To me it is so obvious that he did not panic, but gathered his thoughts, prayed, then reacted maturely.
Could you imagine what would have been said about him had he broken out in panic and scared everyone around him?
Never in my life have I seen a man so persecuted...he is the epitome of darned if you do, darned if you don't.
And they would've had the exact same reasons if he had gotten up immediately too! It would've shown to them either a) He's really stupid and he was panicking or b) He already knew about 9/11 ahead of time and had no problem getting up immediately.