The Muezzini will call for prayers every Friday between 12.00 and 15.00 for five minutes. The volume will be determined by the location of the mosque. The mosque community must choose a contact person who will answer questions and handle complaints. Cologne’s mosques will have to apply for a special permit to call muezzins, which currently takes place mostly through reproduced recordings.
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Approximately 5.5 million Muslims live in Germany, a third of them in North Rhine-Westphalia. There are currently around 3,000 mosques in Germany, of which only about one percent call on muezzins to pray. The call to the muezzin was first heard in 1985 in Düren. The court then had to decide on the permit.
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About 120,000 Muslims live in Cologne, one million, and the Muslim community there is one of the largest in all of Germany. By comparison, 250,000 to 300,000 Muslims live in Berlin, which is about nine percent of the population. Most local Muslims are of Turkish descent. About 60 years ago, the first generation of gastarbeiters came here, who later brought their families.
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