Now that the city of Cologne has allowed 35 mosques to publicly sound the muezzin call, the well-known Cologne author, blogger, presenter, director, comedian and actor Gerd Buurmann has asked the municipality when he may sound an atheist call to prayer across Cologne. A provocation that is both dangerous for Buurmann and urgently needed for all of us.

“There is no god but Allah, Mohammed is Allah’s messenger. Hurry to prayer.” – At the beginning of October, the city of Cologne announced that this cry of confession would soon be heard in Cologne. Mayor Henriette Reker had started a two-year “pilot project” that would allow the city’s 35 mosques to publicly sound the call from the mosques’ loudspeakers across the city’s neighbourhoods.

On October 15, 2021, the well-known Cologne artist, moderator and blogger Gerd Burrmann then posed the following question to the municipality of Cologne regarding religious freedom:

“Herewith I ask for clarification of the question, during which time of the week I may let the following call resound loudly via electronic amplification across the streets and over the roofs of Cologne:

It took the “Diversity Team” of the cathedral city a whole 7 days to send Buurmann a standard answer – presumably in the folder “Answers to critical letters on the muezzin call” – which does not address the question at all:

“Allah is not great! I believe that there is no God, not even Allah. I declare that Mohammed was not a messenger of God. Stop the prayer! On to the best doubting! On to heresy! Allah is not great! There is no God, not even Allah!”

In Germany, freedom of religion is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 4 of the Basic Law. The EU also has a similar understanding of rights. For many years, Islam, “like many other religions, has been an integral part of German society”. Moreover, during the restrictions on the (alleged) Corona pandemic, muezzin calls within the city area were tolerated daily at midday and during Ramadan 2020 also daily at midday. For this reason, the city of Cologne had decided to implement a model project, initially limited to two years. A concrete answer to Buurmann’s question one looks in vain for.

The Cologne blogger has now followed up on this reply letter, which was completely meaningless with regard to his request:

“Dear Diversity Team,

You probably made an unfortunate mistake, because you sent me an email that was obviously intended for someone else, as my question is not answered there. I hope you can still find out who this reply was actually intended for.

Can you please answer my question? It is: I ask for clarification of the question, during which time of the week I may let the following call resound loudly via electronic amplification through the streets and over the roofs of Cologne:

“Allah is not great! I believe that there is no God, not even Allah. I declare that Mohammed was not a messenger of God. Stop the prayer! On to the best doubting! On to heresy! Allah is not great! There is no God, not even Allah!”

Especially for all those people who were persecuted, oppressed, tortured and humiliated in the name of Islam, it can definitely mean something if we also take these biographies into account in our cosmopolitan city. In this way, the interests of people suffering under Islam here are also represented and their individual history with Islam is accepted.

People suffering from fundamentalist Islam, many of them born here, are an integral part of Cologne’s urban society. Anyone who doubts this questions Cologne’s identity and individual stories of suffering. When we hear the call of critics of Islam in our city alongside the call of the muezzin, it shows that diversity is valued and lived in Cologne.

My question is: When may the rejection of Islam, loudly amplified in word and sound, regularly and peacefully presented, resound over Cologne?”

Anyone who knows a little about the excessively violent religious zeal of some Muslims compared to other religions knows the danger Buurmann is putting himself in with such a request. Against this background, the actions of the city of Cologne so far must be seen as simply inhumane.

https://philosophia-perennis.com/2021/10/24/muezzinruf-in-koeln-regisseur-fordert-erlaubnis-auch-fuer-anti-islamischen-bekenntnisruf/