Stunned Passengers after Muslim bus driver pulls overThis is a ridiculous act of showoff, the Muslim man stopping the bus in the middle of the journey to pray with a busload of passengers waiting anxiously and watching him pray. What was he doing? Impressing others that prayer is important? It is indeed important, but not inconveniencing others. If he was on his own, he should do that, but he was carrying the responsibility of public transportation.
A Prayer is between an individual and God and not an act to show off, unless it is a congregational prayer. Ridiculous acts like this causes the states to enact banning religious activities in Public Square. I hope our Imams speak about this in our Mosques. The religion of Islam allows flexibility to pray, he could have prayed earlier on or later on.
These anomalies happen in one fashion or the other in every segment of the society, the issue is what we make of it. The right wing media will entertain this story for weeks. As a Muslim, I'd laugh it off as entertainment by the devout and I request you to share stories of your devouts in your religious tradition, together we can laugh it off and move on with life.
Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer, speaker, optimist and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Co-existence, Peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His work is reflected at three websites and 22 Blogs listed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
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Passengers left stunned after Muslim bus driver pulls over and begins praying in the aisle
By Daily Mail Reporter 08th February 2010
Enlarge
The driver pulled over in his No.24 bus and began to pray in front of bemused passengers
A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers by pulling over mid-route and beginning to pray in the aisle.
The driver stopped the bus without warning before removing his shoes and, using a fluorescent jacket as a prayer mat, beginning to chant in Arabic.
Passengers said they feared the driver could be preparing for a terror attack. No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session. Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week.
Mother-of-one Miss Griffiths, 33, of Camden, north-west London, had boarded the bus a few minutes earlier on her way home from work. She says that she even feared at the time that the driver might be a fanatic planning to blow up the bus. She said: 'I have done the journey a million times before but I was in a hurry to get home to pick my little girl up from school.
'We had just picked up and let off people at a bus stop and moved off again when the driver stopped the bus very suddenly. 'He got out of his cab, leaving the engine running, and walked towards the middle exit door. 'He laid out a fluorescent jacket on the floor and I thought that somebody must have been sick and he was covering it up. 'I didn't really think much of it.
'But then he took off his shoes and began praying. I was gobsmacked and quite bewildered.'
Miss Griffiths said the bus driver didn't give the passengers any explanation as to what he was doing.
'He hadn't addressed the passengers at all,' she said. 'I didn't say anything and nor did anyone else. I thought it would all be over in 30 seconds but it went on for over five minutes.
Passenger Gayle Griffiths
'It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks. 'As the engine was running anyone could also have got in the cab and driven off with a bus full of passengers.
'He was also blocking the exit, so if something had happened we would not have been able to get off. 'Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating. 'We are delayed often enough as it is in London. 'We live in a multi-cultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.'
Transport for London said it had apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and said all Muslim drivers are being reminded that they should pray during statutory rest periods rather than hold up services. A TfL spokesman said: 'A route 24 bus was delayed following a decision by the driver to stop the bus to pray. 'The bus company, London General, has had a word with the driver as this is not something that should be happening. 'TfL apologises to passengers for any inconvenience this may have caused them.
'We understand that there is some flexibility in the Muslim faith as to the times of day that drivers can pray. 'TfL and the individual bus operating companies acknowledge and value the diversity of their staff. 'As diverse employers, TfL and the bus operators provide suitable prayer or quiet rooms at garages and other key locations for staff who wish to practise their faith.'We have asked London General to remind drivers who have a requirement to pray to use these facilities during their rest periods.'
A Prayer is between an individual and God and not an act to show off, unless it is a congregational prayer. Ridiculous acts like this causes the states to enact banning religious activities in Public Square. I hope our Imams speak about this in our Mosques. The religion of Islam allows flexibility to pray, he could have prayed earlier on or later on.
These anomalies happen in one fashion or the other in every segment of the society, the issue is what we make of it. The right wing media will entertain this story for weeks. As a Muslim, I'd laugh it off as entertainment by the devout and I request you to share stories of your devouts in your religious tradition, together we can laugh it off and move on with life.
