Mosque in Canada’s Saskatchewan Capital Tests Electronic Call to Prayer in Historic First
For the first time in this majority-Christian prairie city, the Islamic “call to prayer” was loudly rung from electronic speakers from a mosque in downtown Regina.
The Regina City Jamia Masjid mosque did a “sound test” of its call “to prayer” from four loudspeakers, which lasted for about three minutes. The event was dubbed a “historic milestone.”
The broadcast was made on June 19 at 1 pm local time, featuring the first outdoor Adhan (Muslim call to prayer), which blasted throughout downtown Regina.
A video of the test was shared on YouTube, with some commentators calling it a “terrible idea.”
The mosque, in a statement, thanked Regina city officials, the Regina Police Service, as well as the local media for “support and understanding.”
However, the city’s own Noise Abatement Bylaw No. 6980 bans “any unreasonably loud or excessive noise likely to disturb any reasonable person within the city.”
It also bans any loud noise from 10 pm to 7 am; however, for those wanting exemptions, they are given in some cases.
The same bylaw also has in it a specific exemption for “the sounding of bells in churches, religious establishments, and schools.” It should be noted that church bells, most of which are old, have been grandfathered in; however, they are mechanical and not like the electronic horns from the mosque, which are designed to project sound far away.
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Also, in the mosque’s own advisory about the horns, it states that they were chosen because they could give good outdoor sound coverage.
Mosques have become more commonplace in Canada, as people from majority-Islamic nations have been allowed to immigrate to Canada en masse.
Source: todayville.com
