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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Muslims detained at prayer seek understanding |
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| Moe_D |
| 11/03/05 at 22:14:54 |
| Muslims detained at prayer seek understanding By Gelu Sulugiuc Thu Nov 3,12:43 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Five Muslims who were detained after praying at an American football game want to turn the incident into a tool to teach Americans about Islam. ADVERTISEMENT While at a New York Giants against New Orleans Saints game at Giants Stadium on September 19, the New Jersey residents were removed from their seats and questioned by FBI agents after other fans saw them bow to the ground as part of the five-daily Muslim prayers. "As Muslims, we just have to pray when it's time to pray," Sami Shaban told a news conference in New York on Wednesday. "We thought nothing of it. I pray in malls, I pray everywhere." The 27-year-old law school student said he and his friends were questioned for about 25 minutes, missing part of the second half of the game. After they were released, an FBI agent told him they had been unwitting victims of racial profiling, Shaban said. The FBI said the men were questioned because they congregated near an air duct at the stadium, not because they were praying. But the men dismissed that explanation. "Let's be real here, if anybody with my description even scratches their ear, people get nervous," said Mostafa Khalifa, 27, who, like Shaban, wears a long beard and was among those detained. "I did nothing wrong, I should not change." He pointed out that football players often huddle and pray on the sideline as a teammate attempts a game-winning kick in the waning seconds of a game. The fans said they would like to turn the incident into an opportunity to teach Americans about Islamic traditions. They teamed up with the Council on American-Islamic Relations and invited anybody interested to join them in celebrating the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan along with thousands of worshipers in New Jersey on Thursday or Friday. "We want to stop profiling. The more that people learn about Islam, the more tolerant they become," said Wissam Nasr, the council's executive director in New York. Shaban said he has made giving Muslims a good name in the United States his life's purpose. "I've been a Giants fan since I was like six years old," he said. "I don't want it to be that any time a Muslim goes to a Giants game they can't enjoy the game ... because of the length of our beard or the way that we are." |
| Re: Muslims detained at prayer seek understanding |
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| bhaloo |
| 11/03/05 at 22:41:45 |
| [slm] Wow, that's kinda scary that they were stopped for praying in public. Anyone else have any incidences like this? ??? |
| Re: Muslims detained at prayer seek understanding |
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| abdullahcohn |
| 11/04/05 at 05:20:10 |
| France bans Muslims from wearing Hijab and The Americans ban Muslims from praying. It should be clear to everyone that all the Nations of Cross worship are at war with Allah and his worshipers. Or maybe it is to do with the fact that most Americans are racist. And America is a racist nation built on the blood of the red man with the sweat of the black. They killed millions of natives to creat their evil nation and celebrait this fact. They inslaved millions of blacks to make their nation great! They celebrait independence day, when they know it ment no independence to the reds they killed and the blacks they inslaved. They are an evil nation. America is the opposite of Islam. They invade and attack nation after nation to spread their evil ideology. They poisen the Earth with toxins and melt the ice caps with carbondioxide. They murder their own children with abortion and Allow sodomite perverts to marry each other. the sooner Allah destroys America the better. |
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