The aliens among us

One day this past January (the same day I gave a talk about Islam at an Act for America meeting), I needed a belt and walked into a little discount men’s clothing store in my neighborhood in Manhattan. It’s a narrow, hole-in-the-wall kind of store, with a space in the front, and then some racks, and another space toward the back. I said to the man in the front of the store that I needed a belt, and he pointed me toward the rear area. I walked there, and before I knew what was happening I suddenly felt a hand pushing back against me and found a huge black man standing right in front of me, standing sideways in relation to me, facing toward my left. I became aware of him in the same instant in which he shoved his hand at me, keeping me away from him. He had a large shaved head with numerous vertical scars running down the side of his face. Then I realized he had his hands in a position of prayer, and was in the act of prostrating himself, getting down on his knees. He had used his hand to stop me in order to prevent me from interfering in his prayer. This was in a retail clothing store, on a weekday afternoon. The black man, presumably an employee, was praying in the middle of the store, with the store open for customers. They didn’t even close the store for a few minutes for the man to perform his devotions so that customers innocently looking for a shirt or a tie wouldn’t inadvertently find themselves in the middle of a Muslim prayer session. The first man had directed me to the rear part of the store even as the second man was standing there about to commence his prayers or perhaps had already commenced them. They are colonizers and they know it. I turned in shock and walked out, saying angrily to the first man, evidently the manager, who looked like a Mideastern Muslim, not a black, “Jesus Christ!” I shouldn’t have taken Jesus’ name in vain, but that’s what I said. Though maybe, under the circumstances, it was just the right thing to say.

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Matthew writes:

This reminds me of a recent experience in my University located in heavily Muslim East London. I was walking through my department and suddenly became aware of two men praying in one of the landings! A friend of mine who worked in the library was given the unpleasant task of asking praying men and women to take their business elsewhere (praying was considered a fire hazard). He found this very difficult.

Further, this university has a “multi-faith centre” so there is no excuse for public prayer. Last year all students were emailed the timetable for said centre and Muslims easily had 80 percent of the bookings, with Jews, Christians, and Hindus sharing the rest. In fact, the email was issued because of pre-exam revision when the library had extended hours so automatically the multi-faith centre needed longer hours to aid the devoted.

Personally I feel public prayer is an ostentatious act designed to demonstrate power over the indigenous infidels.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 08, 2010 07:00 AM | Send