Believe In America.com

butterbean · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 2269

Islamic taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are refusing passengers carrying alcohol and blind folks with seeing-eye dogs because the animals' saliva is sacrilege according to Sharia law.

The enterprising Muslims during the past year have stranded 100 passengers a month, sometimes for more than an hour, according to the Metropolitan Airports Commission, since three-fourths of the 900 taxi drivers servicing the airport are Somali Muslims who have decided to participate in the new discipline.

To make matters worse, a local outreach director of the ever-obliging Council on American-Islamic Relations, Damon Drake, dismissed the issue, saying, "Now that the Muslims are here, they need to be accommodated."

The issue originated 12 months ago when the airports commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society. It stated that "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers to carry passengers with alcohol "because it involves cooperating in sin."

One solution, Islamic zealots suggested, would be to designate the majority of cabs following the practice with special colors, or lights, so that passengers would not hold their breath — which is tantamount to telling a newly stranded passenger: "I am Muslim, and I choose not to give you a ride. Tough luck."

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http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=46220