This Egyptian woman is making waves in the US!

Rana Abdel Hamid, an Egyptian woman living in the US has just made history by getting permission to raise the sound of Adhan during the 5 Muslim prayers in her city of Astoria, Oregon!

It’s been 31 years since this beautiful call to prayer has been heard loudly on the streets! Rana’s mom, Mona al-Baghdadi, was so thrilled that she shared a video of the Adhan being played through the loudspeaker in Astoria. She exclaimed, “Thank God, the sound of Adhan is now heard on the streets of Astoria for the first time.”

31 years later, Egyptian American Rana Abdelhamid finally gets to hear the call to prayer in her hometown Astoria!#lovincairo pic.twitter.com/8a4fgm0Oi0

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— Lovin Cairo (@LovinCairo) March 29, 2023

Excitement is an understatement

Abdelhamid shared her excitement on Facebook and explained that she has thankfully obtained three permits to raise the sound of Adhan for the mosques in Astoria where she grew up. Soon enough, everyone in the neighborhood will be able to hear the beautiful call to prayer while taking a stroll.

Rana made sure to explain this significance to her non-Muslim friends, highlighting how the call to prayer adds a touch of nostalgia for their communities:

Historic news!!! Just a NY Muslim girl in Ramadan with three Athan sound permits for the Astoria mosques she was raised in

Meaning you will be walking down Steinway street and hearing the call to prayer *outloud* very soon. For those who don’t know, Muslims pray five times a day, in those prayers we have a beautiful call to prayer, that in Muslim majority contexts gets called out loud. It’s often what our communities become most nostalgic for. For a neighborhood that was targeted post 9/11, our ability to be unapologetic in our worship feels so powerful in this moment. For so long we felt like we had to be under the radar, but when @newyorkmuslims hosted Townhall and spoke with our Muslim neighbors the thing that just kept coming up was a desire to have the call to prayer be called out loud. If church bells can ring, why can’t our prayer be made visible too? I remember someone saying. And Alhamdulilah @salrajput and so many on our team hustled, coordinating with local leaders, writing proposals to make this moment possible and I cannot be more in joy, especially during Ramadan! Here’s to our streets being unapologetically reflective of our most authentic spaces.

Here’s to building a Queens and NYC where all minoritized people can create their full and authentic communities!!!!!!!