Mosques across Britain could sound the call to prayer through loudspeakers after councils gave permission to alert the faithful during Ramadan in unofficial pilot scheme

Mosque elders now planning to make adhan a permanent fixture after Ramadan 

Exactly as I said. From the Mail on Sunday

Mosques across the country could start sounding the daily call to prayer through loudspeakers following a series of unofficial pilot programmes. Scores of communities were allowed to use public address systems to alert the faithful during the holy month of Ramadan, which ended last night.

Several councils gave permission for the call – known as the adhan – to be broadcast each evening to help followers keep in touch with their places of worship during the lockdown.

Mosque elders are now planning to apply to councils to make the adhan a permanent fixture after Ramadan.

Allama Sadiq Qureshi, who is an imam at the Minhaj-ul-Quran mosque in Newham, East London, said: ‘We want this practice to continue in the future.

‘But at the same time, we must be bothered about our neighbours, we need their permission. If they are happy, then we are going to start it. 

‘Just one symbolic adhan per day, if Newham council allow us. Just one adhan at the day time, at dhuhr [afternoon prayer], then it will be really good.’

He said the Newham Muslim Forum, a local umbrella body of mosques, is considering making the application after Ramadan

At least 25 mosques in London and dozens more across the country have joined over the past four weeks.

The initiative began when Kensington and Chelsea Council in London gave permission to the borough’s biggest mosque, known as the Al-Manaar, to start broadcasting out the nightly reminder.  Following that, Waltham Forest Council in North-East London allowed nine mosques in the borough to broadcast the adhan every evening and again on Friday afternoons to mark the beginning of the most important ceremonial prayer of the Muslim week, known as jumuah.

One of the biggest mosques in the borough, the Waltham Forest Islamic Association (WFIA), sounded the adhan loud enough for it to be heard within a one-mile radius.  . . . Other mosques in the borough have placed concert-style speakers on their front doors to make the call.  Yesterday, Raja Ilyas, the general secretary of the WFIA, said: ‘My wish is that if we can recite adhan at least at jumuah or one time [per day],

Elsewhere, a cleric performed the adhan as a one-off outside the towers of Canary Wharf for the evening prayer. Other venues included Chesham, Buckinghamshire and Preston, Lancashire.

Until now, most mosques in Britain have been banned from using loudspeakers on noise pollution grounds.

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