Mike Ghouse is a thinker, writer, speaker, optimist and an activist of Pluralism, Interfaith, Co-existence, Peace, Islam and India. He is a frequent guest at the TV, radio and print media offering pluralistic solutions to issues of the day. His work is reflected at three websites and 22 Blogs listed at http://www.mikeghouse.net/
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Passengers left stunned after Muslim bus driver pulls over and begins praying in the aisle
By Daily Mail Reporter 08th February 2010
Enlarge
The driver pulled over in his No.24 bus and began to pray in front of bemused passengers
A Muslim bus driver stunned passengers by pulling over mid-route and beginning to pray in the aisle.
The driver stopped the bus without warning before removing his shoes and, using a fluorescent jacket as a prayer mat, beginning to chant in Arabic.
Passengers said they feared the driver could be preparing for a terror attack. No one was able to get on or off the vehicle during the five-minute prayer session. Passenger Gayle Griffiths complained to Transport for London about the bizarre incident on the No.24 bus in Gospel Oak, north London, this week.
Mother-of-one Miss Griffiths, 33, of Camden, north-west London, had boarded the bus a few minutes earlier on her way home from work. She says that she even feared at the time that the driver might be a fanatic planning to blow up the bus. She said: 'I have done the journey a million times before but I was in a hurry to get home to pick my little girl up from school.
'We had just picked up and let off people at a bus stop and moved off again when the driver stopped the bus very suddenly. 'He got out of his cab, leaving the engine running, and walked towards the middle exit door. 'He laid out a fluorescent jacket on the floor and I thought that somebody must have been sick and he was covering it up. 'I didn't really think much of it.
'But then he took off his shoes and began praying. I was gobsmacked and quite bewildered.'
Miss Griffiths said the bus driver didn't give the passengers any explanation as to what he was doing.
'He hadn't addressed the passengers at all,' she said. 'I didn't say anything and nor did anyone else. I thought it would all be over in 30 seconds but it went on for over five minutes.
Passenger Gayle Griffiths
'It even went through my mind that this might be some sort of terrorist attack with the bus blown up because I had heard that suicide bombers prayed before attacks. 'As the engine was running anyone could also have got in the cab and driven off with a bus full of passengers.
'He was also blocking the exit, so if something had happened we would not have been able to get off. 'Everyone was looking round in a mix of shock and amazement. It was truly bizarre, ludicrous and aggravating. 'We are delayed often enough as it is in London. 'We live in a multi-cultural society but there is a time and a place for prayer and the middle of a journey with a busload of passengers is not it.'
Transport for London said it had apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and said all Muslim drivers are being reminded that they should pray during statutory rest periods rather than hold up services. A TfL spokesman said: 'A route 24 bus was delayed following a decision by the driver to stop the bus to pray. 'The bus company, London General, has had a word with the driver as this is not something that should be happening. 'TfL apologises to passengers for any inconvenience this may have caused them.
'We understand that there is some flexibility in the Muslim faith as to the times of day that drivers can pray. 'TfL and the individual bus operating companies acknowledge and value the diversity of their staff. 'As diverse employers, TfL and the bus operators provide suitable prayer or quiet rooms at garages and other key locations for staff who wish to practise their faith.'We have asked London General to remind drivers who have a requirement to pray to use these facilities during their rest periods.'
You are welcome to share your comments;
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Please fire this guy and anyone who supports this kind of nonsense. Don't pull this stunt and endanger others please. I dont care how religious you are.
ReplyDeleteGo back to your country and do that. Showoff bastard should be promptly deported.
A Muslim or a person believing in any other religion has a right to perform his form of prayers and must do so only if it will help him grow into a better person and not become a nuisance to fellow humans or a show off. Further, he is no believer of any religion when he fails to fulfill his contractual obligation of employment - he is a cheat and is invoking disciplinary action against himself.
ReplyDeleteIslam is, at least for Muslims, their “Way of Life”. It helps them to develop into better persons and not mere idiotic ‘show offs’, hurting or disrupting others or failing in their contractual obligations of employment. It would be a different matter if that driver was carrying all Muslim passengers and was to stop enroute, at the request of his passengers to enable them to disembark and perform a congregation.
The driver in question warranted being charge-sheeted and punished.
I agree with others, I TOO AM MUSLIM but the religion doesn't force to inconvenience others at all.
ReplyDeleteHe should have known before resuming the duty that his time for prayers was approaching and should not have resumed the duty if he was too devoted.
I for one, would have prayed after completing my duty. GOD is not that rigid.
