A UC Berkely student Khairuldeen Makhzoumi was forced off a plane for speaking Arabic on the phone
'He was speaking on the phone with his uncle in baghdad about an event he'd been excited to attend the day before: a dinner with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. As he said goodbye, he used the phrase "Inshallah"* literally translating into God is willing.'*
The phrase Inshallah is an arabic word however it is commonly used not only by all Muslims and Arab non-Muslims but also by some non-Arab non-muslims(e.g. Armenians), the generic translation and more contextual translation is "Hopefully".'The student said after he hung up, he noticed a female passenger looking at him who then got up and left her seat.'" She kept staring at me and I didn't know what was wrong, at first I thought she was concerned about me speaking loudly. Then I realized what was happening and I was just thinking 'I hope she's not reporting me.' " "One guy came with police officers within two minutes -- I can't believe how fast they were -- and told me to get off the plane," he said.'"Then, Makhzoomi said, dogs came and sniffed his bag, someone searched him at the gate and took his wallet, and FBI agents escorted him away."The way they searched me and the dogs, the officers, people were watching me and the humilation made me so afraid because it brought all of these memories back to me. I escaped Iraq because of the war, because of Saddam and what he did to my father." Makhzoomie told the Daily Californian.He says one of the agents asked a question that surprised him: "You need to be very honest with us with what you said about the martyrs. Tell us everything you know about the martyrs." The moment she said that, I told her I never said that word ( Shahid,شهيد ) I only said insha'Allah." The questioning soon ended "Southwest will not fly you back," the agent said. "You may go."*Shahid and Shaheed (Arabic: شهيد šahīd, plural: شُهَدَاء šuhadāʾ ) originates from the Quranic Arabic word meaning "witness" and is also used to denote a "martyr".http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/17/us/southwest-muslim-passenger-removed/index.htmlhttp://thinkprogress.org/world/2016/04/16/3770159/iraqi-banned-from-flying/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/student-speaking-arabic-removed-southwest-airlines-plane.html?_r=0----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My opinion on the story:
Honestly this is text book definition of Islamophobia. To be honest I'm not surprised about the old women who reported him, she probably gets her news/information from Fox News or perhaps from an even more bigoted source, TSR's right wing. But at the end of the day, if she really did hear him say shahid OK fine, I guess its better to be safe then sorry. This is where the mistake lies completely 100% on the Airline company, after searching him infront of everyone (claims even his genitals were searched/ will link a source as more information is revealed) and then the FBI/Security confirming he is safe to board, the airline company
still bans him from flying their plane forcing him to be delayed 9 hours. Absolutely ridiculous
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Thoughts?