Senior officials at Oxford Central Mosque are revising their previous plans to broadcast the call to prayer from its minaret via loudspeakers.The mosque in Manzil Way off Cowley Road, currently has a short-wave radio transmitter to send out the two-minute call to prayer, “adhan,” direct to the homes of worshippers, of whom about 100 have purchased receivers.A new management committee has been elected at the mosque to ensure that a “proper consultation” takes place with the mosque’s neighbours.Secretary General Altaf Hussain told the Oxford Mail, "The issue of using loudspeakers is being reviewed and we would like to make it very clear a proper consultation will be held and only after that any final decision will be made.”"There is no limit to the amount of time the consultation may take, because there is no rush and at the moment there is no need also,” he said. "But we will be getting in touch with our neighbourhood to give them a chance to air their views. Those who hold views against the matter will be respected."The Rev Adam Romanis, vicar of SS Mary and John Church, in Cowley Road, the nearest church to the mosque, said he believed the issue had been blown out of proportion.He went on to state that the mosque is a neighbour of the church, and that he liked the idea of a mutual dialogue between the two institutions.He said, "I like that idea of each of us, on either side of the Cowley Road, each standing for what we stand for, which in many ways is the same thing, and in others which is different and distinct.”"I have got a lot of sympathy with the idea, although I think there are questions that need to be thought about carefully before it went ahead," he added.
