Moslem prayers on the plane: not such a good idea
Yes, the airline overreacted. Yes, the man who complained was a drunken fool.
But...
There's a case to be made for suspicion when a Moslem babbles to himself in Arabic on a plane. Non-Arabic speakers don't know what are the normal prayers and what is "I'll take the 72 virgins; into Thy hands I commend myself." If that's ethnic profiling, so be it. I would also be suspicious of a Christian who was babbling Christian prayers in an airplane...not that he would bring the plane down, but that he had a poor sense of boundaries and would be an unpleasant cabin-mate. In either case, there is a simple solution which does not (to my mind) violate the religious rights of those concerned: say the prayers in your head. What, is Allah so deaf that He can't hear what you're thinking?
And in related news: passengers are doing their own ethnic profiling.
This is the worst sort of collectivist judgement. It is also the wave of the future. Look, and weep.
Comments
Posted by: Jo
Posted on: August 20, 2006 07:36 AM
Interestingly enough, that article links this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=401315&in_page_id=1770.
This was more or less confirmed a few years ago by an Air Force friend of mine in Washington.
Posted by: Jeffrey Quick
Posted on: August 20, 2006 08:05 PM
I don't think about that a great deal, because it doesn't really change the relevant fact about Flight 93...that Will was exercised by the passengers. (93: not just a good idea; it's the Law). Actually, all stories about 93 could be true: the passengers rushed the cabin, the terrorists decided to bring it down, and at that point it was shot down. Even if true, in the big picture offing a planeload of authentic American Heroes is pretty trivial, and not something I'm going to get upset about, because they had rational and just cause to do so. And if you were a moonbat who thought that 9/11 was orchestrated by Chimpy Bushitler, then another planeload on top of the rest of the victims is just frosting on the cake.
Posted by: jeffrey smith
Posted on: August 20, 2006 11:05 PM
If shariah follows similar reasoning as halachah, then saying the prayers aloud is required--one thereby involves one's physical self, and actualizes the prayers in the physical world--and saying them silently doesn't actually meet the requirements. However, saying them in a very low voice would meet the Jewish standard. Possibly Islam demands something louder. And there is also the bowings and kneelings which Islamic ritual calls for. Don't know how much can be skipped of those because of limited space.