An airline is investigating the removal of two imams from a flight headed to North Carolina, ostensibly because passengers felt uncomfortable with their presence of the pair — both clad in Islamic attire.
The incident occurred Friday on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight from Tennessee to North Carolina and it involved Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were wearing traditional Muslim dress, CNN affiliate WCNC reported.
The two — who hold high religious positions in the Muslim community — were headed to North Carolina for a conference on prejudice against Muslims, or Islamaphobia. The meeting is sponsored by the North American Imams Federation.
Rahman, who is a professor at the University of Memphis, told the affiliate that the incident reminded him of the prejudice Rosa Parks faced during the civil rights movement.
“That history I found today in that plane, and it shouldn’t happen with any other person,” he said.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines, which operated the flight, said the incident is under investigation, and apologized “for any inconvenience that this may have caused.”
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, told CNN the two men contacted his office and said they were told that passengers were uncomfortable with them on the flight.
“They went through security, even went through secondary security, and got on the plane, were taxiing out,” he said.
But then, they were taxied back, Hooper said.
“TSA came on and pulled them off and said the pilot was refusing to fly with them because passengers were uncomfortable with them,” Hooper said, referring to the Transportation Security Administration.
Hooper said officials re-screened them and found they were no threat.
While officials tried to get the men back on the plane, “the pilot absolutely refused and ultimately took off,” Hooper said.
The airlines did not say why the two men were taken off the flight, but said they were given the opportunity to fly on a different flight.
“Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 5452 from Memphis to Charlotte returned to the gate to allow for additional screening of a passenger and the passenger’s companion,” the statement said. “We take security and safety very seriously, and the event is currently under investigation.”
(Source: CNN)
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15 Responses
While these 2 may be innocent and harmless no one can forget what their co-relionists have done in the past on airplanes. The fear is understandable.
Hero pilots!!
If it’s ok to remove them, then it is also ok to remove the boy who decided to wear tefillin .
Comparing themselves to Rosa Parks? Gimme a break.
Some passengers are uncomfortable with frum-looking Jews, too — and there have been plenty of examples of frum Jews causing problems by insisting on praying while blocking airplane aisles. I presume the commenters here have no problem with frum Jews being prohibited from flying?
As someone who lost a great-uncle on flight 93 I understand the fears of those involved in pulling those men off the plane, however, it opens the door for racial profiling on an extreme level. Those involved in the attacks were dressed in “normal” cloths. They were trying to blend in and not draw attention to themselves. Dressing traditionally would have done just that. While I commend the pilot for his persistence when his passengers were uncomfortable, I can’t help wonder what is next.
People are not as naive as we once were. We are taking better and more precautions in our everyday lives. Paranoid? Youbetcha. Have good reason? Youbetcha.
Kudos to the Pilot, passengers and crew of flight 5452.
Excelsior!!!
I don’t blame the pilots and passengers for being uncomfortable. They are aware of the inconsistent screening performed by the TSA, especially on Arab looking people.
The article reports in the 5th paragraph: “They [i.e., men in Middle Eastern attire] went through security, even went through secondary security, and got on the plane, were taxiing out”. Perhaps the TSA should do with people in Middle Eastern atire what it does with luggage, and put a sticker on their foreheads indicated that they have been inspected and passed. The sticker should be more than a simple red dot, or people will think they are married Hindus.
This is one step away from Gestapo tactics. The pilot should be severly discipl;ined, maybe even fired for his outright racism.
charliehall #5 – Do you recall any frum Jews who blew up planes? So what are you comparing?
#3. There is a difference between Jews & Muslims; Jews don’t go around blowing themselves up, shooting missiles at buses or crashing planes into buildings with thousands of innocent people….that all should be pointed out if other passengers question a Jewish boy wearing tefillin.
“They went through security/screening.” Wonderful. Just last week, a close relative of mine walked on to a Europe-bound flight with a box of silverware (including knives)and a bottle of liquid in his carry without notice. His bag went through all the regular screenings, x-rays, etc. It was only picked up during his stopover. Maybe it was overlooked because he also had his talis and tefilin in there and not once has someone carrying those high jacked or blown up a plane. Maybe it was overlooked because he was a white USA citizen bound for Israel and never has one of those blown themselves up on a bus or plane. Maybe it was overlooked because his name did not appear on any no-fly list. Maybe it was overlooked because he did not pay cash for his ticket days or hours before the flight. Maybe it was overlooked because racial profiling. Sounds like an efficient and successful and SAFE way to me. The facts are, these Imams relate to a group of people whom at least a portion of them condone violence. Should we ignore that and the safety of 2-300 passengers at the risk of insulting two people or even delaying their arrival? When security methods will take all the facts and statistics into consideration and stop making everyone take off their shoes or go thirsty or go without their knitting needles, nail files, tooth paste, or mouthwash we will all be a lot safer.
Let’s just say that these two men were martial arts experts. And let’s just say they had a piece of material that can be broken and used as a razor sharp weapon. And let’s just say one of them used the bathroom long enough to construct a large weapon. Would you begin to worry?
“So what are you comparing?”
Supposedly frum Jews regularly violate air safety rules by insisting on praying in the aisles, even though lots and lots of poskim have said not to.