PrintMay 19, 2007
Minnesota Muslims' dilemma
Moslems who escaped the war-ravaged Somalia and were given refuge in the US are not sure whether they should feel happy in their new home, according to the May 18th segment of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
Indeed, they face serious problems.
"For example, Islam forbids consuming alcohol or pork, but imams differ on whether it's OK to handle them on the job. That very question had become an issue at Minneapolis-St. Paul International, an airport at its most international in the taxi line. About three-quarters of the 600 licensed drivers are Somali immigrants."Airport officials say in too many cases they've refused to take customers carrying alcohol, usually in duty-free bags, saying it's against their Islamic faith."
Insensitively, the airport decided to penalize the drivers who refuse to take passengers with Koran-forbidden liquid in their luggage - with a mixed result.
"The airport's stiff new penalties will prompt some drivers to look for new work, but others say they could look for recourse in a very American way: through the courts."
Poor guys, they do not grasp the depth of the problems they are faced with in this corrupted, modern West. If mere presence in the same location as alcohol is forbidden,
Unbeknownst to them or their imam, there is alcohol all around them - and inside of them, too. Imams have far more to worry about than bottled whisky, and should seriously consider leaving. According to this source, the very alcohol that makes certain beverages forbidden, "has many uses including use in solvent based paints, pharmaceuticals, perfumes, cleaning products for home and car, lacquers, and inks," as well as in gasoline. It probably has many more uses than listed in this quote, but even those are more than sufficient to sow grave doubts in purely chemical compatibility between West and Islam, leaving alone its other aspects.
From paints on the walls of the Minnesota Moslem's house, to the pill he takes when he is ill, to the perfume his wife - or his taxi's passengers - use, to the gasoline he puts into his car, and to his car itself - and, oh final horror! - to the very letters of his Holy Koran - all have alcohol!
Unlike sinless, virtuous Somalia, almost everything in Minnesota is tainted, nay, contaminated, with sin. If Minnesota Somalis knew that beforehand, would they leave their righteous homeland? Was it worth coming to sin-soaked Minnesota just to avoid Somali bullets? Did they contain alcohol?
