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December 6, 2006
US: Muslim Woman Thinks Gym Is A Prayer Room
A report from the Detroit News describes how a Muslim woman has been using a gymnasium as her own prayer room, and has decided to make a public fuss when her prayer sessions were interrupted by a woman patron.
The Muslim woman, from Dearborn in Michigan, is Wardeh Sultan. She claims that she has used the gymnasium, a branch of Fitness USA, for seven or eight years, and has "never had a problem with praying there".
She says that she complained that her religious rituals were interrupted, and was told by the manager: "You have to respect her (the woman who interrupted Sultan), but she does not have to respect your God."
Sultan told the manager "I can't believe you said that...Honestly, I feel humiliated and I feel ashamed, right now, to go back to Fitness USA."
I cannot personally imagine how this case is to be taken as a breach of her rights. The gymnasium is what it says it is. If a Muslim intends to bow down on the floor and get in the way of patrons who are there to exercise, perhaps that Muslim should choose the times when she comes to a fitness arena.
But, stupid though this case is, the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has filed a case of discrimination against Fitness USA on Sultan's behalf. Imad Hamad, regional director of the group said: "They (Muslims) are resenting that they are to be suppressed from expressing themselves freely, like others. It's OK for a Christian fellow or a Jewish fellow to pray, and it would be regarded highly and respected. When it comes to a person of Muslim faith, especially if a woman is wearing the head cover or a man with a typical clergy outfit, yeah, it is becoming like something that is offensive to people and making them nervous."
I doubt if Jewish or Christian patrons of gymnasiums hold their prayers kneeling down on the floor where other people are expected to pass. The argument by Hamad is spurious, and irrelevant.
Sultan is a Jordanian-born Palestinian who wears a veil, who says she came to the US 17 years ago to "avoid intolerance". She said: "We're here in the great United States and for this happening, it truly breaks my heart. You know, things are starting to change backwards, instead of frontward. We need to keep this United States, our country, up on our shoulders. We don't want it to go down."
Perhaps one of the things which is making America "go down" is the attitude of people like Wardeh Sultan and Imad Hamad, who appear to believe that their rights to do whatever they like whenever they like must be respected at all times.
A gymnasium is a gymnasium, and not a mosque. Fitness USA has already modified its dress code to allow Muslim women to attire themselves more "modestly". It should ban Wardeh Sultan for being a deliberate trouble-maker.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 6, 2006 9:46 AM
Comments
Would it be ok for me to go jogging in a mosque and tell all those people grovelling on the floor to shift their ar$es as they're in my way?
Posted by: Celsius ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.westernresistance.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 6, 2006 1:24 PM
don't be surprised, remember that the holy koran states muslim women possess half a brain.
Posted by: StillFedUp at December 6, 2006 3:07 PM
These people are a real scream. They go to mosque to learn jihad and demand prayer areas in airports and gyms. I thought a mosque was a place of worship. Silly me. I just keep learning more and more about this crazy cult every day.
"Our country...."We don't want it to go down". No, of course not, you just want to take it over.
Posted by: pigtails not veils at December 6, 2006 11:57 PM
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