Question #1. Can a practicing Muslim attend the Superbowl ?
Okay lets back track a bit. In searching for the muslim reaction to recent world events in southern Michigan, I came across this site.
This really surprised me. I wanted to learn more about this call to prayer, envisioning muslims bringing in prayer carpets to the Superbowl, but according to this site I see a problem for them.
Well so far I can assume that inappropriate places are acceptable in a pinch. However I then came upon this site
I doubt that Ford Field will be clean enough by 7:12 pm EST.
…, the required time for prayer in Detroit. That will be sometime around the end of the first quarter and I can just envision the empty cups and food wrappers all over the place.
Question #2. Does Ford Field provide a prayer room for Muslims? jThat would obviously answer question #1.
Question #3. Does Detroit’s auto industry provide prayer rooms for Muslim workers?
Well, at my building we have a “meditation room” and I know that some of our Muslim workers use it for that purpose.
All in all, the Muslims that live here are exceptionally well adapted to living here. While there may or may not be a dedicated area at Ford Field, I’m certain that the practicing Muslims know where to go. That’s not as specific as what you’re looking for; but it’s my experience with the many, many Muslims that are here.
There was an incident this year at a Giants game. Several Muslims started praying in the concourse. They were detained for suspicious behavior. The Giants have put in a prayer room or will for next year.
The way I read this, it’s OK if the ground is dirty, if you have a clean mat. I would presume that a Muslim in such a situation would bring a clean, appropriate prayer mat with him.
I’m also not certain that litter in a sports stadium would qualify as “stinking with filth and dirt”. In some contexts, those words can refer to excrement or compost, of which there’s hopefully very little in the stadium.
When is the Superbowl held? Is it always a night-time event, held during winter? If so, the Muslims might be done praying for the day by the time the game begins - the last prayer of the day is around an hour after sunset.
I thought this thread was going to be about the pigskin ball in some way…
It’s always in the winter (well, until the NFL expands to Australia, at least: But it’s always in January or February), but the starting time is typically close to or before sunset.
Sunset in Detroit yesterday was at 5:51 PM, with the game nominally starting at 6:00 (the actual kickoff was about a half-hour later). So the game would have been already underway, though not by very much, at an hour past sunset. I suspect, too, that most ticket-holders for the Superbowl were already in the stadium several hours before game time, so there might even be two or three prayer-times in the stadium.
My boyfriend is Muslim and worked the Super Bowl this year as a volunteer. He was busy for most of the day, so I asked him how he had managed to perform salaat. (While at the stadium, he had missed the zuhr, 'asr, and maghrib prayers.) He told me that he had prayed in his heart at the appointed time, and then performed these prayers properly once he got home.
As others have mentioned, the issue is cleanliness. Even if he had found a place (and the time) to pray, he might not have had access to a place where he could perform ablution; and of course without this the prayer is invalid.
Flying Dutchman, your TU quote is interesting. We went through a similar issue at the university where I work, although the problem wasn’t so much that the students didn’t have a place to pray–they have appropriated a small unused corner of the library for this purpose–but that the restroom facilities were not adequate for wudu. We investigated installing foot basins in the men’s and women’s restrooms, but that conversation ended when Facilities told us it wasn’t code.
As Margeuerite’s post indicates, Islam is a little more flexible and practical than folks give it credit for. There’s a recognition that there are times and places where the normal/proper rituals can’t happen on time, and a means to deal with that in the context of religious practice.
sigh
I have attended dozens of sporting, artistic and other events in two Muslim countries (Pakistan and UAE). It’s…no big deal. Even for a moment ignoring the fact that religiosity differs amongst individuals, you can miss the prayer and make it up later. A cricket match can easily last all day; no one gets in a twist over this.
From memory, some of the corporate boxes in some stadia did have a separate prayer room, but the general seating areas did not; it’s going to be a bit difficult to make provisions for 70,000 people in the middle of a match.
I am not the most observant person, but my grandmother (God rest her soul) was. I cannot remember her ever failing to pray and ever letting that be an issue. She loved going to sports events, music concerts, even afternoon cinema. Never heard her complain.
ETA: Evidently the thread is a zombie…who did win the Superbowl that year? Manning or Brady 's teams"? (The extent of my knowledge of NFL players).
Also, even if your religion required you to wander for forty years in the desert they’d be more than enough time for that during an NFL match during the countless advert breaks and timeouts without missing any action
