Mosques in New York Allowed to Make Call to Prayer for Friday Prayer and Ramadan

New York, MINA – After years of advocacy, mosques throughout New York City can now make the call to prayer without permission,  for Friday prayers and evening prayers during the holy month of Ramadan following new regulations announced this week.

On Tuesday, New York Mayor Eric Adams said the mosque no longer needed a permit. This follows years of advocacy by members of the Muslim community in New York.

Adams said the city will work with local mosques to ensure that the call to prayer falls within the city’s noise restrictions.

“Today, we are cutting through the red tape and stating clearly that mosques and places of worship are free to make the call to prayer on Fridays and during Ramadan without requiring permission,” he said.

He said Muslims in New York “will not be living in the shadow of the American dream while I am mayor of New York City.”

This announcement comes after years of New York Muslims facing discrimination and surveillance at their mosques, especially after 9/11. Additionally, attempts by mosques to offer the call to prayer in the past have been met with permit requirements, without the same requirements for churches.

“This week’s announcement means that every mosque in New York City can call the call to prayer without having to go through a permit. A lot of people are very excited,” Rana Abdelhamid, a community activist advocating for the new rules, told The New Arab.

“This is further affirmation that New York City is for everyone,” he said.

Mazeda Uddin, founder of the South Asian Fund for Education Scholarship and Training, who has advocated for recognition of Muslim traditions in New York since she arrived from Bangladesh as a teenager in the 1980s, is thrilled by the new rules.

“I have worked for Muslim recognition since I came to New York. This is very interesting. We never thought this would happen. When they called the call to prayer, I cried,” he said. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)