Court in NW Germany rules mosque must stop broadcasting call to prayer

A mosque in northwest Germany must no longer broadcast its Friday midday call to prayer by loudspeaker, a local court said after it upheld on Friday a challenge by a couple who live nearly 1km away. The Gelsenkirchen administrative court found that the town of Oer-Erkenschwick had not assessed the local Muslim community’s request properly in 2013. However, a court spokesman said that this did not prevent the mosque making a new application. The local Christian couple had argued that the call to prayers violated their own religious rights. A senior official with the affected mosque said the court’s decision was disappointing, adding that the call to prayer lasts for two minutes only on Fridays.