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

[sunshine240778474]

Yesterday I took the kids to the local library (Inverness, scotland). The local library has a kids area. The kids area has a nice artificial grass mat for the kids to sit and read their books on.

When I entered the library there was a man who had folded the kids mat over so he could kneel on the floor and pray to Allah.

Therefore this prevented the kids from sitting on the mat and reading their books.
The man was praying for a while.

I don't have a problem with someone praying if that's what they want to do.

Is it appropriate to be doing it in the kids area in a local library?

Also, there was a woman curled up in the corner of the library sleeping. This was also in the kids area.

I've seen people sleeping in the library on a few occasions now. I've never seen it in the kids' area.

Ofcourse, I feel sorry for her if she's tired, but again is it appropriate to be using the local library, especially the kids area, as a shelter?

I left the library, and told the staff politely, I didn't find it kid friendly.

Was I being unreasonable?

Beware -the Gov are bringing in legislation to cut Islamophobia so depending on the mood of the police telling a praying Muslim to shift,particularly if he is praying, could land you with a fine /sentence/ hate speech against your name
ADefinition of anti-Muslim Hostility
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/a-definition-of-anti-muslim-hostility

It is like the trumped up accusations of transphobia but renamed Islamophobia - and the one thing it is unlikely to do is bring people closer together -I hate when one whole group is prioritized over the rest of the population -helping drug addicts or boys failing in school is not the same

Of course, this goes without saying, but only if they intend to use it as a library, or otherwise a quiet activity at an appropriate section of the library.

So an adult quietly knitting in a corner of the non kids sections, fine. An adult doing yoga at the kids section, not fine. I’m also against any type of religious activity in libraries, unless there’s a dedicated prayer room.

I don’t see why the children’s area can’t just be for them.

Exactly! wouldnt be so deliberately flippant about any other religion.

Yes it’s often the case on mn.

Invading a children's space rather cancels out the benefit of praying don't you think? Plus it's just plain weird for any lone man to go to a space designated for children. Libraries are for reading and borrowing books.

Religion should be a private affair - he could have gone to a mosque.

Blasphemy laws just give special privileges to misogynistic institutions at the expense of free speech which is the cornerstone of democracy.

Anyone who wants blasphemy laws is intolerant and authoritarian and probably not suited to living in a democratic country - not to worry, there are many undemocratic countries they can choose to live in instead.

In the bin with blasphemy laws.

Nonsense argument.
The main objection is that he's a lone man in an area designated for children.

Performative praying should be done in a mosque or a private room designated for such activity wherever that may be. He's disrespecting children by invading their space - nothing very "good" about that.

Utterly ridiculous no other group gets these privileges- if I walked into the middle of small heath in my robes and started practising occult rituals outside a mosque I bet the police wouldn’t protect me!!

What absolute twaddle, yes this is a Christian heritage country. All of our laws, holidays and most of our traditions cultures and values have been established during a time when Christianity has been the dominant religion and dominate framework against which British culture, values as bd institutions have been set. Therefore it is a Christian country, irrespective of the numbers of people on pews on a Sunday (which is also increasing). Islam is not a part of any of that and it’s why it is “foreign”.

Taking over a kids area to pray is against our norms and values in Britain. We need to move away from this idea that pointing out British norms and values in Britain is somehow racist or Islamaphobic. Muslims should not be treated as a special class. If you want to live in Britain you abide by British norms and v as lies. One of those is a lone man not setting up a religious ritual in the middle of the kids section of a library. The fact discussing it here means it’s not considered a norm. We wouldn’t start thread of “I walked into the kids section of a library and a mum and her daughter were reading a book? “ would we! I find othe Muslim man deliberately choosing an area likely frequented by women and children to perform his chosen religious try iti aggressive and territory marking.

I was responding to someone who said 'lone adult'.

And it should be remembered you can’t have blasphemy laws for more than one religion by definition. Remember when the Muslim MP stood up in parliament rabbiting on about protecting Abrahamic religions and its prophets including Jesus and Mohammed. Well that’s blasphemous in Christianity to reduce the Son of God to simply a prophet surely! So are we to start prosecuting Muslims who don’t recognise that Jesus was the son of God. What is a Christian (rightly) points out this Son of God said he was the last and we should beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing (which according to Christian doctrine would include Mohammed).

We need to be very wary of these things. I would think anything that doesn’t allow free criticism of Islam is against Equality Laws. As a practicing occultist, I demand that Christianity and Islam remove their demonisation of witchcraft and occultism as I find it bigoted. Inflammatory and intimidatory. Let’s not forget many Islamic countries continue to flog people accused of witchcraft under sharia law.

I am not clear what you mean by this?

You quoted my post (where I use the phrase 'lone adult') and responded to it, and I replied to you?

Well why do it in the kids area of the whole library? Surely a different area maybe better?

Op has said it isn't what they are doing that is an issue, it is where they are doing it. As this stops children visiting from accessing that area.

I have to confess that I've fallen asleep in a library - it was a hot day, a rather comfy chair & I nodded off over my book. 😴

Labour’s approach to improving social cohesion by giving special privileges to certain groups does seem very flawed, common sense would suggest it will have the opposite effect.

We’ve managed without this type of legislation so don’t come here if you can’t abide by this

It is concerning.

There are a relatively limited number of reasons why an adult would settle down in a children centred space, most of them very bad for children.

Given the rapidly increasing number of male paedophiles and sex offenders we must be very cautious around letting lone adults hang around children.

It is a concern if you can’t see the risks to children here.

Are you seriously suggesting that you are not suspicious of the motivations of a lone man hanging around children in a dedicated children’s space? That is a worry.

Yes, this is a good point. It’s exactly the same playbook.

Capturing those in charge with an ideology - in this case that our expression of concerns about growing numbers of Islamic extremists and the encroachment of Islamic practices on us means that we are hostile to all Muslims - we are not.

Brief/train the police and government that we are the evils oppressors and must be pushed down and silenced at every opportunity.

Wonder why there is greater public outcry at our loss of freedoms and interpret that as ‘anti Muslim hostility’ and come down on us even harder.

The question is, why are our government working so hard to allow a minority to impose its anti Western views and practices on us? What do they gain from this? It can’t just be votes surely?

Context is important.

Whilst he likely shouldn’t have been because it’s not the appropriate space for it, he was praying not “hanging around.”

Unless we’re suggesting that wasn’t his motive, which we can’t know and if he was on his knees on a prayer mat, we can surely assume he was praying?

It's strange how we aren't seeing Muslim women needing to do this. Around 30% of Mosques don't allow women, so they have more need to prey in public. You'd think with them being out with children, we'd be seeing them in Libraries etc preying. Children need to prey also and we aren't seeing children do it, very strange.

Good point. I have never seen a woman pray in public.

Curious maybe, but not instantly suspicious.