Muslim-American body issues fatwa against airport body scanners

Times of India ^ | February 12, 2010

[Schnucki]

WASHINGTON: Some Muslim-American groups are supporting a fatwa issued by a body of Islamic scholars forbidding Muslims from going through full body scanners at airports, a media report said.

The Fiqh Council of North America issued the religious ruling this week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty, Free Press reported.

"It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," reads the fatwa issued Tuesday. "Islam highly emphasises haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts."

After the Christmas Day bombing attempt in Detroit by a Muslim suspect from Nigeria, some US airports are now in the process of buying and using the body scanners to find explosives and other dangerous materials carried by terrorists.

But Muslim groups say the scanners, which show in graphic detail the outlines of a person's body, go against their religion. One option offered to passengers who don't want to use the scanners would be a pat down by a security guard. The Muslim groups are urging members to undergo those instead.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says it endorses the fatwa. "We support the Fiqh Council's statement on full-body scanners and believe that the religious and privacy rights of passengers can be respected while maintaining safety and security," Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR was quoted as saying.

Currently, there are 40 full-body scanners at 19 airports in the US, including two in Detroit, said spokesman Jim Fotenos of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). There are plans for 450 more body scanners in US airports, he said.

In a statement, the TSA said it is committed to keeping passengers safe

[Eye of Unk]

I get sick of an annual invasion of ants every spring in my house.

All I can do is spread bait and let them take the poison back to the rest of the nest in hopes of killing as much of the current generation.

Its all about buying time through attrition.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

You know, I'm not wild about it, either, but I didn't put the ball in motion to make it an issue. Were I Muslim, I'd shut up, sit down and if I wanted to fly, I'd fly without weapons disguised as harmless objects. I don't want to be scanned by a man, nor should a man be scanned by a woman. Let's keep it as inoffensive as possible, and Muslims (American or otherwise) can sit on their fatwa and twirl since we have all be “inconvenienced” by their “inconvenient truth.”

[Oorang]

FYI ping

[Texas Mulerider]

A Muslim fatwa complaining about airport body scanners? If it weren’t for Muslim fatwas, we wouldn’t need body scanners in the first place.

These people have no sense of irony.

[The Cajun]

Yeah, I’ve got their fatwa right over here.

[240B]

That eliminates Obama.

[Constitutions Grandchild]

“...since we have all be “inconvenienced” by their “inconvenient truth.”

Should be “...all been “inconvenienced”...”. Geez, what is it this morning?

[cookcounty]

Next Up:

A fatwa against going to the doctor?

[Apparatchik]

Hey Ahmad, how’s that fatwa against committing acts of terrorism coming? Still nothing? Hello?

[mrsdeb]

Let’s all take up a collection to buy full body scanners for our local airports.

[gwilhelm56]

NO SCAN ... NO FLY ... NO PROBLEM

[reagan_fanatic]

I would feel much more comfortable knowing the plane I was flying on had no muslims aboard.

If they won’t go through the scanners then they can stay off the planes.

Works for me.

[cookcounty]

Notice that the story is reported by

[Mrs. Don-o]

Aha! A handy, effective way to "profile" Muslims. Everyody gets a full-body scan except those who refuse (that would be the Muslims), who have thus self-selected for either a full-body search (with MRI's and CT scans to detect antying that might have been inserted internally --- all at the expense of the search-ee)...

Or they don't fly.

[cookcounty]

Notice that the story is reported by The Times of India.

Why is it that the Americans have to go 5,000 miles to get a real newspaper?????????????????????

[gwilhelm56]

**If they won’t go through the scanners then they can stay off the planes.**

If they don’t.. I sure AM NOT getting on that plane!!! I don’t have to be ANYWHERE ..that badly

[dagogo redux]

Headline: Non-Muslim Americans Support a Fatwa Prohibiting Muslims from Visiting or Living on American Soil, or from Flying on Any Public Airline.

[himno hero]

Let them stick with their old technology... what mohammed endorsed.

Camelback.

[massgopguy]

Wasn’t the Muslim exception the reason why the BVD Bomber was able to get his undies on the plane?

[green iguana]

This is about one thing, being able to stuff explosives in a body cavity and not be detected.

Body scanners do not see inside the body. It's not an MRI...