Muslim Cabbies Refusing Service to drinkers
MINNEAPOLIS - Some Muslim cab drivers are refusing service to a growing number of passengers with alcohol or dogs, and officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport are trying to fight it.
"Our expectation is that if you're going to be driving a taxi at the airport, you need to provide service to anybody who wants it," said Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airport Commission.
Each month, about 100 people are denied cab service at the airport. Refusals for religious reasons have grown in recent months, airport officials said. About three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somali, many of them Muslim.
The belief that carrying alcohol or dogs, including those that help people with disabilities, violates religious beliefs is "unfortunate," Airports Commissioner Bert McKasy said.
Officials on Wednesday asked the commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend or revoke drivers' airport licenses for refusing service for reasons other than safety concerns. The commission is expected to vote Jan. 16.
Last year, the airports commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society saying "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam."
Eva Buzek, a flight attendant, said she was recently refused service by five taxi drivers when she was carrying wine as she returned from a trip to France.
"In my book, when you choose to come to a different country, you make some choices," said Buzek, a native of Poland. "I never expected everything to be the same way as in my homeland, and I adjusted. I never dreamed of imposing my beliefs on somebody else."
Muslims do not consume, carry, sell or buy alcohol, and Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean, Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune newspaper.
Mohamud said he would ask airport officials to reconsider.
But many Somali taxi drivers do not have a problem transporting passengers with alcohol and are worried about a backlash, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Jamal said he supports the tougher penalties.
"We tell the taxi drivers, if you don't want to do this, change your job," he said. "You are living in a country where alcohol is not viewed the way it is in your country."
Hogan said the goal is to have a new policy in place by May 11, when airport taxi licenses come up for annual renewal.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241527,00.html
"Our expectation is that if you're going to be driving a taxi at the airport, you need to provide service to anybody who wants it," said Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airport Commission.
Each month, about 100 people are denied cab service at the airport. Refusals for religious reasons have grown in recent months, airport officials said. About three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somali, many of them Muslim.
The belief that carrying alcohol or dogs, including those that help people with disabilities, violates religious beliefs is "unfortunate," Airports Commissioner Bert McKasy said.
Officials on Wednesday asked the commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend or revoke drivers' airport licenses for refusing service for reasons other than safety concerns. The commission is expected to vote Jan. 16.
Last year, the airports commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society saying "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam."
Eva Buzek, a flight attendant, said she was recently refused service by five taxi drivers when she was carrying wine as she returned from a trip to France.
"In my book, when you choose to come to a different country, you make some choices," said Buzek, a native of Poland. "I never expected everything to be the same way as in my homeland, and I adjusted. I never dreamed of imposing my beliefs on somebody else."
Muslims do not consume, carry, sell or buy alcohol, and Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean, Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune newspaper.
Mohamud said he would ask airport officials to reconsider.
But many Somali taxi drivers do not have a problem transporting passengers with alcohol and are worried about a backlash, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Jamal said he supports the tougher penalties.
"We tell the taxi drivers, if you don't want to do this, change your job," he said. "You are living in a country where alcohol is not viewed the way it is in your country."
Hogan said the goal is to have a new policy in place by May 11, when airport taxi licenses come up for annual renewal.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,241527,00.html
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I completly agree with the muslim cab drivers. They are a private company and they have the RIGHT to refuse service to anyone for whatever reason. If you dont like it take another cab company. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
If you dont like it take another cab company.
Probably worried about Explosive sniffing dogs would be my guess....0 -
The Muslim cab drivers can refuse anyone they chose to, IF they are owner/operators, or IF the company they work for allows these refusals. They have every right in my book to do so.....
However....
If the Airport licenses certain cab companies to do business at their airport and does not allow those not so licensed to operate at their airport, then the airport has every right to tell the Muslim cab drivers they can take their religious selection elsewhere and revoke their license to operate at the airport, period, end of story.0 -
quote:Originally posted by lt496
If the Airport licenses certain cab companies to do business at their airport and does not allow those not so licensed to operate at their airport, then the airport has every right to tell the Muslim cab drivers they can take their religious selection elsewhere and revoke their license to operate at the airport, period, end of story.
Airports are federally funded entities and they cant discriminate based on religion.0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
I completly agree with the muslim cab drivers. They are a private company and they have the RIGHT to refuse service to anyone for whatever reason. If you dont like it take another cab company.
Do you also agree with pro life pharmacy's
refusing to fill prescriptions
for the morning after pill?0 -
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
quote:Originally posted by lt496
If the Airport licenses certain cab companies to do business at their airport and does not allow those not so licensed to operate at their airport, then the airport has every right to tell the Muslim cab drivers they can take their religious selection elsewhere and revoke their license to operate at the airport, period, end of story.
Airports are federally funded entities and they cant discriminate based on religion.
Probably true, but I am the one who talked of religious discrimination, not the airport (my personal spin). I believe they would focus on the fact that the contractor is discriminating.
Still and all, I do not know the actual status of the ownership of the airport, or the cab concession. Federal funding certainly plays a role, but that does not equate to federal ownership, or that the airport assumes "federal government" status in all such cases.[;)]0 -
It is worse in England. Those nuts are refusing to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when visiting hospitalized relatives. British hospitals made scrubbing up with an alcohol sanitizer a requirement in order to combat the spread of antibiotic resistant "superbugs".
