HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In January 2023, the Hamtramck City Council approved allowing the killing of animals for religious purposes by a 3-2 vote.
Muslims kill animals as a sacrifice in the celebration of the holy holiday Eid al-Adha.
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There has been a culture clash in Arab communities in southeastern Michigan.
Dearborn and Hamtramck – two cities with large Muslim populations – have run into controversies due to actions not in sync with popular American thinking.
Animal sacrifice for religious purposes was one of the flash points.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the practice of animal sacrifice on the basis of religious freedom in its 1993 case Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah.
Hamtramck is known for its Muslim-majority population and its Muslim controlled City Council.
In 2024, the city renamed a street Palestine Avenue in a show of support for Palestinians.
Less than 10 miles southwest of Hamtramck, the city of Dearborn has created controversy with its call to prayer broadcast multiple times a day and a street naming of its own.
Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, a Muslim, brought a national spotlight on the Muslim practices of his city when at a September city council meeting he told a Christian man he was not welcomed in the city.
Political activists then came to Dearborn and highlighted the call to prayer that is broadcast on loud speakers in certain sections of the city. The prayer blast starts as early at 5:30 a.m. It’s a practice that goes back in Dearborn to at least 1979.
In September, the city also renamed part of a street after Osama Siblani, who has praised Hezbollah leaders as “heroes.”
Hezbollah is recognized as a terrorist organization by the United States.
A January 2025 Harvard Caps/Harris poll found that 79% of U.S. voters support Israel over Hamas.
“The Middle East Forum’s dictum is that ‘radical Islam is the problem; moderate Islam is the solution,’” said Dexter Van Zile, managing editor of Focus on Western Islamism, a news outlet produced by the Middle East Forum. “Naming streets after terrorists indicates that we’re a long way’s off from seeing the ascendency of moderate Islam in Hamtramck. By naming streets after terrorist supporters, Muslim politicians are promoting an ideology that I call ‘Muslim Male Supremacism.’”
Van Zile added that the challenges Muslim face in updating their faith are not unique.
“Christian and Jewish leaders had to make serious changes in how their faith has been practiced in a changing world,” Van Zile said. “After the destruction of the Second Temple, Jewish leaders were forced to change how their community practiced its faith while remaining connected to the divine. After the Holocaust, Christian leaders had to reinterpret their scriptures and abandon the antisemitism that had been passed down to them by their church fathers. A similar process needs to take place in Islam in the 21st century. Muslim leaders tell us they worship a loving, compassionate and merciful God. Naming streets after terrorists contradicts this message.”
