Muslims condemn man’s alleged act on-board Malaysian Airlines flight

Muslims have responded to the alleged actions of a man on a flight after his rant about “Allah” allegedly forced the plane to turn back.

A man who forced a Malaysia Airlines plane to make a dramatic turn back to Sydney International Airport after he became unruly.

Muslims have condemned the alleged actions of a Canberra man after his rant about “Allah” on-board an international flight was blamed for forcing the plane to turn back to Sydney.

Footage of the dramatic incident was caught on video and widely shared online after the Malaysia-bound flight was forced to return less than three hours after takeoff on Monday afternoon.

Australian Federal Police allege Muhammad Ali Arif, 45, became disruptive mid-flight and claimed to have explosives on board.

The Canberra man has since been charged with two counts — making a false statement and not complying with directions.

“The offences carry a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine of over $15,000, respectively,” an AFP statement read.

He appeared at Downing Centre Court on Tuesday morning where bail was refused.

In the footage, the man can allegedly be heard saying: “My name is Mohammed, slave of Allah”.

“Are you a slave of Allah? Are you? Say it. Say it! Are you a slave of Allah?”

He also allegedly told flight attendants that there was a bomb in his bag.

Bilal Rauf, a spokesperson for the Australian National Imams Council, told news.com.au it is “unfortunate that the person involved made statements relating to Islam”.

“There can never be any religious justification for such conduct, no matter the religion,” Mr Rauf said.

“Islam places a fundamental value on protecting human life.”

He said there is no warrant for any religious justification for such conduct.

“I think that’s across all religions — there’s never been any sanction for it.”

“Indeed the Quran states that ‘ … if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people’,” implying it is about respecting human life.

Mr Rauf added he hopes everyone on board the flight is now safe and well.

A man whose crazed rants about being a ‘slave to Allah’ forced an international flight to return to Sydney has been charged. Picture: Twitter

“It would have been a traumatic experience for them. In matters such as this, it is important to let the authorities investigate and appropriately manage the incident.”

Muhammad Zubair, from Newcastle, was sitting in the same aisle as the man and saiid he saw him acting erratically before boarding but initially thought he was just a nervous flyer.

Mr Zubair said the man did not put his backpack in the overhead locker, telling cabin crew that there was a Koran in the bag, The Daily Telegraph reports.

#Sydney Airport is suffering at the hands of this lunatic as he has taken #MH122 hostage. Praying for everyone's safety and well being.

Where is Airport security?! Its been well over an hour since the plane has landed back!!! pic.twitter.com/rSWExD9EXm

— Jawad Nazir ✈ (@jawadmnazir) August 14, 2023

Once the plane had taken off and the seatbelt sign had turned off the man allegedly stood up and started shouting “don’t touch me” and “there is a bomb in my bag”.

The plane then returned to Sydney Airport where passengers were forced to wait on the tarmac for several hours before they were taken off the aircraft at around 6.30pm.

Sammi Marks, who was seated five rows ahead of the man, praised crew for calming him down.

He was arrested after shouting about Islam mid-flight and allegedly claiming to have explosives. Picture: Muhammad Zubair

“The cabin crew member who is with the guy is honestly amazing,” she said.

“He’s gone from having to physically restrain him to now sitting with him and speaking with him calmly and with kindness.”

However, other passengers were less sympathetic to the man, including Muslims who said he had “brought shame” on them.

“This lunatic now says it was a joke, he was testing Muslims. This idiot, he brings shame to other fellow Muslims,” one man tweeted.

“This guy is giving a religion a bad name,” another wrote on Facebook.

Jawad Nazir from Sydney, whose friend was on board, said the man waited until the plane hit cruising altitude before making his disturbing claims.

“My friend said he waited, 20 to 25 minutes … he was yelling at the passenger next to him, had the backpack on his chest,” Mr Nazir said.

Mr Nazir, a practising Muslim, said the passenger was “embarrassing”.

“I’m gutted and feel extremely bad, all it takes is one person to tar everyone with the same brush … I feel bad for the people on the plane, no one deserves to go through something like this.”