AIBU to question praying and sleeping in the library kids area?

Awful lot of words for “man praying for a few minutes”

Which I personally think is disgraceful and the opposite of Christian teachings in so many ways.

The random man moving play mats in the designated children’s area of the library to monopolise the area in order to perform a ritual for an omnipotent supernatural entity.

Does that include drug addicts shooting up or Jakeys drinking in the children's corner?

AFAIK, it doesn't take very long. You could surely have just waited until he had finished. Once he's realised that the area does get used, he may find another convenient spot.

Hypothetical back stories aside, why should she and her children wait because of this man’s selfish behaviour?

This thread or the person praying?!

I think only adults accompanying their children should be in the children’s area.

I don’t understand why the staff wouldn’t agree with that and offer somewhere else for the man to pray and the woman to sleep. Unless both people had been aggressive when asked to move which would be difficult to deal with. (Can you imagine it escalating and having to explain to the police what had happened 🫣)

People sleeping in libraries is nothing new, I used to hang out in libraries as a teenager and there was always someone asleep on one of the sofas. I'm nearly 40 now.

The staff would sometimes move them on but mostly they were left there and we hung out around them. They're sleeping, not threatening, and they're usually weak and vulnerable.

Muslims need to pray at certain times of the day, and they need to be facing a certain direction. Maybe he was working or studying in there all day, or working nearby and there was nowhere available at his place of work. I can see why he might think nipping into a library was a good idea, and he probably saw the big open and empty space in the children's area where he could get in the right position and thought he'd use that while it wasn't being used. He wasn't to know you'd turn up.

AFAIK, it doesn't take very long. You could surely have just waited until he had finished. Once he's realised that the area does get used, he may find another convenient spot.

It's a designated area for kids specifically, not for adults to do whatever.

Librarian here. There are library byelaws that outline expected behaviour in libraries. Yes they are public buildings and open to all, but that doesn’t mean anything goes. We wake sleeping people, ask people to turn phones on silent etc. Occasionally people ask if the can pray in the building. Always polite requests and they’re understanding when told no. If someone who hasn’t asked goes ahead and starts praying, we wait until they’ve finished then let them know they need to go elsewhere in future. The OP was correct to notify the staff of the behaviour she saw, and the staff should have dealt with it accordingly. The byelaws exist to ensure that the libraries are a safe place for all people to use.

Kathy Burke said it best.

Yes I think it’s very far fetched that an entitled man thought his supernatural beliefs trumped everyone else’s access. It’s just too hard to believe. It’s much more likely to be a global conspiracy.

The USA has always loved a bit of performative prayer in public office. They also have a Presidential Easter Bunny. Where religion and showmanship collide.

So who is woke and who is ‘bad’ in OP’s description? Would the man’s behaviour fit your definition of woke by being enlightened and considerate of others?

I don’t think the OP has said whether he was alone or not. That’s why i was asking if he had children with him, because that does change the picture a little. But yes if he was a lone man and had taken over the entire children’s section for some long period of time, that is clearly very unreasonable. We don’t know all the details though. Hence my questions. In fact, for all we know he might have even asked the staff for permission (although it seems unlikely that they would have agreed to him folding up the mat.). Too many unknowns, although i did say at the start that I did’t think it was ideal.

The PP who said she asked to pray in an empty room in a library sounds much more reasonable.

Take a picnic in with you next time, OP, with a big picnic blanket that you can spread out on the floor.

What nonsense? Homelessness?

In which case, yes we are far too tolerant of it. It’s become acceptable. At record levels yet barely makes the news. Which is disgusting and inhumane.

If you’re talking about praying (i.e. focussing the mind and seeking inner peace), IMHO we should all be more tolerant and encouraging of creating spaces to do that, including for atheists. Would help a lot of people with their mental health.

YANBU! A library is for looking at the books, anything else is inappropriate.

No it is not unreasonable- you should have told the man to move- he can pray anywhere as long as he is aligned correctly, so it is not reasonable that he was in the kid's area disrupting them, it's bad manners pure and simple.

No one’s stopping to pray in the middle of a football match.

If only.
It usually infects sheep ready to believe any charlatan or follow any fad.

Please look at the fasting times for Ramadan and ask those questions again.

It is very unlikely anyone is teaching or consulting at 5:20am or 5:20pm, for example.

So where does it end, having to stop a zoom call at work so someone can pray for 5 minutes? A bus driver pulling over and getting out on the pavement? A teacher stoping class? Maybe a doctor stoping my consultation? Someone driving pulling over onto the hard shoulder?

How do you know?