6 Imams Returning from Conference Detained for Looking too Islamic

www.cnn.com...

The six Muslim scholars were returning from a conference in Minneapolis of the North American Imams Federation, said Shahin, president of the group. Five of them were from the Phoenix-Tempe area, while one was from Bakersfield, California, he said.

Three of them stood and said their normal evening prayers together on the plane, as 1.7 billion Muslims around the world do every day, Shahin said. He attributed any concerns by passengers or crew to ignorance about Islam.

"I never felt bad in my life like that," he said. "I never. Six imams. Six leaders in this country. Six scholars in handcuffs. It's terrible."

This is really shameful IMO. The air carrier made a mistake, and removed 6 men from a plane for the benefit of terror-stricken passengers. They compounded that mistake by refusing to fly the six men home. Discrimination based on poor judgement, paranoia, ignorance, and prejudice - pure and simple.

This is the result of all the war on terror nonsense - we're allowing our xenophobia to rise to the surface and pollute everything we do.

If I were a muslim, I don't think I would be patronizing these air carriers. Why should paying customers, and more importantly - innocent citizens of the united states, be treated like criminals simply because of their appearance or the fact that they have a religion in common with some criminals?

It's not the American way - or at least, it's not the accepted, openly-discussed, admirable 'American Way', even if it is showing our true colours I'm disgusted by them nonetheless.

Anyway, I won't be flying US Airways again - my beard might freak out some brainless passenger and cause me a whole bunch of hassle I really don't need.

I'm fairly sure mine isn't the only business they'll lose over this incident.

I see there's another thread with more replies on the same subject - here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'm closing this one, please direct your responses to the above link.