In a rare victory for a religious minority in Germany, a legal study ordered by the Commissioner for Foreigners has ruled that the Islamic prayer call is the same as the ringing of church bells. Another legal study of the German Federation of City and Municipal Councils has upheld the right of Germany's Muslim community to hold prayers. It said that the muezzin's calls are protected by the Constitution if made within certain limits.

Another Article 4 of the German constitution guarantees citizens the freedom to practise their religion, the use of loudspeakers by German mosques to call the faithful to pray five times a day has led to legal complaints by non-Muslim Germans living nearby.

(Source: IANS, BONN, 29 July, 1997)