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?

I was once asked to leave a very comfy couch where I was reading my book because it happened to be in kids area. The problem was that no other comfortable sitting was available in any other area in the library. While I can see that it may be inappropriate to pray and sleep in kids area, the issue is poor library design, unfortunately.

@saveforthat I feel we are too scared to challenge people now at the fear we will be accused of something horrible. I think that's also how the librarian staff maybe feel.

They should be doing it as a safety thing really. Its not typical for someone to go and sleep in a library, id be concerned there was a health issue like diabetes or heart related medical condition and definitely wouldn't just assume someone had chosen to go to sleep and leave them unchecked.

I can understand the sleeping if someone is homeless and in need of a warm place, but praying in the children's section is just odd.

There's no way he would have got through his prayers without being disturbed at my local library. A preschooler would almost definitely have asked him what he was doing, or a toddler would have bumped into him on their way to their favourite spot (or jumped on him, depending on who was visiting that day).

As a parent I'd try to divert my children, but I wouldn't stop them using the area which is likely distracting in and of itself.

The moving of the mat is odd. Did he think that was the cleanest place to kneel or something? If the place is so big (as some pp are saying in his defence) then why did he choose to use exactly the place the children's mat was but move the mat? And in a way that meant the children couldn't use it, ie folded over?
Thanks to the muslim posting that it would be unusual to choose to pray alone in the middle of a public room and that in the daytime the prayers should have been silent - I think the OP said they were out loud?
I feel the same as the OP. It's a power play intended to either intimidate or cause an incident, not some innocent praying where he found himself when it was time.

Evangeline got there first, but really, Can't go over it, Can't go under it, Can't go round it.... Story time.

It sounds like the Muslim man was trying to get a reaction! Why choose such a public space to worship your god in a western country?

I work in a library.
Our policy in the library is to allow people to nap in a chair if not causing an obstruction or causing a problem, we have a line of chairs in a quiet area, but no lying down across chairs or on the floor.
No lone adults in the children's area, no moving about of mats or the main chairs, adults are asked to leave the children's area if just sitting or hanging about. Adults can look for books etc without children but we don't want adults on their own sitting observing children. This is a safe guarding risk.
We have adult seating areas.
So we when we became aware of the person sleeping we would have asked them to move to the quiet area. The man praying, if we could have stopped him prior to starting we would have asked him to move to an appropriate area, such as our quiet area, and not fold up our mat as it prevents children from using it and may damage the mat. If he was part way through I would have left him, and waited for him to finish and then told him not to do that again and explained the options. I would also suggest he bring his own mat.
If any of those people complained I would have explained that we want everyone to feel welcome and have space to enjoy the books and the library as intended. Sleeping and praying is not our primary function but we have suitable areas where people are most welcome to rest or pray. We have 4 suitable areas for adults so I never know why they want to hang out in the kids area!
Children need to be protected, families can easily be put off by lone adults in the children's area and we are keen to keep this area welcoming and safe. I am not afraid to tell adults if they are not being considerate and regularly move people into other areas.

Tbf objecting to someone praying is pretty horrible. I mean, you're objecting to taking a few minutes of their day to reflect, give thanks, and remind themselves of the need to be humble.
I'm not religious but I struggle to see what is offensive about that.

So your point is that as there are books on religion, it is fully acceptable to practice religious ceremonies in the children’s area of the library? What are your thoughts on how you’d extend this logic to books about tennis, tonsillectomy or nudism in the children’s area of the library?
Honestly the logical gymnastics some people go through simply to signal virtue is ridiculous.

Don’t be scared away from your local library! Go back and next time speak to the staff.

😂 fair. I thought you were about to start the complaints procedure 😂😂

So children should avoid their area in the library while a grown man gets on his knees and chants to an invisible man in the sky!?

Please email your library and tell them how you feel. I feel strongly that they should have dealt with this. Using a children's area in this way is not appropriate.

Or go back and start reciting the Lord's prayer on the mat and see if you are welcomed or asked to stop.

You’re sounding a bit unhinged here, like you think there is some kind of cult conspiracy to intimidate people in the library.

What you are actually struggling to understand, is context.

Of all the things I would find intimidating, a man quietly praying would not be on the list.

It’s not that’s it’s wrong to pray or rest, it’s that there’s a time and place to do so and the children’s area of a local library is neither

Thank you a very sensible post.

Haven't read all the posts, just yours, and you have really outed yourself

The man praying, would not have been doing so for more then 10 mins - usually less if s/he is as fast as a Catholic doing a Rosary

Really no inconvenience to you if you were planning on spending time enough that your child needed floor time as well

Its Ramadan, its lasts 40 nights.

Im not saying this person should be inconveniencing everyone through their own needs, however Libraries have been opened as safe warm places to everyone , the Scottish Gvt being more open then most about what is acceptable in Gvt buildings

I suggest you voice your prejucies concerns to your MP and your Ballot paper

And why wouldn't it? Personally, I'd prefer nobody to pray anywhere - but realistically, if they did it quietly and unobtrusively, I can't object. It's the noisy activities that take place in libraries that drive me mad - song sessions, people chatting on phones, knit and natter meetings...

Did I miss the part that the library reserved the space as his personal prayer room or where the man told OP to leave, or did you make it up?
Ordinarily prayers would be done in a more private space, if someone for whatever reason felt the need to pray in an open public area then they would be aware of the public being around them. Though given the OP was there at a time that the vast majority of children would have been at nursery or school it might have seemed the least in demand space at the time.

As I said I'm not religious but if you object to a few minutes of personal reflection and thanks, which is what praying is, I think that says a lot about you as a person.

Gosh, those Muslims faux-naive Mners keep meeting, spreading their prayer mats in places calculated to get in the way, must be terribly busy, with all the other stuff they’re also doing, like banning Christmas and forcing everyone to refer to Winterval trees. No wonder they keep falling asleep. 🙄

Cult conspiracy? Nope just one man with an imaginary friend and low self esteem attention seeking and testing boundaries to let people know he matters and to give him a momentary sense of power. You’re less likely to get someone telling you to sort yourself out in the children’s area.