This is the reason why I have chosen to be a citizen of this country. Most of the people appreciate you for your talents and acts of goodness. You have the liberty to pray if you like, the way you like, when you like to do it. Prayer is a very personal matter between an individual and his/her CREATOR and any restrictions on it or fear about it can be a torture. I am proud to be an American and a Muslim!
Moizullah Tariq Malik comments : simple, nice, positive and very strong presentation. i think a book is badly needed on recollection of these type of simple interactions to correct misunderstanding between societies. Anyhow, i am impressed. My regards to Zahra Jamshed.
A. Muslim comments : Z.J. The situation you faced brought tears to my eyes. I salute you for your courage and dedication to the religion. You keep on doing what most of us do not have the courage for, specially after 9/11. May Allah bless you always. Ameen.
S Ramakrishnan comments : Since you have appreciated the simple courtesy of this man, let me pose you the following question:
If he were a non-Muslim (say, a "pagan") and you found him praying in your native Muslim country, would you have reciprocated his gesture to you?
I have grown up studying in Catholic School and College in Pakistan. And, always had immense respect for my teachers who were christians, parsis and also some known atheists. We had to attend all the services during the assembly reciting different hynms. I very vividly remember getting the special black-forest cakes on xmas, only for my teachers as my dear father always encouraged that.
As far as a muslim country in general is concerned, I cannot vouch for everyone. Just like I am not sure that everyone would have appreciated my offering prayer.
In general, tolerance is what's needed all over the world. You may not like and appreciate what the other person practices or believes in, but you have to be tolerant to let that person proceed how he/she wants to.
Also, I do believe in one thing and that is if you are deep down inside connected via your prayer or a link to whoever you pray to, you cannot be disrespectful to someone else's prayers. People with that sensitivity and internal light are somehow connected to each other in a very sweet way.
