praying should be done in private since god is omniscient
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those who make a show and pray in public is because they are hypocrites and do not pray in private
Are you muslim?
do you pray? lol, where do you get off calling people hypocrites/munafiqs for praying?
How did you extrapolate that verse to mean don't pray in public? and then decide that those who pray in public are actually munafiqs(hypocrites)? Where did you get this understanding? what tafsir? or do you like to pick vague out of context quotes to push your own agenda?
First and foremost lets get something out of the way, there is no impermissibility to praying outside, and no daleel for this claim, in fact there is proof going the other way of permissibility of prayer outside, namely narrations of the sahabah praying outside while they are being observed by the pagans of mecca. So don't bother making such weak arguments and trying to use a theological basis b/c its quite easy to refute. You are better off trying to argue from a secular basis.
Secondly, this person praying right outside is more out of a matter of convenience than anything else, he was visiting downtown manhattan, and if it was maghrib, the timing window is quite short for maghrib, even if he wanted to pray inside, he would find it difficult, as he is traveling by car, and he would struggle to find streetside parking in lower manhattan, let alone parking close to a masjid. One would need to find a parking garage, put the car there, pay $50-60 dollars to park, make the transaction, then go park, then walk all the way to a masjid, pray then walk back and then wait until he can exit the parking garage in the que. He could do all this, or... pull over to the side of the road, do 3 rakats fard which will take 2-3 min max, get back in the car and drive away. he isn't bothering anyone and its newyorkcity, no one cares about anything around them, there are homeless people sleeping, there are all sorts of crazy things happening around people(people getting mugged, ppl fking outside, drunks walking around, people getting high on drugs), someone praying in the corner or on the side would not even register on people's radar, let alone bother anyone. when looking at it in that context, its quite easy to see which one is the path of least resistance.
Lastly on the matter of praying in public, and whether it serves the interests of muslimeen/Islam, the act itself is a form of dawah and serves the maslaha, not that it is the primary reasoning for this individual and others, more often its mostly convenience, you are outside and the prayer time comes, and you get it out of the way in 2-3 min, then return to your work. but nonetheless it serves the curiosity of people, some people inquire and wish to learn more, eid salah in public for instance tend to garner people's curiosity.
