Controversy Over the Call to Prayer Continues in MI

May 6, 2004

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-na-mosque6may06,1,4762580.story?coll=la-news-religion

On May 6, 2004 the Los Angeles Times reported on the continuing controversy over the call to prayer in Hamtramck, "The City Council in this community of 23,000 last week approved the mosque's request to amplify the traditional call to prayer. The imam says the chant, which lasts about a minute and a half, will be heard for a block or two at most... But the council's unanimous decision has touched off anger, and fear, in this historically Polish Catholic town. 'With so much going on in the world with terrorism, people are afraid maybe they'll be saying things [in Arabic] that we don't understand,' said Marti Sharp, 47, a bakery manager. 'If they're going to say it out loud, at least they should say it in English,' added co-worker Kathy Trusick, 60. Circulating a petition to overturn the council's vote, some residents insist their sole objection is the noise. Others raise more fundamental concerns: It's not right, they say, for a patriotic Midwest city to ring with praise for Allah."