Losing Their Heads Over Prayer

If you think the flying imams have it rough, finding themselves bounced off a flight for suspicious activity, some of it loud prayers, how about the folks in Somalia who choose not to pray five times a day?

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.

Shops, tea houses and other public places in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town's Islamic court. His court is part of a network backed by armed militiamen that has taken control of much of southern Somalia in recent months, bringing a strict interpretation of Islam that is alien to many Somalis.

Those who do not follow the prayer edict after three days have elapsed, "will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law," Rage told The Associated Press by phone. "As Muslims we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do."

He said the edict, which covered only Bulo Burto, was being announced over loudspeakers throughout the town.

Speaking of the flying imams, several investigations have shown that the airline acted properly in removing the suspicious-acting characters from flight (from Special Report):

Three parallel investigations have concluded that U.S. Airways personnel acted properly when they removed six imams from a flight in Minneapolis two weeks ago. The Washington Times reports the probes were conducted by the airline, the Minneapolis police, and the air carrier security committee of the Air Line Pilots Association.

The latter report says the crew demonstrated good judgment, and that the decisions were the result of the behavior of the imams, not their ethnicity. The six men alarmed passengers by praying loudly in the terminal, then taking a seating pattern on the plane that law enforcement associates with terrorism. some of the men asked for seat belt extensions — which can be used as weapons — even though they did not appear to be seriously overweight.

Now maybe if Minneapolis had a law like that being imposed in Somalia, the imams would have been absolutely right to conduct their little prayer meeting in the airport lounge. However, absent such a law, they could have shown a little consideration for their fellow passengers (or should I say, the people who were allowed to stay on the plane).