Regina mosque's weekly call to prayer on hold after backlash

Regina mosque's weekly call to prayer on hold after backlash

Amplified 3-minute call was meant to be played again on Friday, but did not

A downtown Regina mosque continues to receive mixed reactions from people in the city about broadcasting the adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer, over the noon hour on Fridays.

The mosque, Regina City Jamia Masjid, obtained a permit allowing it to broadcast the three-minute call over rooftop speakers, once a week.

City police have said the permit is in place until July 10, when it will be reviewed by police and city officials.

The call was meant to play over the speakers on Friday, but the mosque's director, M. Anisur Rahaman, said it has been put it on hold due to threats that were received after the first broadcast.

After seeing online threats, people in the Muslim community in Regina asked that the mosque pause the broadcast, Rahaman said at a news conference on Friday.

"What they are saying is they are not feeling safe as a minority … they're thinking that we need more dialogue to understand what exactly are the problems that can happen in the future. Because the social media and negative comments we have received … are not like very positive as a Muslim," he said.

Rahaman said he will put out surveys to local businesses and organizations around the mosque.

"If we see that for the greater community, like this is like not bringing a positive impact for the Muslim community, then we would also prefer not to continue this because we also would respect the greater Muslim community as well as we also respect the non-Muslims," he said.

Canada has freedom of religion, he noted.

"We are not here like to dominate anything, right … We are here to follow our religion. So there are other religions also, right? And we have a religion of freedom in Canada, right? We are free to follow our own religion."

The mosque is assessing the volume of the speakers and how far the sound reaches, he said.

"We are thinking that it should be less than one kilometer because there in that direction, I think there are offices in that direction. There are residential areas. So we also will visit and check to see what they are thinking because our priority is the neighbors."

He would like to engage in conversation with those who are unsure and may be following hatred blindly, he said.

Regina police say threats against downtown mosque are hate crimes

"The door is open, right? Anytime, anybody, they want to come, you know, and meet and greet and talk, right? So we can find out what exactly is the problem, what do we need to do to resolve this problem, right? I think that is important."

Mike Sinclair, a priest at St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, delivered a message of support.

"I'm your neighbor directly across the street. We're the oldest place of worship downtown. You'll now be the newest. And so I just wanted to say welcome and thank you," he told Rahaman.

"We're glad that you're here and we're here to work together and we support fully your presence here, your expression here and look forward to getting to know you. So thanks for being here."

Regina police issued a statement saying they are "aware of threats being made in relation to [the call to prayer] and, in response, an enhanced police presence will be visible around Muslim places of gathering.

Threats will be taken seriously and investigated under recently enhanced Canadian hate crimes legislation."

Randi LaRocque is a Métis woman working as a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan. She can be reached at randi.larocque@cbc.ca