Muslim Family Day at Six Flags Amusement Parks-Truth!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded email that says that Muslims will be celebrating a special day at Six Flags amusement parks throughout the U.S. on September 12th. The email also alleges that it would be considered intolerant for the Six Flags to host a day for Christians or Jews.
The Truth:
Muslim Family Day at Six Flags amusement parks is annual event that has been going on continuously since 2004, according to the organizers, The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). Their website said that over 57,000 attended the 2009 event at eight different parks throughout the U.S.
Four of the Six Flags parks have slated the 2010 Muslim Family Day event on either September 10th or 12th, the day before or after the anniversary of the September 11th attack. The weekend coincides with the end of the Islamic period of prayer and fasting known as Ramadan. Three parks scheduled this event for the following weekend, September 18th and one park set aside a day on the following month, October 2.
The event was first held in September 2000 at the Six Flags Great Adventure park in New Jersey and was a huge success, according to the information posted on the ICNA website. It also said, “The tragic events of 9/11 that resulted in the loss of thousands of innocent lives, also affected this event directly. The chief organizer, Tariq Amanullah, who worked on the 96th floor of WTC, Tower 2, passed away. The team was unable to come together again till year 2004, when the event came back bigger than ever before.”
Six Flags offers their facilities for religious organizations and their national website says that they will “work with you to create the perfect program of events and activities. For example, we can organize your day around one of our amazing Gospel or Contemporary Christian concerts.”
updated 08/02/10