On a wing and a prayer

For A Change, Dec-Jan, 1999 by Peter Riddell

The Egyptair flight to Cairo was preparing to take off. The emergency instructions had been given in English and were being given in Arabic. Then the tone of the Arabic changed, and I thought I caught the word `Allah'. I wondered whether the captain was praying for a safe flight.

A steward sitting in front of me confirmed that it had indeed been a prayer. Was it Egyptair policy for a prayer to be said before flights, I asked. No, it was just the custom of this particular captain, he explained.

In the state of heightened awareness before take-off (fear!), two contradictory reactions rushed to my mind. First was the agnostic, self-sufficient and slightly unnerving thought that, if the captain felt in need of prayer, perhaps he wasn't quite as confident of his aircraft or his expertise as I would have wished. (I could imagine what the reaction would be if a British Airways captain did the same!) The other, calming, reaction was that it was perfectly reasonable to acknowledge that events beyond human control could occur even when everything possible had been done to prevent them. (Indeed, I recalled a couple of minor car accidents that might have been due to overconfidence in my own abilities).

I asked the steward where the prayer came from in the Qur'an, but he was Christian and didn't know his way round the Qur'an. I asked whether, in schools for example, Muslims were taught something of the Bible and vice versa, but he said, no, that was a very delicate subject in Egypt.

I recalled a conversation with a senior educationalist in Lebanon (where it is also a delicate subject). She had told me about a project for their new curriculum in which they were trying to distil the values which were common to both religions that could be taught to all children.

Sometimes followers of these religions seem in opposition to each other. Yet at that moment of take-off, the Muslim captain and I, a Christian, were both putting our trust in that mysterious power which created us and in its ultimate benevolence.

I decided that I preferred a captain who prayed, to one who was totally confident of his ability to control events.