Muhammad And The MTA

Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj is behind a campaign to advertise in 1,000 NYCTA subway cars this September during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Wahhaj is a former member of the Nation of Islam. He’s also the first Muslim to deliver an invocation at the U.S. House of Representatives. Several years ago, he was named as one of one hundred seventy unindicted co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and plans for the destruction of other buildings here in New York City. Nevertheless, Islam is one of the most revered religions in the world. There are, and will always be, radical individuals from all religions who don't extol the best virtues of their religion. That fact shouldn’t diminish another follower’s beliefs nor have non-believers think any less of that religion. Religious knowledge should always trump what we know about those who look to subvert an entire religion for their own goals. The Islamic group states its goal with these ads is to promote the true nature of Islam to non-Muslims. Hopefully, this is true. Knowledge is better than ignorance. The group’s ads will invite transit riders to visit whyislam.org to learn more about the faith. The imam’s expressed beliefs are certainly inflammatory to most Americans, but this is still the great country of America where religious tolerance and differing viewpoints are permitted. So long as the group’s ads don’t incite violence and are in strict accordance with the advertising policies of the MTA, they should be posted. New Yorkers will undoubtedly respond to these ads as they do to most other subway messages; either with a lack of interest or graffiti.

Subway Superhero Saves Sot

Veeramuthu Kalimuthu is a mechanic at Columbia University. On March 14th, he was a subway superhero. On that day, during evening rush hour, he heard people screaming and saw them running around at the 116th Street station in Morningside Heights. An intoxicated man (as later reported by a NYCTA official) had fallen onto the subway tracks, directly across the platform from Kalimuthu. Without regard for his own safety, “Kali” hopped onto the train bed, jumped across 3 sets of tracks and 3 third rails (the rails with 600 volts of lethal electricity) and then heaved the heavier victim onto the platform. Once completing his mission of mercy, he hopped back across the 3 sets of tracks and headed home to his family as if nothing extraordinary happened. Kali's quote? “People should help people. If all of us get along well in this world then we’ll get a better world to live.” That’s easy for a subway superhero to say. New York is an amazing city with some amazing residents, isn't it?