# Detroit/Muslims/Superbowl **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102 "2006-02-05T15:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/1 "2006-02-05T15:35:29Z")
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](http://islam.about.com/b/a/088251.htm). > [@](#): > > The call to prayer is currently broadcast on loudspeakers in nearby Dearborn and Detroit, an area that is home to one of the largest Muslim communities in North America. 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](http://www.trentarthur.info/archives/000547.html) I see a problem for them. > [@](#): > > The process has been very frustrating for the TMSA. “Five times [a day] prayers is obligatory upon every Muslim man and woman at their specific times. Muslim students, having no other options, pray in places that are not appropriate for worshipping such as the library, seminar rooms and so on. The number of Muslim students at Trent University is increasing and so is the demand for a praying room,” says Dost Well so far I can assume that inappropriate places are acceptable in a pinch. However I then came upon this [site](http://muslim-canada.org/fiqhch13.htm) > [@](#): > > 1. Cleanliness of Place > The minimum requirement is that the place where one intends to stand and where one’s knees, hands and forehead would rest in Sajdah, must be clean, whether it is a piece of plain ground or floor, or a mat, etc., bat one should also avoid standing for the Prayer at a place which is stinking with filth and dirt around it. I doubt that Ford Field will be clean enough by [7:12 pm EST](http://www.islamicfinder.org/prayerDetail.php?country=usa&city=Detroit&state=MI&id=20771&month=&year=&email=&home=2006-2-5&lang=&aversion=&athan=). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/2 "2006-02-05T15:49:36Z")
I inadverantly posted too soon. To continue …, 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? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/3 "2006-02-05T15:56:00Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/4 "2006-02-06T03:11:01Z")
> [@The Flying Dutchman](#): > > Question #3. Does Detroit’s auto industry provide prayer rooms for Muslim workers? There’s an article in today’s _New York Times_: “The Separation of Church and Job,” which states: > [@](#): > > In 2001, the Ford Motor Company started the Ford Interfaith Network, an organization for employees that has members in eight major religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism. Daniel Dunnigan, a Mormon and the chairman of the group, said the network recently designated areas in Ford workplaces where Muslims could perform ablution, a ritual cleansing, before praying. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/5 "2006-02-06T04:51:14Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/6 "2006-02-06T21:31:04Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Cleanliness of Place > The minimum requirement is that the place where one intends to stand and where one’s knees, hands and forehead would rest in Sajdah, must be clean, whether it is a piece of plain ground or floor, or a mat, etc., bat one should also avoid standing for the Prayer at a place which is stinking with filth and dirt around it. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/7 "2006-02-06T23:56:48Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/8 "2006-02-07T06:48:21Z")
> [@](#): > > When is the Superbowl held? Is it always a night-time event, held during winter? 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. ---
**Author:** ![Margeuerite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Margeuerite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Margeuerite)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/9 "2006-02-07T08:04:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2006, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/10 "2006-02-07T11:16:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/12 "2017-06-07T19:13:49Z")
**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). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/13 "2017-06-07T21:34:17Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > who did win the Superbowl that year? Manning or Brady 's teams"? Roethlisberger’s team. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2017, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/14 "2017-06-08T05:58:19Z")
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 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/detroit-muslims-superbowl/343102/15 "2017-06-09T01:09:48Z")
Good luck trying to get into an arena or stadium carrying a prayer mat now. [From here](http://www.packers.com/gameday/carry-in-policy.html): > [@](#): > > Firearms and other weapons, bags, backpacks, coolers, strollers, umbrellas, duffel bags, large purses, fanny packs, obstructive banners and signs are all strictly prohibited, as are food & beverages, noisemakers of any kind, selfie sticks, video cameras and still photo cameras with lenses over 12 inches. As a general rule, please leave all unnecessary items at home. > Fans will be allowed to carry in a clear bag that does not exceed 12 x 6 x 12 inches or a one-gallon, clear plastic bag. **Additional clothing, blankets, etc. are allowed** if carried in loosely or in an approved clear bag…Small cameras, binoculars and cell phones are acceptable if carried in loosely or in an approved clear bag. Traditional stadium seats with backs and seat pads are permitted as long as they do not exceed 18 inches wide and contain no pockets, zippers or concealable areas. Unless it qualifies as part of what I bolded.