TANUMA, 13 June 2005 — Worshippers in a mosque in the southern part of Saudi Arabia were surprised when a Bangladeshi who was preaching the Friday sermon threw himself from the minbar (the preacher’s lectern), Al-Watan newspaper reported. The sermon dealt with death and how Muslims should always be prepared for it. In the midst of the sermon, the man leapt from the minbar and lay very still on the floor. Many worshippers fled the mosque, thinking the man had committed suicide. Others gazed in shock at him and he then suddenly sat up and said, “This is what death looks like.” Police took the preacher into custody in order to investigate his strange style of preaching.
