By David Alire Garcia 2/15/10 7:57 AM Digg Tweet
body scanner imageWhile the federal Transportation Security Administration explains on its website that full-body scanners at airports using millimeter wave technology “are optional for all passengers,” devout Muslims may not have a choice anymore.
That’s because this week the Indiana-based Fiqh Council of North America issued a religious ruling, or fatwa, that the scanners violate Islam’s teaching on nudity. The council includes two Detroit area scholars. The full-body scanners, broady popular in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day attack over the skies of Detroit by the so-called “underwear bomber,” create detailed three-dimensional images that are used to detect any substances or objects underneath a person’s clothes.
But in the view of the Fiqh Council, an affiliate of the Islamic Society of North America, those detailed, revealing 3D images amount to a violation of Islam’s modesty rules:
“It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,” reads the fatwa. “Islam highly emphasizes haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts.”
The story was first reported by Detroit Free Press reporter Niraj Warikoo, and has since been picked up national outlets like USA Today and others.
According to TSA, 19 cities’ airports currently use the full-body scanners, including Detroit Metro Airport, which has two of the devices. Nationally, hundreds more of the scanners have been ordered and will soon be deployed to other airports in Michigan and across the country.
TSA also indicates that travelers can “receive an equal level of screening and undergo a pat-down procedure,” which presumably will now be the choice made by many devout Muslims.
But that’s got me wondering if the pat-down procedure will produce its own backlash. It’s worth noting that the Dec. 25 attempted attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab featured explosive chemicals concealed in his underwear, shaped in a way to resemble the male anatomy.
Also, it’s not just Muslims who are opposed to the use of the full-body scanners — the American Civil Liberties Union has also denounced their use as a violation of privacy.
Maybe the ultimate solution to these objections is the use of terahertz scanning that doesn’t produce body images, a technology that’s being pioneered by an Ann Arbor firm.
That is, if terahertz waves are safe and if still other objections are lodged.
Come to think of it, car or bus travel never sounded so good.
http://michiganmessenger.com/34722/islamic-scholars-say-muslims-should-not-use-full-body-scanners
