Muslim Cab Drivers Object to Driving PassengersWith Alcohol

Source: Star Tribune

On December 2, 2000, the Star Tribune reportedthat "Muslim cabdrivers who object to transporting alcohol for religiousreasons complain they are being forced to choose between their faith andtheir livelihoods at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.Under airport policy, drivers must accept passengers who are carryingliquor--often bought at airport duty-free shops in the United Statesand abroad--or wait as long as four hours for another fare. Officialsof the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) said that drivers canrefuse a fare for any reason, but that they then must go to the back ofthe taxi waiting line. Getting back up to the departure stand oftentakes hours and cuts into already tight profit margins, drivers said.The Council on American Islamic Relations-Minnesota is working with theMuslim drivers to get the MAC to change its rules. About 70 percent ofthe taxi drivers serving the airport are Muslim. 'There is a large groupof Muslims out here,' said Damon Drake, the relations council chapter'soutreach director. 'Now that the Muslims are here, they need to beaccommodated.' Islam forbids using or being in the presence of alcoholicbeverages, he said...Each day, Liban Mohamud, a Somali immigrant, isamong nearly 600 taxi drivers who spend hours of their day waiting in asea of taxis in a lot just off Post Road in Bloomington. He often spendstime in a back room at a nearby SuperAmerica store where drivers playNigerian checkers, eat and talk while watching a TV monitor that tellsthem when it's their turn for a fare. Mohamud said he once waited forhours, only to be turned back when he refused to take a passenger with abottle of alcohol. Once is too often when a single fare can mean thedifference between making and losing money for the day, he said...Butnot all drivers agree. 'To work out here is the choice of the driver,'said Tim Swiler, a driver who represents suburban drivers on the TaxiAdvisory Board. 'We're talking about the choice to run a business. Ifyou choose not to transport alcohol, that's your choice. It's the samechoice if you decide not to take someone with a cane or a limp, a toupeeor a bad hat. Go to the back of the line.'...The issue has rarelyaffected passengers, airport officials say. Normally it happens once ortwice a day out of about 2,150 cab rides. But one day about four monthsago, 16 drivers in a row refused a passenger carrying a visible alcoholbottle, the MAC's Johnson said. Returning Thursday from London, JerrBoschee and Linda Ball of Eden Prairie said they brought back Scotch andvodka. As they waited for a taxi, they said they would be upset if theywere turned away because of alcohol in their bags. 'It kind of goes withthe job,' Ball said. 'I'm not drinking in the back of the cab.'...TyroneTerrill, director of the St. Paul Department of Human Rights, said hehas begun investigating, although his department has no jurisdiction atthe airport. He said the issue could eventually affect St. Paul hotelsand businesses...But driver Joseph Tsehai called the issue a matter ofchanging cultures. 'It is necessary, this change,' he said. 'It is notonly necessary, it is humane. We don't have a choice.'"