Omar Shahin, the spokesperson for six imams thrown off of a US Air flight at Minneapolis International on Monday, is now calling for imams the world over to boycott the airline. In part, it is because US Air apparently refused to sell them new tickets this morning. Why they might have done that is still unclear, but a MAC spokeman sheds light on why passengers may have responded poorly on the plane yesterday, in paragraph 14 of the Trib story:
Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said that witnesses to Monday's events told police that before the flight that besides praying, the imams were spouting anti-American rhetoric, talking about the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
One of the imams was heard saying that he would do whatever is necessary to fulfill his commitment to the Qur'an, witnesses told police, Hogan said. Other witnesses said some of the imams were repeating "Allah, Allah," he said.
And a couple of the imams asked for seat-belt extensions, even though it did not appear they needed them, Hogan said.
All of this made passengers, the attendants and the pilot uncomfortable, Hogan said.
It would make me uncomfortable too, especially after seeing Shahin's former relationships to so-called charities.
The Trib story begs another question:
...the meeting drew about 150 imams from all over the country...
If this incident is just a case of afraid Americans overreacting with prejudice, why did it not occur on other flights as well? Apparantly we had imams flying all over the country yesterday. As far as I know, this is the only case in which they were removed from a plane.
On a more personal level, I just want to express my support for Shahin's proposed imam boycott. Who are we kidding? I can't tell the difference between a muslim terrorist and a muslim who refuses to speak out against terrorism any more than you can.
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