That distinction matters because the first Muslim prayer of the day, known as Fajr, can occur before sunrise, while the final prayer can take place late in the evening. Under Minneapolis’ previous rules, those broadcasts could run afoul of restrictions that generally limited amplified religious sounds to daytime and evening hours.
The 2023 change effectively removed that obstacle.
According to the city’s ordinance materials, the amendment concerned “sounds associated with religious worship.” Contemporary reporting also noted that the ordinance included limits on how long amplified religious sounds could be broadcast.
The change was celebrated by Muslim civil-rights advocates, including the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
Jaylani Hussein, then executive director of CAIR-Minnesota, described the vote as an important statement about religious liberty.
“The Constitution doesn’t sleep at night,” Hussein said following the vote.
Supporters framed the decision as a matter of equal treatment. If churches and other houses of worship can make religious sounds audible beyond their buildings, they argued, Muslim congregations should not face special restrictions simply because their traditional practice involves an amplified call rather than bells or chimes.
Critics, however, have focused on a different question: How much religious sound should a city permit to enter the public sphere?
That debate is hardly unique to Minneapolis.
Religious communities have long used audible traditions to mark worship. Church bells, for example, have been part of the soundscape of American communities for generations. The Minneapolis controversy therefore raises a broader issue about whether governments should apply neutral rules to different religious practices rather than deciding which traditions are acceptable.
The adhan itself is not a prayer in the narrow sense. It is an announcement calling Muslims to prayer and contains several central declarations of Islamic belief.
It traditionally includes phrases such as:
“Allahu akbar= Allah is greater than…”
“Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah= I bear witness that there is no god but Allah…”
“Ashadu anna Muhammadan rasul Allah= I bear witness that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah…”
“Hayya ala s-salah= Come to prayer…”
“Hayya ala l-falah= Come to success/prosperity…”
For the pre-dawn prayer, the traditional call also includes:
“As-salatu khayru min an-nawm=Prayer is better than sleep”
The practice has expanded beyond Minneapolis as well.
New York City announced in 2023 that mosques could publicly broadcast the adhan on Fridays and during Ramadan without obtaining a special permit, provided the broadcasts complied with existing noise regulations. The New York policy differed from Minneapolis because it did not authorize all five daily calls year-round.
Minneapolis’ decision was therefore significant not because the city declared Islam an official religion—it did not—but because it changed the rules governing when a mosque could use amplified outdoor sound.
That distinction is important in an increasingly diverse America.
The controversy also illustrates how local decisions can become national political flashpoints. Supporters see the Minneapolis ordinance as an example of religious freedom in practice. Opponents see the expansion of amplified religious broadcasts as an unnecessary change to long-standing noise protections.
Neither side needs to pretend the underlying issue does not exist.
The real question is whether Americans can establish neutral rules for public religious expression that protect both religious liberty and the interests of residents who may not share the faith being publicly proclaimed.
For Minneapolis, the answer in 2023 was to loosen the existing restrictions.
The decision remains a powerful example of how quickly a seemingly ordinary municipal noise ordinance can become part of a much larger national argument over religion, culture, public space and the meaning of religious freedom in modern America.
