'Not a suburb of Islamabad': Denmark revives Azaan ban proposal

Copenhagen: Denmark has revived plans to introduce a nationwide ban on the Islamic call to prayer, or azaan, as the government intensifies its push against what it describes as the growing "Islamisation" of the country.

The proposal was announced by the country's immigration minister, Morten Bodskov, who argued that public broadcasts of the azaan have no place in Denmark and said parts of the country increasingly resemble "a suburb of Islamabad", according to a report in The Daily Mail.

In strongly worded remarks to Danish news agency Ritzau, Bodskov said the growing visibility of Islam in public spaces had become a concern.

"The call to prayer should not be heard over Danish rooftops," the Leftist leader of the Social Democrats party said.

"It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn't be in any doubt whether you have ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark," Bodskov further said.

The renewed proposal comes as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's government continues to pursue some of Europe's toughest immigration and integration policies. Muslims make up around five per cent of Denmark's population, making them the country's largest minority community.

Earlier this year, Denmark enacted a law banning the Islamic full-face veil in public spaces and also instructed educational institutions to remove prayer rooms as part of its broader integration measures.

This is not the first attempt to prohibit the public call to prayer. Similar proposals were floated in 2020 and again in 2025, but neither advanced to the parliamentary stage.