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A Preston mosque will be allowed to broadcast the traditional Muslim call to prayer to mark the start of Islam’s two most important festivals.
Preston City Council’s planning committee has granted permission for the Masjid-e-Salaam mosque, in Fulwood, to use noise-limited loudspeakers to herald the beginnings of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.
The Watling Street Road facility will issue three calls on each of the occasions – two of which will be between 8am and 10am, but with the first sometimes coming before 6am. The broadcasts last between four and five minutes.
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It comes after the authority invited all of Preston’s mosques to apply for permission for the twice-yearly exemption from the current planning conditions banning amplified calls to prayer. That was in response to a request from the city’s Muslim community, but so far only Masjid-e-Salaam has made the move.
Any calls issued before 8am will be at a lower level than those broadcast later. A noise assessment found that the proposed limits will ensure they do not exceed the ordinary background noise levels at the site and will have “no observed effect” at nearby residential properties.
The dates of the two festivals depend on the lunar calendar, meaning they fall on different days and within different seasons each year. As the first call of the day is issued at sunrise, that means it can occur within a wide time window.
According to a report presented to the committee, there will be five occasions over the next 20 years when the first call for the festivals will be broadcast prior to 6am – the earliest being 4.42am, on 6th June next year. There will be another 11 times on which it will be issued between 6am and 7am.
Thirty-eight people objected to the plans over concerns about noise and disturbance. However, Alban Cassidy, the agent for the application, said the level of the calls meant they would be noticed only by worshippers as they arrived at the mosque.
“They’re only going to be able to hear it when they get [there] and are walking into the site. Not only does that add to their experience, it doesn’t have any adverse impacts upon any other…relevant party,” he explained.
However, committee member Cllr Daniel Guise questioned “the point” of the practice if it really were to remain restricted in that way.
He also asked whether anybody would think it “a good idea” if it were introduced anew today in order to compel people to attend “a particular religious observance…on pain of social ostracism and other unfortunate consequences”.
Mr. Cassidy said that, on that basis, church bells would also be considered redundant because they were originally introduced to summon people for services in the age before there were clocks.
“We wouldn’t [stop ringing them today], because it’s a tradition,” he said.
The speakers will be removed after each festival – and they will also be directed towards the community centre on the opposite side of the road. In order to ensure compliance with the decibel limits that form part of the planning permission, they will have to be installed by professionals on each occasion.
Committee member Cllr Harry Landless sought – and was given by Mr. Cassidy – reassurance that the calls would not be heard by “the whole of Watling Street Road and Fulwood”.
The application was approved by seven votes to one.
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