Fatuwas Arguments

Remember this post about Muslim cabbies refusing to carry people with alcohol in their baggage (later they refused to carry seeing-eye dogs, too)? Lgf points out further reporting from the Minneapolis Star suggesting the whole issue is bogus –ie, not something that began with the cabbies—but something imposed on them by a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood. Here’s what the Somalis themselves say (interviewed at a local Starbucks)

"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."

And

Jama Dirie said, "If a driver doesn't pick up everyone, he should get his license canceled and get kicked out of the airport."

This attitude isn't unanimous, but it's the most prevalent:

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.

Well, I cringe at some things ordinary Catholics say about our faith, so maybe that's not so? In an unprecedented case of thorough reporting, the journie went to an expert.

Ahmed Samatar, a nationally recognized expert on Somali society at Macalester College, confirmed that view. "There is a general Islamic prohibition against drinking," he said, "but carrying alcohol for people in commercial enterprise has never been forbidden. There is no basis in Somali cultural practice or legal tradition for that. "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."

So what's the problem?

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.

Now, the Muslim American Society is a front group for the radical Egyptian terror group Muslim Brotherhood, but that's not the best part. The group that started the whole thing in the first place was called in to "mediate" between Muslims and the airport authority.

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.

No comment on that. But here's the take-home message:

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."

Hoo boy. Not only are we not standing up for our own way of life, we are abandoning immigrants trying to assimilate to the designs of enemy front groups.