Residents of a city in Michigan are complaining about the loud Muslim calls to prayer coming from at least one of the mosques in the city that has been dubbed as "Muslimville, U.S.A."
At a recent city council meeting, the residents urged city officials to call on the Ideal Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan to tone down the noise coming from its mosque. Hamtramck is the first city in the U.S. to have a Muslim majority population. Four of the six council members are Muslims, according to WND.
The composition of the city's population is now 24 percent Arab, 19 percent black, 15 percent Bangladeshi; 12 percent Polish; and 6 percent Yugoslavian, USA Today reported.
"Just turn it down a little bit," complained resident Jeanette Powell, according to the Hamtramck Review.
The centre is located across the Hamtramck Senior Plaza apartments.
Powell said she is not aiming to "bash anyone's religion" but explained that the call to prayer is broadcast at 6 a.m. She said the volume is "overbearing."
Carol Marsh, another resident, pointed out that the centre's organisers lied when the building was being constructed, telling the residents that it would not be a mosque.
"We were lied to. We were told it would never be turned into a mosque," she said.
The head of the centre, Sakrul Islam, denied her claim and threatened her with a defamation lawsuit if she continued to press the claim.
Islam also accused City Council member Robert Zwolak, a resident of the apartment complex, of initiating the complaints, saying, "He's against Muslims."
A second Muslim mosque was also the subject of complaint.
Susan Dunn, who is candidate for city council, said the new Abu-Bakr Al-Siddique Islamic Center on St. Aubin Street, is blaring call to prayer loudly.
After she told neighbours who go to the centre to decrease the volume, it's been "turned down some."
Last year, according to WND, the New York Daily News said residents complained about the early morning call to prayer coming from the Ideal mosque.
"You try reading a book in your backyard while your dog is barking to that," said Dunn.
