Tensions Boil Over In US City As Muslim Call To Prayer Drowns Out Church Bells

A noisy showdown is rattling Dearborn, Michigan, where a mosque’s outdoor loudspeaker has some residents fed up and demanding quiet.

Tensions have flared in recent weeks after resident Andrea Unger delivered a signed petition at a city council meeting, calling out the Dearborn Community Center on Schaefer Road over its amplified call to prayer. It’s one of several mosques in the city that have sparked noise complaints.

Unger pointed to the city ordinance banning “any unreasonably loud, disturbing, unusual or unnecessary noise which annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of others.” She told officials, “The mosques in East Dearborn are at times waking us up at 5:30 a.m. with a call to prayer and, at other times, forcing us to listen to the prayer in our yard and in our own home.”

Mosque in Dearborn, Michigan

Council President Mike Sareini said police have already tested sound levels at multiple sites and confirmed that at least one mosque has crossed the legal limit. The board now awaits a full police report. “We’re trying to get a handle on it, and it’s not legal, nor do we support it,” Sareini said.

But Nabeel Bahalwan, who runs the Dearborn Community Center, insists the controversy is overblown and claims the mosque is well within the legal noise limit. He said police inspected the site and found no violations. “This is crazy. We don’t wanna bother anybody,” Bahalwan told CBS News Detroit. “The city came in, the inspector, and there is a monitoring for the voice. We are even below the average of the rules.”

A call to prayer happens five times a day, and the mosque posts its schedule online. Under city rules, nighttime residential noise can’t exceed 55 decibels, daytime noise above 60 decibels can be considered intermittent, and loudspeakers are banned between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Bahalwan maintains the mosque is in full compliance, but says he wants to ease tensions with the community. “We wanna keep our relationship with the neighbors peaceful. If they have any problems, they can talk to us,” he said.

To avoid further backlash, Bahalwan confirmed that the mosque has temporarily switched off its outdoor speakers as of Oct. 1.

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