Denmark’s immigration minister has announced plans to ban the Islamic call to prayer, claiming parts of the country felt like “a suburb of Islamabad”.

Morten Bødskov, a member of the centre-Left Social Democrats party, said the new government would resume an investigation into the legality of imposing a ban.

“The call to prayer should not be heard over Danish rooftops,” the minister told news outlet Ritzau. “It has no place in Denmark, and you shouldn’t be in any doubt whether you’ve ended up in a suburb of Islamabad when you walk around Denmark.” In parts of the country, such as Copenhagen, bylaws already forbid the call to prayer being broadcast from loudspeakers in minarets because of strict noise limits.

Mr Bødskov also claimed that a creeping “Islamisation” in Denmark was “taking up too much of the public space”.

The Adhan, or call to prayer, is performed five times a day to summon Muslim worshippers to their mosque, traditionally via loudspeakers in minarets. It is the third time a Danish immigration minister has tried to build a legal framework for banning the call to prayer, after similar attempts by the Social Democrats in 2020 and 2025. Denmark has imposed some of the toughest migration rules in Europe under Mette Frederiksen, the country’s Left-leaning prime minister, who began her third term earlier this month. Under its so-called “ghetto” laws, Danish authorities are allowed to force migrants to relocate from a neighbourhood if it has too many foreign residents. In some cases, asylum seekers are required to give up their jewellery and other valuable possessions to cover their housing costs, and they receive no financial support if their claim is rejected.