In Hamtramck, the Call to Prayer Quietly Enters the Streets

May 29, 2004

Source: The Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/news/locway/call29_20040529.htm

On May 29, 2004 The Detroit Free Press reported, "The call to prayer from the Al-Islah Islamic Center in Hamtramck at 1:35 p.m. Friday could barely be heard across the street, but it echoed around the world. Mosque leaders deliberately toned down their amplifier Friday in an effort to show how little the hotly contested broadcast will affect the neighborhood around Caniff and Jos. Campau. The low volume left radio and TV reporters straining to raise their microphones toward the speakers on the mosque's roof. Robert Zwolak, a major critic of broadcasting the call to prayer, listened on the sidewalk, then complained, "They were just being diplomatic today in toning it down. This is still going to be a noise problem." But Zwolak was the lone critic outside the mosque. Inside, joining in an hour-long celebration with nearly 400 Bangladeshi Muslims, was a broad array of Hamtramck's leadership, including all five members of the City Council and school board president Camille Colatosti as well as Catholic, Protestant and Muslim clergy from other neighboring houses of worship."

See also: Islam, Civic