The call to prayer had been banned after a Christian couple complained that it intruded on their religious freedoms. The court ruled that the call to prayer did not violate the rights of those who heard it.
Image: Reuters/A. Awad
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A court in the western German city of Münster on Wednesday ruled that a local mosque is permitted to perform its Friday call to prayer. It follows an appeal by the town of Oer-Erkenschwick against the prior decision to revoke the mosque's permission.
"Every society must accept that one will sometimes be aware that others exercise their faith," said presiding judge Annette Kleinschnittger.
A previous court ruling had ordered the mosque to cease its weekly call to prayer in 2018 after a local Christian couple, who lived about a kilometer away from the mosque, made a complaint, invoking their religious freedom not to have to take part in prayers or rights.
The court in Münster found that a part of laws on freedom of religion colloquially dubbed "negative religious freedom" laws did not give anybody the right to be spared exposure to other groups' expressions of faith, but rather that it sought to protect people from being forced to participate in religious exercises against their will.
Cologne's central mosque: A troubled symbol of unity
The city of Cologne boasts Germany's largest mosque, an impressive compound made of glass and concrete. It was intended as a symbol of integration, but ended up marred by controversy.
Image: DW/M. Odabasi
Inspired by a flower bud
The building was designed with glass walls and a staircase accessible from the street, symbolizing openness to people of all religions. It features two 55-meter (60-yard) minarets and a dome of glass and concrete which appears to open like a flower bud.
Image: picture-alliance/R. Hackenberg
Ehrenfeld's mix of cultures
The mosque is located in Cologne's Ehrenfeld district, a formerly a working-class quarter. Ehrenfeld suffered a rise in unemployment and poverty when factories closed in the 1970s. Some time later, however, low rent prices lured in artists, galleries and theaters, ultimately gentrifying the area. Today, 35 percent of locals there have an immigrant background.
Image: DW/M. Hussein
Impressive plans
The construction was funded by hundreds of Muslim associations, but also bank loans and donations from the Turkish government's religious affairs authority in Germany, DITIB. Cologne city council approved the plans in 2008, despite Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, the conservative Christian Democrats, voting against it.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
Architect drops out after row with Turkish association
Architect Paul Böhm, who specializes in building churches, won the contract in 2005. He saw the building as an act of integration. He later fell out with the new leadership of DITIB and stopped working on the project in 2011.
Image: AP
Doors opened in 2017
The mosque first opened for prayer during Ramadan in 2017, but was only officially opened by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during his visit to Germany in September 2018.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Room for 1,200 worshippers
Inside the mosque, there's a prayer area which takes up both the ground and the upper floor, with the two sections connected by a well in the center of the building's glass front. The compound houses an Islamic library. There are also shops and sports facilities intended to foster interactions among people of different faiths.
Image: Picture alliance/dpa/M. Becker
New skyline
Some residents were shocked by the sheer size of the construction when the plans were first presented, especially the height of the minarets, and feared a change in the skyline of their "Christian city." Then-Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the archbishop of Cologne, admitted to having "an uneasy feeling" about the project.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/H.Kaiser
Right-wing protesters oppose the mosque
Right-wing politicians picked up on the sentiment and launched a heated debate about the integration of Muslims in Germany. Author Ralph Giordano said the mosque would be "an expression of the creeping Islamization" in the country.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Imams or spies?
In 2017, German authorities launched an investigation into the activities of DITIB imams, who are schooled in Turkey and paid by the Turkish state, as well as other people working in the Cologne complex. Mosque employees were suspected of spying against Turks living in Germany on behalf of the Turkish goverment.
Image: Getty Images/M. Hitij
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What was the complaint against the call to prayer?
The complaint focused on the content of the call rather than the noise, with the couple's lawyer explaining that it was "not to be compared with the ringing of bells in Christian churches."
The adhan, as the call to prayer is known in Arabic, is a condensed form of the Islamic creed — for example that "God is great (Allahu akbar)" — typically sung five times a day by the muezzin; some consider it an art form.
Before its permission was revoked, the mosque performed the call to prayer for two minutes, once a week. It had been given permission for a maximum of 15 minutes. The mosque is run by DITIB, the largest Islamic umbrella group operating in Germany with 900 mosques. Its imams are educated, financed and sent by the Turkish government; the group is also on the radar of the domestic intelligence agency.
The Gelsenkirchen Administrative court, which revoked the mosque's permit in 2018, stated in its ruling that the local officials had only considered noise levels during the permit process, and had not properly consulted the neighborhood regarding the social acceptance of the call. That initial ruling did not agree that the call to prayer violated the religious freedoms of those who heard it.
