Posted on 06/03/2004 3:25:50 PM PDT by missyme
HAMTRAMCK, Michigan -- Hamtramck, Michigan is a blue-collar town surrounded by the city of Detroit. Its downtown storefronts reflect the diversity of immigrants who settled here. But an influx of immigrants from the Middle East has transformed Hamtramck from a melting pot into a political powder keg. New Muslim residents are adopting American habits, driving SUVs and talking on cell phones. But many still cling to old customs, wearing traditional dress, and shopping at markets that sell "halal," or meat slaughtered according to Islamic law. Now one Bangladeshi mosque wants to revive a controversial ritual.
The Islamic call to prayer is a 1,400-year-old tradition, sung in most U.S. mosques within the walls. But the Al Islah Islamic Center says they should be able to broadcast over public loudspeakers in Arabic, five times a day, from 6am to 10pm.
The call to prayer states, "Allah is great…Mohammed is Allah's prophet…come to prayer. There is no god but Allah."
Mosque president Ahmed Motlib asked the city's permission to broadcast from rooftop loudspeakers. Motlib says, "Some people, they don't know what time is our congregation, only for congregation coming and participating. That's why we want to call prayer outside."
But the request has split the community. Hundreds signed a petition to block the broadcasts as a public annoyance.
Hamtramck resident Jerry Radziszewski says, "To me, this is disturbing the peace. They understand what it is. We don't. To us it's just a bunch of noise."
Mosque supporters say the Azan can already be heard from mosques in nearby Detroit No different, they say, from Christian church bells.
Motlib comments, "Azan is only two minutes, less than two minutes is noise. Every hour church bell, more than five minutes their bell make belling. So we don't feel anything bad."
Bob Zwollack is a former city clerk who led the petition drive. He says it is an issue of noise.
"Even if they got up on their towers and did it like they did 1,400 years ago," says Zwollack, "where you just had a call to prayer like before, there's not a problem. Who's going to object to that? Yes, they have a right to free speech, but the overall objection was an amplified sound, amplified religious statement."
But the dispute has escalated into a national controversy over religious freedom. The press converged on heated city council meetings, which exploded with calls for tolerance and charges of discrimination.
Hafiz Mohammed of the Islamic Association of Michigan, says, "Those people who are opposing Azan, our position is not a new phenomenon. They are racist! "
Council member Scott Klein says, "The folks I've seen leading this have nothing on the boys from Montgomery, the boys from Birmingham, the boys from Mississippi."
Hamtramck resident Bob Golen protests, "I am not a racist! My wife is not a racist."
Joanna and Bob Golen are life-long residents of this neighborhood, now largely owned by Bangladeshi newcomers. The Golens say they have been demonized for signing the petition.
Bob Golen says, "I don't tell them to believe in Jesus, I don't want them to tell me to believe in Mohommed. The call to prayer is fine, but don't evangelize me where I can't turn you off five times a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. They're going to tell me their god is the only true god? I don't have to listen to that."
The Golens say the mosque is forcing a foreign religion right onto their front porch, proselytizing on public airwaves.
Joanne Golen says, "Why is it wrong for them to practice their religion the way they want to? They can do it any way they want in their mosque, like we do in our churches, in their homes, like we do. I can even sit on my porch and pray silently. I'm all for them practicing their religion, but I do not want to hear over loudspeakers their god being praised in my ears five times a day."
The first amendment does not give any religion the right to disturb the peace. It does not give any religion the right to be a nuisance to its neighbors. If they broadcast noise that goes onto another's property, then they are a nuisance.
What this stupid City Council did was to authorize one religion to be a nuisance, while at the same time denying that right to every other religion.
Now there are a whole lot of countries that allow Islamic Mosques to be nuisances to their neighbors. Maybe you should go find your religious freedom in one of those countries.
There are also religions that practice human sacrifice and cannibalism --- should we allow those also out of some warped "religious freedom" notion? The problem with Islam is that it isn't so much a religion as it is a political ideology that includes belief in the moon god --- it's a form of government and very fascist. It's more like allowing Nazis to move to the USA with plans of taking over.
For one reason most of the "neighborhood" mosques are built by Saudi government money. Instead of allowing mosques to be built in the first place, we need to get far more selective in who immigrates to this country --- with all the people in the world who would like to come to the USA, we certainly don't need muslims, we should limit immigration from muslim countries to non-muslims seeking religious freedom or to ex-muslims who face the death penalty for wishing to leave the religion.
Orthodox churches 100s of yrs old have been destroyed in the latest frenzy of Islamaniac destruction. They were not built in the twentieth century, in addition a substantial number of Albanians have flowed in in the last two or three decades in response to the Greater Albania movement.
I note you carefully ignore my mention of the real nature of Islame preferring to select a sentence for which you have a slight response likely untrue as it may be.
There is NOTHING positive about Islam.
Horsecrap. Serbs never slaughtered Albanians on the scale claimed to justify our intervention. Those vaunted "mass graves" have turned out to be nothing to justify such a propagandistic term.
Fascists loved the moslemaniacs. Both hated Christianity and Judaism.
Yet very few of that 99.9% are willing to stand up and tell the Moslemaniacs that terror murder is unacceptable. Very few are willing to stand against allowing their mosques to raise and distribute funds to terror killers.
Without the active complicency and refusal to confront the terror killers by that 99.9% they would be eliminated rather than encouraged.
Not true you are arguing for the "right" of a religion to violate the rights of all those who do not want to be wakened by a Satanic cult's call to prayer.
There was nothing said about the hundreds of mosques active in this nation which are not disturbing the peace. Those which aren't collection points for terrorist funding efforts, terrorist supporters or facilitators have nothing to fear. There may be SOME which are not active in the terrorist movement. Though it looks doubtful from the lack of condemnation of those who would kill Kafirs.
Quite correct and, out of past loyalties, most Nazis still support them, as you are finding out in this thread.
Of course, the Albanian Moslem pattern of illegal immigration and terrorist activities as a method of taking someone else's land should not be rewarded, particularly not by the United States.
But some folks are so blinded by their hatred of all things Serbian that they are incapable of admitting that.
IMO Islam should be banned from this country (Of course I know it won't) it's gets so tiring listening that this so called faith is one of GOD Almighty or a faith of PEACE HOGWASH! Islam does nothing for it's followers or for anyone else in the world it just raises havoc chaos and eventual death! The ACLU is so hell bent on removing a baby cross from the Clifornia Seal yet we allow a Mosque to ring there devil calls 5 times a day! I don't get it, not one of our forefathers came from a Muslim Country to make this country what it is today, yet Muslims want to reap all the benefits of the good ol' USA, and say "Death" to Christians and Jews!
Naw - AC/DC playing "Highway to Hell" !
Isn't it amazing that those who normally wouldn't believe Clinton if he said the Sun rises in the East believe the crap he and Christianne Amanpour and CNN pushed to justify the war against Serbia?
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