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File photo of Muslims in Hamtramck
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DETROIT,
April 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Muslims in the
Michigan town of Hamtramck could hear the five daily calls to prayer
over loudspeakers now that the City Council has unanimously given a
preliminary approval.
The
council will hold a final hearing on the matter next week, reported
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"There's
nothing preventing (the mosque) from doing it now," Council
president Karen Majewski said.
"What
this does is allow us to regulate it in 30 days."
If
it gets a final green light, the al-Ishah mosque will be authorized to
broadcast the prayer calls between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00
p.m. -- something many mosques in neighboring Detroit already do.
Masud
Khan, secretary of the al-Islah mosque, said the purpose of the call,
which lasts less than two minutes, is not to proselytize.
"We
are not inviting (non-Muslims)," he said. "We are calling
our Muslim people, reminding them they are obligated to come to
pray."
Hamtramck,
a once Polish enclave in the Midwestern state of Michigan, has
recently welcomed waves of immigrants from Bosnia, Pakistan, Yemen and
Bangladesh.
Muslims
account for about one third of the city's population, while
Polish-Americans make up about a quarter of the city's strength.
They
have been a huge boost to the city's economy, opening businesses and
driving up property prices by buying homes.
Opposition
But
the decision drew opposition among some local residents and the social
and cultural tensions of this multi-ethnic city of 23,000 began to
show at the council meeting.
"A
U.S. citizen should not be subjected to the tenets of someone else's
religion," said Bob Golen, a Hamtramck native.
Abdul
Alguzali, a Hamtramck businessman, countered that he and other Muslims
"are citizens of this country, too."
Many
Hamtramck Muslims said the call to prayer is equivalent to church
bells, noting that Hamtramck has several churches that ring their
bells.
However,
Mary Urbanski, a lifelong resident, said the U.S. was founded on
Judeo-Christian principles and that church "bells are
music."
Council
member Shahab Ahmed, a Bangladeshi, and the first Muslim elected to
the body, said the council has strived to deal with it as a strictly
civic matter.
"It's
not a religious issue."
"The
al-Islah mosque wasn't even required by law to approach us for
permission. The mosque leaders were just trying to be good
neighbors," he maintained.
A
Muslim physician walked out of the hearing shaking his head and said,
"I never knew they hated us so much."
Another
Muslim, Gabriel Alaziz, said he was "blown away by the level of
intolerance I see here."
‘Perception
Problem’
"I
think that a lot of people realise that the immigrants saved our
community" Hamtramck Mayor Tom Jankowski, "but there's a
perception problem."
He
said the proposal has elicited a surprisingly visceral reaction from
some in the community.
"It
goes much deeper than I expected," Jankowski said. "Within
one week this has ripped apart the community".
He
explained that the "9/11 didn't do much good for the
Muslims."
Nearly
57 percent of American Muslims polled
by an Islamic organization in the U.S., say they have experienced bias
or discrimination since the deadly 9/11 attacks and 87 percent say
they know of a fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.
Jankowski
suggested the hostility evinced by some of the city's older residents
is part of an anti-Muslim sentiment.
The
controversy came after a number of arson attacks on Muslim businesses
in San Antonio, Texas
, racist graffiti at a Lubbock, Texas, mosque and an assault
on a Muslim woman in Florida.
