Delta Pilot Refuses to Fly with Imams Wearing Islamic Garb

When a few passengers on an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight, a carrier run by Delta, noticed two imams dressed in Islamic garb on their flight on Friday, they asked that the passengers be removed.

So what did the pilot do? He went right ahead and kicked the Muslim passengers off the flight!

Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul, who hold high religious positions in the Muslim community, were heading from Tennessee to North Carolina when the incident occurred. According to Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations, the men "went through security, even went through secondary security, and got on the plane."

The plane was taxiing out when the passengers complained that they were uncomfortable with the men being on their flight.

In an ironic twist of fate, the men were headed to North Carolina for a conference on prejudice against Muslims, or Islamaphobia.

Koutaiba Chihabi, a student majoring in Neuroscience at UCLA and External Affairs Director of the Muslim Students Association at UCLA started a petition on Change.org as soon as he read about the incident. Though not a frequent traveler himself, Chihabi says that when he does travel overseas he always experiences a hassle at the airport.

"My initial reaction was 'here we go again,' as I have seen similar incidents in the past," he said. "However what struck me about this story was that it was not the TSA who made the decision to ground the passengers, but rather the actual pilot/passengers themselves, even when TSA had cleared the passenger to fly. This deeply concerned me as it is a reflection of how large Islamaphobia has become."

Chihabi points out that the media has a large role to play in the ignorance of people like the passengers and pilot on the Delta flight when it comes to the roles of Muslims in terrorist acts in the U.S. According to the FBI database, there were 318 terrorist incidents in the US between 1980-2005. That includes 209 bombings and 43 arsons. Out of those incidents, 42% were committed by Latino groups, 24% by extreme leftist groups, 7% by Jewish extremists, 6% by Muslim extremists, and 5% by communists.

The air travel industry also has a lot of work to do when it comes to training employees on incidents like this, says Chihabi. According to Delta, "pilots industry-wide do have authority over their aircraft within the parameters set by their individual carrier."

Delta claimed they "review[ed] the matter with the pilots and talk[ed] with them about their decision." But the pilots were in no way reprimanded for their behavior.

As Mr. Chihabi so puts it, "I would ask the pilot to read into Islam himself to familiarize himself with the true message of Islam, of seeking peace with one another, and with spiritually empowering the soul to purify oneself in life. Islam is a religion that encourages individuals to improve themselves and their moral character, in all aspects in life, and most importantly in how they deal with one another."

Sign our petition, demanding that Delta publicly apologize to the two men who were kicked off their flight, institute new non-discrimination and sensitivity training for all pilots and flight crew about religious tolerance, and create a public set of guidelines and consequences for any employees who violate the code of conduct.

Please also tweet at Delta:

Petition @Delta Pilot Refuses to Fly with Imams Wearing Islamic Garb http://chn.ge/l83Lkh @DeltaNewsroom @DeltaBlog

Tell Delta that we will not stand for religious intolerance.

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