NEW YORK, Nov 3: Five Muslims who were detained after praying at an American football game want to turn the incident into a tool to teach Americans about Islam. While at a New York Giants against New Orleans Saints game at Giants Stadium on Sept 19, the New Jersey residents were removed from their seats and questioned by FBI agents after other fans saw them bow to the ground as part of the Muslim prayers.

“As Muslims, we just have to pray when it’s time to pray,” Sami Shaban told a news conference in New York on Wednesday. “We thought nothing of it. I pray in malls, I pray everywhere.”

The 27-year-old law school student said he and his friends were questioned for about 25 minutes, missing part of the second half of the game. After they were released, an FBI agent told him they had been unwitting victims of racial profiling, Sami Shaban said.

The FBI said the men were questioned because they congregated near an air duct at the stadium, not because they were praying. But the men dismissed that explanation.

“Let’s be real here, if anybody with my description even scratches their ear, people get nervous,” said Mostafa Khalifa, 27, who, like Mr Shaban, wears a long beard and was among those detained. “I did nothing wrong, I should not change.”

He pointed out that football players often huddle and pray on the sideline as a teammate attempts a game-winning kick in the waning seconds of a game.

The fans said they would like to turn the incident into an opportunity to teach Americans about Islamic traditions.

They teamed up with the Council on American-Islamic Relations and invited anybody interested to join them in Eid prayers along with thousands of worshipers in New Jersey.

“We want to stop profiling. The more that people learn about Islam, the more tolerant they become,” said Wissam Nasr, the council’s executive director in New York.

Sami Shaban said he has made giving Muslims a good name in the United States his life’s purpose.—Reuters