Muslims Want Prayer Rooms in Airports

It's hard to figure out just what the motivation was for the Flying Imams of Minneapolis, but one outcome may be prayer rooms in airports:

Airport officials said Friday they will consider setting aside a private area for prayer and meditation at the request of imams concerned about the removal of six Muslim clerics from a US Airways flight last week.

Steve Wareham, director of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said other airports have "meditation rooms" used for prayers or by passengers who simply need quiet time.

A group of Somali clerics met with airport officials Friday and said they would attract less attention if they had a private area for prayer. Devout Muslims pray five times daily, facing the holy city of Mecca.

"When we pray, we don't want a problem. We don't want what happened last week," said Abdulrehman Hersi, an imam at Darul-Quba mosque in Minneapolis, referring to six clerics who were barred from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis after drawing the concern of some passengers.

We don't want any problems, either, which is why cameras, microphoes and constant monitoring of the prayer rooms should be part of the deal. It wouldn't bother me, so it shouldn't bother them.

They're supposed to be nonsectarian, but how comfortable would you be walking into a prayer room and seeing several Muslim men on the floor with their butts in the air? My guess is these rooms will quickly become infidel-free zones.