Muslim call to prayer will be heard during Ramadan

For the first time in its history, the Windsor Mosque will be issuing a nightly call to prayer on outside loudspeakers, until the end of Ramadan.

It’s intended to uplift the spirits of the Muslim community that can’t get together because of COVID-19 precautions, Windsor Islamic Association president Mirza Baig said Tuesday, the first night the call was allowed outdoors after the City of Windsor waived noise bylaw rules that would have forbidden it. The mosque is essentially closed under provincial rules limiting public gatherings to five people.

“Ramadan is the time when people come together, they socialize right after breaking the fast in the evening,” said Baig.

But under social distancing rules, people couldn’t socialize.

“Prayers together, socializing together,

getting together with families — all the activities people were missing a lot, and it kind of dulls down the spirit.”

Baig said people had been approaching the leadership about initiating a nightly call to prayer, something that’s been started in cities throughout North America, “so we could uplift our spirits, to get the feeling of Ramadan, which we were missing because of COVID-19.”

Normally, there are five daily calls to prayer and five subsequent prayers inside the mosque. In many Muslim-majority countries, the five daily calls are made on loudspeakers outdoors. Baig said local Muslims were only seeking one call each evening at dusk until the end of Ramadan on May 23. He emphasized it is symbolic, and not an actual call for people to go to the mosque.

“Listen to it, you enjoy it, it’s two or three minutes and that’s about it. Please, do not congregate, do not come to the mosque, do not even come to the parking lot to listen.”

He also said it won’t be loud, because they don’t want to “rattle” the neighbours to the mosque located at Northwood Street and Dominion Boulevard.

Other mosques throughout the city also have permission to make the nightly call.