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?

Oh, the point of this post is that a random Muslim man who someone saw in a library once might be on MN and will know to do better next time?

Pardon me, didn’t realise.

Oh didn’t realise you were there also and had a conversation with him.

There’s an event planned in London, by a well known convicted criminal, for May 16th.

It’s being held “Under God,” so is at least marketed as a Christian event. In a public space.

That’s at least as bad, and misplaced, as praying in Trafalgar Square…. right?

Of course your random Muslim man is making an appearance.

Although some librarians might act and remove people and others could ask them to. Although I’m sure you’ll be on all threads telling others to just get out of the way when in spaces allocated to them.

Not just threads for religious men.

I don’t think you understood.

Coming here to whinge about a Muslim man praying in your library isn’t going to make him move. He’s probably not here.

I also don’t particularly favour either men or religion, despite your many attempts to claim otherwise.

It’s mummy’s in Range Rovers usually plonking themselves in disabled parking spaces, and I wouldn’t bother creating a thread for the either. I’d just wait, possibly roll my eyes.

I don’t just ignore religious men in my way, I also ignore pretentious women who are in the wrong place - and the whole scale inbetween, because I don’t make my frustrations about gender, ethnicity or religion.

And if nobody ever complains and nobody ever challenges people in the wrong place then they will just take all the spaces they want and others will miss out. That’s not ok. How far do your boundaries of tolerance go?

Your example of women using disabled spaces is not a good one (interesting that you focused on women here) as there are many hidden disabilities - you can’t definitively tell that a child or the mother isn’t disabled.

We CAN definitively tell that a lone adult man should not be using a children’s space to pray.

You might ignore people but you probably don’t post stay out of the way to people in an allocated space. Have you?

Which spaces do you post the same advice, and which people? Children, women, stay out of the way, not men on this one.

I don’t know who you are talking about but I imagine his group has not stated their aims to take power by killing or converting us to his ideology?

Interesting that you didn’t know about the Christian event proposed but do know about prayers in Trafalgar Square.

Could your attitude to specific religions be a little biased?

You’re making this more than it needs to be. Presumably because you’d like the “gotcha” that I somehow prefer men invading spaces to women doing it.

Had it been a woman in the wrong space, I would equally say “we just hang on, it’s not that big of a deal.”

It was your advice to get out of the way. I doubt you’d post that on other threads for other spaces. Perhaps you will for any space and whoever uses it.

To anyone wanting to use a space allocated for them, just get out of the way.

You are so apparently so chill and unbothered about everything yet you have spent quite a lot of time arguing against us having our own standards of acceptable behaviour on this thread.

And you do keep mentioning types of women you have a problem with.

The key here, that you’re missing, is that it was a temporary inconvenience.

He hasn’t taken the library, it was 5mins of waiting. Unless we’re subscribing to the idea that libraries will eventually become mosques in all but name - and we’re not, surely.

How is knowing about an event that happened last night comparable to not having a full calendar of events of all groups with any kind of religious link for the next 3 months at my fingertips?

Or are you reaching rather desperately there?

I mentioned that event as part of an emerging pattern of behaviour of a particular group. If you have any comparable patterns of other groups you would like to raise, feel free.

No responsible parent teaches their children to wait around when there's a lone men in a children's area.

I just think it’s important to recognise that women can also inconvenience people and/or be in the wrong place.

There was a woman sleeping in OPs post, the library is neither a bed nor a hotel. Don’t see as much uproar about that?

So desperate to call out "islamophobia"

I think most responsible parents would just keep an eye on their kid, and not panic that a praying man is going to steal them.

Only having an issue with one religions performative space invading is obviously discriminatory.

Ha ha, I’m not sure being unaware of a Christian event can be classed as discrimination. It must be quite disappointing to have not called anyone a racist on this thread yet.

Did you notice PP saying “well no, Christian events shouldn’t be taking over areas of London either.”

No, you didn’t, because that’s only an issue when it’s the “wrong” group of people.

We’re either anti performative religion or we’re not, make your minds up!

Can you elaborate on this Christian event that is taking over London and then people can make their minds up. It’s a massive derail but I’m interested where you are going with this.

All this stuff about London, Tescos, micro machines and disabled parking spaces aside is your genuine view really that the op and her children have been discriminatory? Really? Do you not think your desire to virtual signal and think of yourself as ‘tolerant’ might be overriding common sense…just a bit? Try thinking of it from someone with small children’s point of view rather than as a Labour voter.

So now you are minimising it.

You gave no idea how long he was there and it wasn’t just 5 minutes as the prayers take longer then that. Plus faffing about with the mat - who knows how long he was there for.

It was obviously significant enough that OP was discomfited and children were not able to access the space allocated for them.

You clearly have your boundaries on what sort of behaviour riles you as you’ve reiterated them several times but why is OP not allowed to share her concerns about the incident that she found to be unacceptable?

Why are you spending so much time on this thread criticising people for calling out bad behaviour? You even agreed he shouldn’t have been there.

Maybe if more people called out bad behaviour or encroaching on spaces you wouldn’t have so many entitled women in big cars upsetting you.

Funnily enough it has been observed and accepted that she shouldn’t have been there.

No one is arguing that she was only there for 5 minutes, or that it’s fine for the kids to be made to wait for her to leave or that we should all stop ‘whinging’ about her presence.

How interesting.

It does seem to be driving the posts. For this alone all the posts on people getting out of the way more than the person who shouldn’t be there moving.