Elham Asaad Buaras
Denmark’s government has revived a legal review into whether it can prohibit the public broadcasting of the Islamic call to prayer (adhan), with Immigration and Integration Minister Morten Bødskov insisting that amplified calls to prayer “have no place in Denmark.”
Speaking to Danish news agency Ritzau on June 24, Bødskov said officials would resume examining the legal basis for a possible nationwide ban on loudspeaker broadcasts of the adhan after the work was interrupted by the country’s general election.
“There should not be calls to prayer ringing out over Danish rooftops,” Bødskov said.
“It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn’t be in any doubt whether you’ve ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark.”
The minister also argued that what he described as the “Islamisation” of Denmark is “taking up too much of the public space.”
The latest review marks the third time a Social Democratic immigration minister has sought to determine whether such a ban could be introduced under Danish law.
The debate over the adhan has resurfaced repeatedly in recent years. Although Copenhagen’s Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilisation Center, commonly known as the Grand Mosque, opened in 2014, it agreed with local authorities not to broadcast the call to prayer outdoors through loudspeakers.
The issue gained national attention in April 2020, when the mosque became the first in Denmark to publicly broadcast the adhan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The call to prayer was aired on Fridays while restrictions prevented many worshippers from attending mosques, sparking a nationwide political debate over amplified religious broadcasts in public spaces.
Later that year, the Social Democratic government launched its first legal review into whether public calls to prayer could be prohibited. A second review followed in 2025 but did not lead to legislation. The latest investigation was paused after Denmark’s March generalelection and has now resumed under Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s new four-party coalition government.
Contrary to reports suggesting Denmark has already decided to outlaw the call to prayer, no ban has been adopted. Instead, the government has instructed officials to determine whether existing constitutional protections would permit legislation restricting amplified calls to prayer.
The review will examine whether such a prohibition can be reconciled with Denmark’s Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and the right to public worship while allowing certain restrictions in the public interest.
The proposal concerns only the broadcasting of the adhan through loudspeakers, not the practice of prayer itself. In practice, relatively few Danish mosques publicly broadcast the call to prayer, and many are already subject to local noise regulations.
Danish media also report that several municipalities have received little or no public opposition to the practice. Officials from a number of local authorities told Ritzau they had received either no complaints or only isolated complaints about public calls to prayer, suggesting the issue is uncommon in practice.
The Grand Mosque in Copenhagen continues not to broadcast the adhan outdoors under its agreement with local authorities, while municipal noise regulations already limit amplified sound in parts of the capital.
