Acceding to demands from Islamic organizations sponsored by the Turkish government, the city of Cologne, once a stronghold of Christendom in Germany, has authorized mosques in the city to begin sounding Muslim calls to prayer over outdoor loudspeakers. 

The move, ostensibly aimed at promoting multicultural diversity and inclusion, represents a significant step toward the cultural normalization of Islam in Germany. It is taking German multiculturalism into uncharted territory.

Observers believe that Cologne — famous for its cathedral, the largest Gothic church in northern Europe — is establishing a national precedent, and that many of the more than 3,000 mosques in Germany will soon also begin publicly calling Muslims to prayer. They say that German towns and cities will evoke the sounds and images of the Islamic Middle East.

Effective immediately, all mosques and Islamic centers in Cologne may apply for a permit to call the Muslim faithful to prayer for five minutes every Friday between noon and 3pm. The sonorous prayer calls (known as adhan in Arabic) can be heard from great distances when amplified through outdoor loudspeakers atop minarets, the tower-like structures on mosques.

The prayer calls are part of a so-called model project (Modellprojekt) that will last for two years, after which a decision will be made on whether to make the Muslim calls to prayer a permanent feature of life in...