Germany: Cologne Mega-Mosque Begins Public Calls to Prayer
The sounding of Muslim prayer calls in Cologne — famous for its cathedral, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe — marks a major victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his unrelenting effort to ensconce political Islam in Germany.
Germany: Cologne Mega-Mosque Begins Public Calls to Prayer
Soeren Kern | Focus on Western Islamism | October 18, 2022
A Turkish mega-mosque in Cologne, a historic stronghold of Christendom in Germany, has for the first time begun sounding Muslim calls to prayer over outdoor loudspeakers. City officials say the move is aimed at promoting multicultural diversity and inclusion, but many worry that Cologne is establishing a national precedent, and that soon many of the more than 3,000 other mosques in Germany will also begin publicly calling Muslims to prayer.
The sounding of Muslim prayer calls in Cologne — famous for its cathedral, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe — marks a major victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his unrelenting effort to ensconce political Islam in Germany.
On October 14 at 1:24 pm, a muezzin at Cologne’s Central Mosque (Zentralmoschee), one of the most prominent mosques in Germany, publicly called the Muslim faithful to midday prayer. Although public prayer calls have been authorized in other German municipalities, this was the first time the sonorous prayer call (known as the adhan in Arabic) was sounded in the downtown area of a major German city.
