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ISLAM

Frenchman held in Dakar over ‘insulting’ Islam

A French national has been remanded in custody in Senegal over charges of "insulting" Islam, judicial sources told AFP on Saturday.

Published: 30 October 2016 12:17 CET
Frenchman held in Dakar over 'insulting' Islam
The man is accused of insulting the Prophet during an argument with his employer. Photo: Seyllou / AFP file picture

The Frenchman appeared before a judge on Thursday, and has been remanded in custody and held at the main prison in Dakar since, one source said.

“He had an argument with his boss and he insulted the Prophet (Mohammed), the Koran and all the Muslim community,” the source added.

Another judicial source confirmed the incident, adding that the Frenchman was now being held in Dakar's main jail in Rebeuss.

“His employer filed a complaint against him for breach of trust,” the source said, adding that the Frenchman was accused of misappropriating money intended for an ailing colleague.

After an argument with his employer, the Frenchman sent text messages “insulting” Muslims, the source said.

The court charged the man on several counts, including breach of trust and insulting religion.

The L'Observateur daily said on Saturday the employer's complaint referred to “the sacrilegious text messages that his employee sent”, which referred to Mohammed.

Speaking to AFP, a French diplomatic source confirmed the man's arrest, adding that it was made after the argument with the employer.

“We don't have any other details. justice will take its course,” the source said.

In January 2015, Senegal banned the publication of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and the Liberation daily, when they reprinted a cartoon of the Islamic Prophet.

More than 92 percent of Senegal's population of 14 million are Muslims.

ISLAM

Mosques in Cologne to start broadcasting the call to prayer every Friday

The mayor of Cologne has announced a two-year pilot project that will allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer on the Muslim day of rest each week.

Published: 11 October 2021 10:28 CEST
Mosques in Cologne to start broadcasting the call to prayer every Friday
The DITIP mosque in Cologne. Photo: dpa | Henning Kaiser

Mosques in the city of the banks of the Rhine will be allowed to call worshippers to prayer on Fridays for five minutes between midday and 3pm.

“Many residents of Cologne are Muslims. In my view it is a mark of respect to allow the muezzin’s call,” city mayor Henriette Reker wrote on Twitter.

In Muslim-majority countries, a muezzin calls worshippers to prayer five times a day to remind people that one of the daily prayers is about to take place.

Traditionally the muezzins would call out from the minaret of the mosque but these days the call is generally broadcast over loudspeakers.

Cologne’s pilot project would permit such broadcasts to coincide with the main weekly prayer, which takes place on a Friday afternoon.

Reker pointed out that Christian calls to prayer were already a central feature of a city famous for its medieval cathedral.

“Whoever arrives at Cologne central station is welcomed by the cathedral and the sound of its church bells,” she said.

Reker said that the call of a muezzin filling the skies alongside church bells “shows that diversity is both appreciated and enacted in Cologne”.

Mosques that are interested in taking part will have to conform to guidelines on sound volume that are set depending on where the building is situated. Local residents will also be informed beforehand.

The pilot project has come in for criticism from some quarters.

Bild journalist Daniel Kremer said that several of the mosques in Cologne were financed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, “a man who opposes the liberal values of our democracy”, he said.

Kremer added that “it’s wrong to equate church bells with the call to prayer. The bells are a signal without words that also helps tell the time. But the muezzin calls out ‘Allah is great!’ and ‘I testify that there is no God but Allah.’ That is a big difference.”

Cologne is not the first city in North Rhine-Westphalia to allow mosques to broadcast the call to prayer.

In a region with a large Turkish immigrant community, mosques in Gelsenkirchen and Düren have been broadcasting the religious call since as long ago as the 1990s.

SEE ALSO: Imams ‘made in Germany’: country’s first Islamic training college opens its doors

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