"I would never forgive myself and God would not forgive me if I do not pray on time because I want to earn some money," he said.
The quote above comes from an article at FOXNews.com about Muslim workers taking action against a Nebraska meat-packing plant for firing workers over sunset prayer time disputes. According to the article, the debate is not as to whether or not the workers should be allowed to pray so much as it is a question of whether or not workers abandoned a processing line without permission to pray...which could lead to costly difficulties for the plant, such as having to shut down the line unexpectedly.
Anyway, what I found most provocative about this article was the quote above, which leaves one with a sense that Allah is an God who cannot forgive those who miss their very precise obligations. (Note, that it's praying "on time," not just praying.) Obviously, I'm not suggesting that we take our obligations less seriously because we believe God can forgive us...or that we can exploit God's forgiveness to intentionally miss Mass. Still, the quote that FOXNews chose to run is one that emphasizes a wrathful God punishing those who chose poorly, rather than a loving God who calls us closer to him. It also expresses how internalized this angry God has become for this individual Muslim. He claims that he (no less than God) could ever forgive himself, if he chose to continue working rather than pray every day. Perhaps this is conversational hyperbole just said for emphasis, but it is a shame that no one in the article could explain why the sunset prayers are so important beyond it merely being an obligation instituted by Mohammed. The effect of prayer seems less important than the conditions of prayer, and the effect of missing prayer seems more important than the prayer itself. It would be like saying that it is more important that Mass is on Sunday than what actually happens at the Mass, or that the catastrophe of missing Mass is far greater than the goodness of Communion.
Comments