The Muslim call to prayer will ring out more freely in New York City under guidelines announced Tuesday by Mayor Eric Adams, which he said should foster a spirit of inclusivity.
Under the new rules, Adams said, mosques will not need a special permit to publicly broadcast the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, on Fridays and at sundown during the holy month of Ramadan. Friday is the traditional Islamic holy day, and Muslims break their fast at sunset during Ramadan.
The police department’s community affairs bureau will work with mosques to communicate the new guidelines and ensure that devices used to broadcast the adhan are set to appropriate decibel levels, Adams said. Houses of worship can broadcast up to 10 decibels over the ambient sound level, the mayor’s office said.
I lived about 3 miles from a church in a mid-sized town in the midwest. On Sundays they’d play music on some gigantic jangly bell thing I could hear loudly at my house… again, 3 miles away. I can’t imagine the noise complaints a regular person would get for playing something that loud, but they’re a church so apparently it’s fine.
On the one hand, I would be annoyed by more loud noise. On the other hand, it would show the other churches how obnoxious their 5 to 10 minute bell jingles are (hopefully).
This happens surprisingly often. There is a church on my block that I can’t hear unless I go right up to the building on Sundays and I know that they do get into because during Covid they moved outside with the singing.