Thursday, October 26, 2006
Airport taxi flap about alcohol has deeper significance
The taxi controversy at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has caught the nation's attention. But the dispute may go deeper than the quandary over whether to accommodate Somali Muslim cabdrivers who refuse to carry passengers carrying alcohol. Behind the scenes, a struggle for power and religious authority is apparently playing out...
...An animated circle of Somalis gathered when the question of the airport controversy was raised.
"I was surprised and shocked when I heard it was an issue at the airport," said Faysal Omar. "Back in Somalia, there was never any problem with taking alcohol in a taxi."
Jama Dirie said, "If a driver doesn't pick up everyone, he should get his license canceled and get kicked out of the airport."
Two of the Somalis present defended the idea that Islam prohibits cabdrivers from transporting passengers with alcohol. An argument erupted. The consensus seemed to be that only a small number of Somalis object to transporting alcohol. It's a matter of personal opinion, not Islamic law, several men said...
..."This is one of those new concoctions."It is being foisted on the Somali community by an inside or outside group," he added. "I do not know who."
But many Somali drivers at the airport are refusing to carry passengers with alcohol. When I asked Patrick Hogan, Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman, for his explanation, he forwarded a fatwa, or religious edict, that the MAC had received. The fatwa proclaims that "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to the Islam."
The fatwa, dated June 6, 2006, was issued by the "fatwa department" of the Muslim American Society, Minnesota chapter, and signed by society officials.
The society is mediating the conflict between the cab drivers and the MAC. That seems odd, since the society itself clearly has a stake in the controversy's outcome.
How did the MAC connect with the society? "The Minnesota Department of Human Rights recommended them to us to help us figure out how to handle this problem," Hogan said.
Omar Jamal, director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, thinks he knows why the society is promoting a "no-alcohol-carry" agenda with no basis in Somali culture. "MAS is an Arab group; we Somalis are African, not Arabs," he said. "MAS wants to polarize the world, create two camps. I think they are trying to hijack the Somali community for their Middle East agenda. They look for issues they can capitalize on, like religion, to rally the community around. The majority of Somalis oppose this, but they are vulnerable because of their social and economic situation."
The society
What is the Muslim American Society? In September 2004 the Chicago Tribune published an investigative article. The society was incorporated in 1993, the paper reported, and is the name under which the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood operates.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. The Tribune described the Brotherhood as "the world's most influential Islamic fundamentalist group."Because of its hard-line beliefs, the U.S. Brotherhood has been an increasingly divisive force within Islam in America, fueling the often bitter struggle between moderate and conservative Muslims," the paper reported.
The international Muslim Brotherhood "preaches that religion and politics cannot be separated and that governments eventually should be Islamic," according to the Tribune. U.S. members emphasize that they follow American laws, but want people here to convert to Islam so that one day a majority will support a society governed by Islamic law.
How are society members to respond when questioned about a Muslim Brotherhood connection? The Tribune cites an undated internal memo: "If asked, 'Are you the Muslim Brothers?' leaders should respond that they are an independent group called the Muslim American Society." [does that sound familiar? -S]
The April 2001 issue of the society's magazine, the American Muslim, lists "essential books" for understanding Islam. They include works by Hassan al-Banna, the Brotherhood's founder, and Sayyid Qutb, one of its most violent theoreticians...
There's more in the article. [via Dhimmi Watch, h/t: Miss Kelly, x-posted in the Forum]
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: MAS Watch: The sharp end of the Sharia wedge in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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I liked the part about how the Mohamud (the MAS guy) says "Muslims must follow shari'a, or Islamic law, in every aspect of their lives."
"Mohamud adds that Americans need to learn about Islamic law because the Muslim population here is growing. That's why the proposed two-tier system for airport cabdrivers is important, he says. It could become a national model for accommodating Islam in areas ranging from housing to contractual arrangements to the workplace."
No doubt, we have lots of this to look forward to and fight against. We've got one system of laws in this country, we're not interested in any two-tier system.
Open your eyes, nazism this time coming with burqa and chanting allaaaaa
Definitely not acceptable. If you are going to provide a publicly licensed service, you must provide it equally to all customers regardless of your religious beliefs, or theirs. The 'two-tier' system should never have been seriously entertained.
However, if you're going to defend the separation of church and state, you have to do it consistently. That means also opposing the right-wing Christian lobby who want pharmacists to be able to opt out of dispensing the morning-after pill. Same issue, just a different religion.
They may be analogous on the issues themselves, but as to the danger posed by Christians who are already here (and who's culture built this nation, and who's excesses we are well versed in combatting), and the dangers posed by Muslim newcomer groups like the Brotherhood (which is really the subtext here), I'll take the pharmacists any day.
Agreed, Sol. People so often think that Islamic radicalism and Christian fundamentalism are equivalent. They're not equivalent. Islam is far more than just another religion. Its adherents consider it a "complete way of life," a political ideoelogy, and a system of governance for every aspect of their lives, in addition to being a "religion." Islamic radicalism is far more of a threat to the U.S. and the West than Christian fundamentalists. Not even close!
While it is true that alcohol is one of the ten universally acceptted Najis or Unclean things in Islam, so are Kafirs?
So my question is: If transporting alcohol is offensive to their religous sensitivities, should not they also refuse to transport Infidels?
I have sources and further exposition here.
Najis Unclean Things