Swedish mosque gets green light for prayer calls

Mosque in Stockholm suburb becomes first mosque in Sweden to be allowed to issue Friday prayer calls.

STOCKHOLM: A mosque in a Stockholm suburb has been given the green light to broadcast amplified Friday prayer calls from its minaret. This would be the first mosque to do so in Sweden, police said Thursday.

"I'm really happy and grateful," Ismail Okur, the head of the Islamic Association in the Botkyrka municipality, told Swedish news agency TT.

The association had sought permission to issue Friday prayer calls from its mosque in the suburb of Fittja, part of the Botkyrka municipality.

Police said the Fittja mosque would be allowed to issue calls lasting three to five minutes between 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm on Fridays, though strict regulations would govern the placement of the speakers. Information must also be provided to nearby residents, police said.

The Botkyrka municipality left the decision about whether to allow the prayer calls to police, saying it was not a political issue but a civic matter.

The mosque was built in 2007 and counts some 1,500 members.

Okur said it had not yet been decided when the mosque would begin the prayer calls.