Muslim Dearborn mayor weighs in on residents’ complaints about mosque’s call to prayer

Dearborn, Michigan, Mayor Abdullah Hammoud responded to noise complaints about a mosque’s call to prayer, saying it’s “not an issue.”

Hammoud discussed the concern on the Nov. 3 episode of the “Not From Here” podcast. Local Dearborn citizens have complained in recent months that a nearby mosque has been broadcasting the call to prayer on loudspeakers multiple times a day, beginning as early as 5:30 a.m.

Though residents raised concerns during a September city council meeting, Hammoud insisted that the call to prayer under a certain decibel level is allowed under city ordinances and has been part of Dearborn life for decades.

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Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud dismissed complaints against a local mosque’s call to prayer. (City of Dearborn screenshot)

“I would tell you is, you know, those complaining about the call to prayer, I mean it’s a very, very few, you still want to respect the wishes and, if you have a serious concern, I have to uphold the law across all boards,” Hammoud said. “But we’ve done decibel readings at these mosques, all within threshold, all within legal limit. And so for me, it’s not an issue.”

He continued, “We also have to uphold our constitutional rights to freedom of religion. And I would say this, you know, that’s the thing. I’m saying this as a Muslim. People, of course, are going to say this is a call to prayer, but like, you know, why are these complaints just coming forward now?”

“Yeah, elections are coming up,” host Jaafar Issa remarked.

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Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said the mosque’s call to prayer did not violate city ordnance on noise levels. (Charly Triballeau/Getty Images)

Hammoud didn’t directly respond to that comment but shrugged and repeated, “Call to prayer has been happening since the 1970s in Dearborn.”

The city ordinance states that noise in residential areas cannot exceed 55 decibels at night (after 10 p.m.) or 60 decibels during the day (7 a.m. to 10 p.m.). Loudspeakers are prohibited between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Hammoud also said that most mosques in the city do not make a call to prayer at “Fajr” or dawn and compared the sound to church bells.

Fox News Digital reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

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Dearborn, Michigan resident Andrea Unger started a petition to pressure the city council to enforce a noise ordinance after two years of a local mosque broadcasting its calls to prayer over a loudspeaker. (Dearborn City Council via YouTube Screenshot)

Dearborn resident Andrea Unger, who has lived in the city for 40 years, told Fox News Digital last month that she had recorded the call to prayer for 30 consecutive days and found it consistently exceeded 70 decibels. She said she raised concerns with the police department and city council for the past two years, but the problem continued.

She added that some of her neighbors were hesitant to speak out, fearing they would be labeled anti-Muslim.

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“I have heard a lot of people say, ‘I’m glad you said something,’ because people are afraid they’ll get called names like ‘Islamophobic,’ like our mayor [Abdullah H. Hammoud] called [Dearborn resident and Christian minister] Ted Barham, because you disagree,” she said. “We’re not Islamophobic, we’re not anti-Muslim, we are not anti-Jewish. We just want to live in the community that it’s always been [before] something changed two years ago to allow this.”

Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.