Allahu akbar: What is the Takbir?

The Mayor of Venice has said that anyone who shouts it in his city will be gunned down, but the phrase has great significance to many

Muezzin, Iran
A muezzin calling worshippers to prayer in Tehran, Iran, 1952
(Image credit: Three Lions/Getty Images)

The Mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnaro has this week claimed that anyone caught shouting the Islamic phrase "Allahu akbar" in St Mark's Square will be shot "within three steps".

Brugnaro is no stranger to controversy, having banned books on homosexuality from Venetian schools, but his latest threat may prove "difficult" to carry out, writes Business Insider, as the phrase is used as part of Muslim prayer up to 20 times a day.

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