These guys needs some divine guidance in this times.
Is this true? Are we living in a world where religious fanatics also live with all the freedoms?
ReplyDeleteI respect all the religions but I do not understand that one can go to this extend to prove his religious beliefs. I am rather surprised that London transport has just taken this matter very lightly. Do they realize and understand that this act is giving more publicity to Muslim religion and more fanatics’ members of Muslim Community will sick such publicity. I only pray that such fanatics to do similar acts in countries like France where the government acts against such stupid actions. This is not a show off. It is a way of publicity. Who knows that one day they will start praying naked in the public and say that we do not want to wear foreign cloths on our body whilst we pray.
I respect all the religions and understand that all the Muslim community members do not act like this but the leaders should come out openly and criticize such stupid actions.
I am carrying my impression of the extreme patience that British people displayed one evening in Sheffield city center Bus line, some 40 years back. The driver who doubled as ticket seller, got his ticket dispenser stuck. The time was evening and the line stretched to over two blocks. Mothers with children and infants stoically waited and waited while the driver was trying to fix the machine. It took him about half an hour to fix the machine. Each minute of that half an hour I was holding my breath, expecting the waiting crowd to explode. It did not. I compared the situation with what we can expect in India. A second's delay, in traffic or in queue and the whole crowd will howl and curse. That scene got superimposed by a driver parking his bus and praying in the aisle. I am not sure how the people in the bus had behaved. Whether they shouted at him, or just stoically endured the ordeal in silence or appreciated his dedication to his calling. But the shriek that I hear around the cyber-world is more India and less British. Probably, the driver found people's tacit toleration of things 'mundane' encouraging him to call on them to 'join' in his prayers.
ReplyDeleteIslam is easy. It allows a Believer to combine the Duhr and Asr prayers and offer them together from the time Duhr starts until the time Maghrib prayer starts.
ReplyDeleteIn London, the Duhr starts at 12:15 pm and the Maghrib starts at 5:07 pm a gap of 4 hours and 52 minutes. Normally a shift is of 8 hours duration and thus a driver who took charge of the bus at 12 noon has to offer the prayers while on duty only.
The timetable for Route 24 are found at
http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/024.htm and at http://www.londonbusroutes.net/times/024.htm#MF_C
The trip normally takes 45 minutes. The buses start every 5 minutes.
The number of buses plying the route determines the free time for the driver at the terminals. If there are just 9 buses, the driver has no free time at all. If there are 10 buses, the driver gets 5 minutes; if there are 11, the driver gets 10 minutes; and if there are 12 buses, the driver gets 15 minutes of free time.
We do not know how many buses ply this route. In case the number of buses is less than 12, we encourage the transport authorities to allocate funds to acquire more buses and make the number of buses in Route 24 to be at least 12.
Once a driver gets 15 minutes rest at the terminals, the driver could comfortably offer the prayer during the 15 minute break.
It is possible that the driver who offered the prayer in the bus for 5 minutes was on the verge of losing his prayer time if he had to wait to reach the terminal.
It is hoped that the number of buses are increased so that the incident need not repeat in future.
There are a number of considerations in this case:
ReplyDelete(1) A wajib prayer is done by a worshipper in obedience to Allah's commands. It is strictly between Allah and His worshipper. The worshipper is not doing any favours to anyone else by doing his prayers.
(2) Therefore, prayer to Allah has to be absolutely pure -- the place should be legitimately acquired where the worshipper is putting his MUSALLA, the water for Wudu should be pure and legitimately acquired. The time in which the prayer is being performed should legitimately belong to the worshiper.
(3) In this case, the worshiper was on duty, for which he was being paid.
He should either have acquired special permission from his employers to take that 5-minute break or, should have waited until he arrived at his destination and then do the prayers during a natural break.
I think the bus driver usurped his employer's time, that he had already sold to the employer in return for a salary and benefits. I don't think Allah will accept that kind of dishonest prayer.
The man is stupid and JAHIL. It is this kind of people who are giving a bad name to Islam and Muslims. If I were his employer, I would fire him on the spot.
Sincerely,
Syed-Mohsin Naquvi
if one is on duty he should pray in his heart because god hear what is in your heart and mind, muslim are allowed to pray after ward it is know as kaza prayer. islam teach responsibilit to other should be fulfill.
ReplyDelete