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

The segregation was by use (library) age (children) and relationship (guardian of children). Can you explain how religion even comes into this?

What if he wanted a discrete masturbation? Okay in a library? Or shouldn't he do this stuff at home?

@GladHedgehog Not hilarious by any means. What is wrong with you.

What’s ‘our culture’ ?

Muslims who live in Muslim-majority countries do not pray in public spaces. It's just not done. By contrast, some Muslims living in Western societies have begun doing so more visibly, and it's a trend that has become more noticeable over the past five years.

It is inappropriate, rude, and completely performative.

(Edited for syntax).

None of those are intimidating. The last one could be considered a dereliction of duty but not if the plane is in autopilot and the first officer in control.

How is praying an intimidating or provocative act?

I'm an atheist, so I don't really get the praying thing, but I realise it's important to those who have religious faith and I can't see anything intimidating about it.

No. Makes no sense to me.
Flying is the perfect time for praying. Especially when you’ve got two engines of four in flames. You should have heard it, most of the people on plane were praying loudly. I don’t think the pilots would be any exception.

https://prayerlit.com/prayers-for-pilots/

Or are these pilot prayers ok because they are in English instead of Arabic so the word for God used isn’t Allah.

It’s not the building. You seem to not get the context at all, I can’t think how else to explain this to you. Would you understand if it was a mother and baby changing room? Or the roof of someone’s car ?

I don't think implying you support segregation of people by religion is really helping your cause here lol.

@ElizabethsTailor white liberal women are always the worst.

Depends where you’re ‘simply existing’, same as anyone.

No, funnily enough the building in which somebody is praying, doesn't turn it into an intimidating act for me @Blueharmonica and the fact that you are so sure it does, its as I said before, is bizarre. You seem to be under the assumption that it was done to be performative, or to mark his territory somehow, which is entirely your own bias showing.

I’ve never seen anyone sleeping in a library in my life but I live in an affluent area and all homeless people are known to the council.

I've been known to doze off in a library while waiting for a homeless client to turn up!

And I doubt if "all" homeless people are known to the council, either. I worked in homelessness resettlement for several years, and there was a man sleeping rough in an disused shed on the allotments near where I live. When I heard about it from one of the allotment holders, I got one of our outreach workers to make contact with the poor guy and take him to the council to make a homeless application. They had no idea he was there, and he'd been sleeping there for a couple of years.

This was in an affluent town, too, average house price in excess of £500k.

FFS a library is a place to read books, not to celebrate the cult of islamism. The woman sleeping should have bene wakened up and asked to leave.

Our communal spaces are being colonised and turned in to spaces we don't recognise or want.

Most libraries are also designed as safe spaces. All of our local ones have posters etc advertising as a warm safe space for anyone vulnerable to come in out of the cold.

As for praying. Exactly what harm was he doing? Perfect opportunity to teach about an alternative religion and to respect differing beliefs surely? He will have been doing it in that area as they are meant to face a certain direction (towards a point in Mecca) sp I would assume that was located in the children's section.

Unclench and mind your own business!

Islam may well require that but the children’s area of the library is not designated for that and the children or parents owe no preferential treatment to an entitled man.

Im not sure how to explain this any clearer really, it’s the context/situation:
prayer- not intimidating
prayer in a religious building -not intimidating
prayer in a public library designated children’s area - weird and intimidating if you have your children with you.
praying whilst they’re supposed to be flying the plane - f*cking intimidating

Making sense?

Let's keep these undesirables - the addicted, the unwashed, the cold, the weary, the old, the dispossessed, in fact the very people towards whom Jesus entreats us to show most compassion and love - out of our way. It's sad, but we don't want to have to look at them as we go about our daily business, or, heaven forbid, for our children to have to see them. Far better to build a bespoke building to keep them out of our way. We could call it a hostel. And ours is a Christian country, as some on this thread have been keen to remind us, conveniently sweeping aside the very heart of the Christian message.

Ah yes. Particularly targeting the posters who are protective of our 'Christian nation' who seem to conveniently ignore any of the Christian values that Christians are meant to live by. Love thy neighbour, unless they're brown.

1. this is a country where, thank goodness, we have religious tolerance, and one can practise any religion, or none, without fear of persecution. That’s something we should celebrate.
2. i’ll bet you will still take your children to Easter activities in the same library.
3. Reform are trying to convert SNP voters in Scotland just now.
4. Not everything posted on forums is added in good faith.

Didn’t you know if you are Muslim then simply existing is designed to harass and intimidate women and children?

I think your typo there is a bit of a Freudian slip.

Was the OP also controlling the space by walking in with her children? Was the woman sleeping in the library controlling the space? What was it about the man, who as far as I can tell didn't interact with the OP at all, that made him controlling?

Libraries are pretty much the only remaining public indoor spaces where there is no expectation of you spending money. They need to be utilised and preserved.

Libraries aren't there for people to pray or rest - both those things would make me feel very uncomfortable- particularly when taking a child to the library.