By: Abdirahman Aynte

Fellow, The Center for Independent Media

Minneapolis, MN (HOL)- Six Muslim Imams were removed Monday from US Airways flight bound to their home in Phoenix, but they flew back Tuesday on Northwest Airlines impromptu ticket. The men originally flew on US Airways on their way to Minneapolis.

Five of the Imams are from Phoenix area and one is from California.

“This is a discrimination against Imams,” said visibly irked Imam Omar Shahin, who led the groups’ unsuccessful negotiation with US Airways supervisor. “We Love America, but we condemn this action.”

“We call Muslims and non-Muslims to boycott US Airways until they change their policies.”

The unnamed US Airways supervisor gave no reason for her refusal to transport the Imams, despite being cleared by the Police, FBI and the Secret Service the night before. But she asked the Imams to “please leave the counter,” after Shahin repeatedly asked her to sale him six new tickets after previous tickets were invalidated. She offered him a “customer satisfaction phone number,” but Shahin wasn’t interested.

It wasn’t immediately cleared if US Airways refunded the Imams’ tickets.

The Imams were among 170 Muslim leaders from around the country, who gathered in Minneapolis over the weekend for the fourth annual conference of North American Imams Federation (NAIF). The FBI was invited, but has not attended the conference, according to the Imams.

The Imams were removed from US Airways flight on Monday evening, apparently after a passenger notified the airline staff of a suspicious, anti-American sentiment coming out of the them.

One of the Imams, Ahmed Shqeirp, whose cell phone was saturated with media calls, denied of such accusations. He also denied that they refused to get off the plane when asked by the pilot.

“In fact, the pilot misled the passengers by telling them that he’s delaying the take off due to some paper work,” he said.

“The fact is that only three of us decided to say the evening prayer in the terminal, not inside the plane as was falsely circulated,” he said.

Muslims are allowed to merge their daily five prayers into three while traveling. Shqeirp said the three who were praying, “performed their prayers quietly in an isolated corner.”

Asked if praying in airports is a good idea to continue, the Imams said while they wouldn’t bend for a social pressure, they will consider alternatives.

In response to the accusations that the Imams were chanting “Allah,” Shqeirp said that some people might have discerned it in the context of “Allahu Akbar,” which’s the phrase Muslims use throughout the prayer’s motions.

Local and national reaction

What it boils down to, says Dr. Waleed Meneese, the Imam of Daralfarooq mosque in Southeast Minneapolis, “is that the faith of 1.5 billion people is becoming a suspicious practice in America.”

Imam Meneese, a ranking member of NAIF and co-organizer of the Minneapolis conference, hosted the six Imams at his home after they were refused to fly.

“Our community feels injured by this incident,” he said.

Imam Shqeirp said that they were “treated as if they were terrorists.” He and the other five Imams were handcuffed and questioned for hours, while police dogs sniffed their luggage.

Airport trouble is not new to me, Shqeirp said, “but I’ve never been handcuffed.” A big “S” meaning “select” stamped on my ticket, he said, is routine as I travel around the country. “And that’s understandable,” he said.

In Washington, Corey Saylor, the government affairs director for Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR),characterized the incident as a “Muslim stereotyping,” and said it was “deeply troubling.”

Saylor said his organization is examining options to lodge a complaint with the appropriate authorities, to “determine if proper procedures were followed.”

In Phoenix, “a special homecoming” that features “Muslim, Christian and Jewish friends is awaiting to receive the Imams in celebration and solidarity,” said Mohamed Abu Hanud, a civil rights officer at CAIR’s Arizona chapter.

Abdirahman Aynte can be reached at Ceynte@hiiraan.com

Source: HOL, Nov 21, 2006