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Adhan to be broadcast during Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Adhan to be broadcast during Glasgow Commonwealth Games

Categories: Latest News

Tuesday June 24 2014

The Sunday Herald covers news of Glasgow Central Mosque being granted approval by Glasgow City Council to broadcast the adhan, the daily call to prayer, every evening during the Commonwealth Games which this year coincides with the month of Ramadan.

The mosque, a short distance away from the athletes’ village, will broadcast the adhan via loudspeaker between July 10 and August 4 at approximately 10pm each evening.

With a number of Muslim majority countries taking part in the tournament, which includes teams from 72 countries, the decision is aimed at catering for the estimated 400 athletes, supporters, Games officials, media and visitors, many of whom will be fasting during the month.

Officials from the council’s environmental health department visited the mosque last week to oversee a practice run in order to ensure the prayer call did not exceed an agreed sound level.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council stated “Environmental health officers were present for a test run at sundown on Thursday night and there were no concerns over volume.”

Nabeel Sheikh, general secretary of Glasgow Central Mosque, hopes that the broadcast of the adhan will help illustrate the “open outlook” of Glaswegians.

He added, “The world’s media will also be in Glasgow and they can leave with a positive impression of the city and emphasising the tolerance and open outlook of Glaswegians.”

His comments follow the ‘invasion’ of Glasgow Central Mosque by far right group Britain First last month, who handed out British Army Bibles to worshippers and posted footage of their confrontational antics on their Facebook page.

A Glasgow 2014 spokeswoman said: “Individuals and organisations from different faith communities have been working together with Glasgow 2014 to help make sure people of all faiths and none feel welcome in the city throughout the Games.”

Glasgow City Council’s decision follows that of Channel 4 last year. The broadcaster aired the call to prayer in the early hours of the morning throughout the month of Ramadan in what Ralph Lee, C4’s head of factual programming, described as “giv[ing] a voice to the moderate mainstream majority” by using the airwaves as “a nationwide tannoy system, a deliberate ‘provocation’ to all our viewers in the very real sense of the word”.

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