A contract to this effect was signed this week, paving the way – albeit under strict conditions.
They stipulate that the call should only be heard once on a Friday, that it should reach the residents with a maximum of 60 decibels and that it should last a maximum of five minutes. According to the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger” he will probably only be heard about 100 meters away from the sidewalk in front of the church. Nor should it sound from the minarets, but from loudspeakers directed towards a courtyard. At 1:24 p.m. it should be ready – the exact time depends on the position of the sun.
It is not the first time that a muezzin call has been heard from a mosque in Germany. Some municipalities already have a permit, for example in Düren, not far from Cologne – and according to a report by Deutschlandfunk, the reputation there after 30 years causes little more than a shrug of the shoulders. In Cologne there has been general permission to apply for the call to prayer for a year. This is a model project that will be reviewed in two years. According to the “Kölner Stadtanzeiger”, Abdurrahman Atasoy, vice-chairman of the DITIB federal association, said: “This is an important step in the perception of the Muslim faith communities as part of society.” The Cologne mosque is operated by DITIB – the association’s headquarters are also located there.
Encouragement comes from the Catholic Church: The Cologne city dean Robert Kleine told the Catholic News Agency that the fundamental right to free exercise of religion also applies to the Islamic communities in the form of the muezzin call. “It’s about a constitutional right that shouldn’t be relativized with reference to religious intolerance or the political instrumentalization of religion in other parts of the world.”
However, there are discussions as to whether the muezzin call is necessary at all. The Münster Islam theologian Mouhanad Khorchide, for example, denies this. He said on ZDF that you could also use an app that tells you when it’s time to pray. According to him, it is not the case that all Muslims urgently want to have the muezzin call. “It is not part of the religious commandments and most Muslims have not asked for it,” he said. “I think it’s important to ask those affected on the spot whether they’re Muslim or non-Muslim.” He refers to a study according to which only a third of Muslims go to Friday prayers at all.
NRW Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst was also critical. He said the decision may be more harmful to integration. As expected, the AfD is clearly against the reputation and tabloid media such as the Berlin “B.Z.” and the “Bild” newspaper report with headlines such as “Will the muezzin call soon be heard all over Germany?” or with formulations like “Soon the muezzin will call over Cologne” and thus allude to fears of conquest and oppression.
For the Berlin psychologist and author Ahmad Mansour, the muezzin call in Cologne is a “demonstration of the power of political Islam”. He is primarily referring to the mosque association DITIB, which is under the control of the Turkish religious authority, which trains the imams in Turkey and also pays for their work in Germany. The association positions itself as moderate, but there are always cases of extremism or anti-Semitism. Mansour criticizes that there was not enough debate before the decision. “Right-wing forces will know how to use this for their goals,” he said, according to the “Rheinische Post”.
Lamya Kaddor, member of the Greens in the Bundestag, also thinks that “scandals and abuses” and DITIB’s dependence on Turkey are a problem, as the Duisburg native announced on Twitter. But: “The call to prayer once a week must be possible in a democracy and remain reasonable. In many communities this has been possible for a long time.”
It can be assumed that large parts of the population will not gain much from the project. A survey commissioned by Bonn’s “Generalanzeiger” showed that 76 percent reject the muezzin call and do not consider it to be of equal importance to the ringing of bells. On the other hand, only one resident came to an information event of the mosque community prescribed by the city on Thursday evening, as reported by ntv reporter Julia Schruff. The older lady only criticized that the decision had been made “over heads”. Otherwise only journalists were on site.
