Last Updated on: 3rd January 2016, 09:29 am
Man, people are narrow-minded. The Iowa legislature had its usual prayer at the opening of the session, only this time, it was said by a muslim Imam, and because of that, people are getting all bent out of shape over some words. They claim that it wasn’t a prayer, but some kind of political statement with terrorist leanings. They say this because he mentions the great Satan and victory over those who disbelieve.
Here’s the text of the prayer, or as close to it as I can get, as shown in the article.
Imam Muhammad Khan of the Islamic Center of Des Moines spoke first in Arabic.
“I seek refuge in God against the accursed Satan in the name of God, most gracious, most merciful,” Khan said in English. Khan made no specific mention of the war in Iraq or foreign affairs, but he called God the “master of the day of judgment” and asked for “victory over those who disbelieve.”
“As we begin this new year…in a world with trials and tribulations, we ask you to open the hearts of our legislators and policy makers to make the right decisions for the people of Iowa,” Khan said. “…We ask that you guide our legislators and give them the wisdom and knowledge to tackle the difficult problems that face us today in order to eliminate the senseless crimes on humanity. Help them, Lord, to solve the complicated problems in the State of Iowa so that we can be a model to the world.”
Khan’s prayer lasted about four minutes and he closed with a few words for legislators.
“On behalf of the Muslim community of Des Moines and Iowa, I wish you all the success in this year for making the right decisions for us.”
Ok, can you see anything wrong with that? That sounded like your run of the mill prayer to me. Now let’s break it down. First of all, his word was the “accursed satan”, and doesn’t every prayer ask for protection against the resident evil in that religion? And with regards to the whole victory over those who disbelieve thing, how do we know he was referring to Americans and other folks? Every religion calls people who don’t believe a whole host of names, and prays for victory of those who do. How is this any different?
Man, people are twitchy, and I feel sorry for the Imam and the guy who invited him, because I think he was doomed from the beginning. I think if the guy said he liked soup, they would have tried to jump to conclusions about what soup may have symbolized in terrorist talk. How sad.
