How A Gym Becomes A Mosque

Via Debbie Schlussel.

The headline in the Detroit News Online makes sure to mention that Wardeh Sultan, the woman who was interrupted while praying at a gym and complained about it, is a “Dearborn resident.” Okay, so she’s a United States citizen. Great. Now that that has been established, we’re going to complain about civil rights abuse:

“Fitness USA, a gym chain, is investigating an alleged civil rights violation involving a local Muslim woman who says her afternoon prayer was interrupted by a fellow patron, and that her complaint to management about the situation was rejected.

“‘The manager told me, 'You have to respect her (the patron), but she does not have to respect your God,' said Wardeh Sultan of Dearborn. ‘I’ve had my membership for seven or eight years, and I've never had a problem with praying there.’

“‘I told that manager, 'I can't believe you said that,' Sultan said. ‘Honestly, I feel humiliated and I feel ashamed, right now, to go back to Fitness USA.’”

Here’s the response from the gym (emphasis mine):

“‘We will, as we will with any complaint involving our staff and a member, be doing a full and thorough investigation of the matter and take any appropriate action we need to take,’ said Jodi Berry, executive director of Fitness USA. ‘We want every member to get a good exercise experience every time they come to the club.’"

An EXERCISE experience – not a PRAYER experience. But here’s the clincher of the article, the last thought columnist Gregg Krupa leaves for his audience:

“‘We're here in the great United States and for this happening, it truly breaks my heart,’ she said. ‘You know, things are starting to change backwards, instead of frontward. We need to keep this United States, our country, up on our shoulders. We don't want it to go down.’”

Well, Sultan did get one thing right – things ARE starting to change BACKWARDS. And it starts with people like her. Now, I’m not overly familiar with the Muslim faith, but I would venture a guess and say that there’s no requirement for someone of that faith to pray in a gym. I can certainly sympathize with adhering to your religion, praying five times a day, and all that. But AT THE GYM?

Sultan’s defender, Imad Hamad, regional director of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, says that it’s okay for Christians and Jews to pray openly and publicly, but not Muslims. If anyone has ever seen a Christian or a Jew pray openly in a gym, please let me know. As Schlussel notes, if she saw ANYONE openly praying at a gym, regardless of faith, that would disturb her.

Why? Because it’s a GYM – not a house of worship.

Don’t be surprised if this gym designates a “non-denominational” prayer room, or something like that, to appease these whiners.

Is there any such thing as assimilation anymore?