I have only read a short blurb on the matter and do not know if hospital staff finally had enough and started barring uncooperative muslims from visiting.0 -
By this logic you could eliminate a much greater segment of the taxi-riding population:
quote:"Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam."
What if I want a ride to a Christian church? What if I work at the Pig's Eye brewery in Saint Paul but I have not consumed alcohol?0 -
Denial of service to anyone that requires any type of medical aid dog, is rude, probaly illegal and I wouldn't give my business to anyone from any A**hole religion that tolerates such actions.... So from now on I just wait on the next cab.. Drive to the next service station, and sleep in my car if I can't find a motel with a picture of Jesus Christ hanging in the lobby. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by tobefree
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
If you dont like it take another cab company.
Probably worried about Explosive sniffing dogs would be my guess....
[:D][:D]0 -
If the cabbies are in the business to transport people and the people have not commited a crime then they should transport the people. Now if these are under age drinkers and have broke a law by having consumed alcohol then I can see them refusing to transport.
People can claim anything is a sin to them if they don't want to do something.0 -
quote:Originally posted by phatbassturd
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
I completly agree with the muslim cab drivers. They are a private company and they have the RIGHT to refuse service to anyone for whatever reason. If you dont like it take another cab company.
Do you also agree with pro life pharmacy's
refusing to fill prescriptions
for the morning after pill?
yes0 -
quote:Originally posted by HAIRY
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book.
You're right about that. Simply put they are NUTS!0 -
quote:Originally posted by HAIRY
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book.
there must be something wrong with at least one of us (my vote is for you) becasue I agree with you.0 -
quote:Originally posted by kimi
quote:Originally posted by HAIRY
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book.
You're right about that. Simply put they are NUTS!
Yep!0 -
I refuse to ride in a cab with a muslim driver. 0 -
You are dead right big tire.I personally when I walk into a shop and even think the people behind the counter are mulim I walk out.I had enough of them when I lived in the UK.Strange thing is go to any corner shop owned by a muslim and I will bet you they sell alcohol.Ignorant,dispicaple racist people.I think we should pull all our troops out dont let any more of them hear and all those that are here including the converts and sympathisers send them to iraq or iran and then nuck them and send them back to the stone age. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by Mr Cool
quote:Originally posted by lt496
If the Airport licenses certain cab companies to do business at their airport and does not allow those not so licensed to operate at their airport, then the airport has every right to tell the Muslim cab drivers they can take their religious selection elsewhere and revoke their license to operate at the airport, period, end of story.
Airports are federally funded entities and they cant discriminate based on religion.
Maybe it's time they started.0 -
The point is that these Muslims are involved in a business and they are discriminating against the public based on their personal religious beliefs. They simply choose to not assimilate into cultures that are not their own, but rather to use the lame ass excuse of DIVERSITY to push their culture down everyone throats, like they did last night when Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity interviewed them on this same subject. I wonder which Jesse Jackson Reverand, liberal-assed university idiot, or secular-progressive Anti-American taught them about the wonderful DIVERSITY/DISUNITY program spearheaded by the NAACP's Civil Rights Movement!? Hmmmm... 0 -
this topic(not on the board, i mean in general) is rteally starting to aggrevate me. i fully agree with the hopefully passed decision to revoke their airport privilages. these people are refusing to service the constituents of the primary client(the airport) therefore, they arent fufilling their end of the deal. the airport grants them a license to operate from the property in the assumption that they will adequately perform that service. they arent doing that so its only fair that they dont get their licenses renewed. cause and effect. 0 -
A company that provides a service to the public and is licensed to provide this service, should honor the public's rights and not make up their own rules... Those of you who say free interprise - does this include ignoring the rights of others because of your political views (when you run a business that involves the public)??? 0 -
quote:Originally posted by BlueTic
A company that provides a service to the public and is licensed to provide this service, should honor the public's rights and not make up their own rules... Those of you who say free interprise - does this include ignoring the rights of others because of your political views (when you run a business that involves the public)???
This is pretty much the same logic the Airport Authority is using to pull their licenses. The Muslims have already said they will sue as soon as their licenses are pulled. I'm guessing this one will eventually be decided by the new Supremes.0 -
quote:Originally posted by HAIRY
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book.
A fleeting moment of lucidity.....[:0]0 -
If all the cab drivers were Muslim, I'd rent a car before I'd give them a dime! 0 -
How come if the Feds want to know if a Muslim has a bomb in his luggage, it's ethnic profiling, a violation of his privacy and infringement of his religious freedom, but if a Muslim wants to know if I have a bottle of Tennessee sipping whisky in my luggage, it's simply exercising his religious freedom, and I am required to answer him? 0 -
none of the muslims I ran into in Iraq had a problem with alcohol, infact they would sell you a 5th of Jordanian whiskey for $10 as long as their weren't any MPs around [:D] 0 -
quote:Originally posted by hicap47
quote:Originally posted by HAIRY
The cabbies agreed to licensing; the license requires they take passengers. No take, no license. Pretty simple in my book.
A fleeting moment of lucidity.....[:0]
Finally. Let's hope you have more of them. [}:)][}:)]0
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