No Islamic Law in Minnesota, for Now

By Daniel Pipes
FrontPageMagazine


A week ago, it appeared likely that Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport would win special dispensation to avoid transporting alcohol-carrying passengers. The Metropolitan Airports Commission had proposed to give those Shari’a-minded drivers an off-colored light atop their cabs, allowing them to remain in queue while customers with bottles found other cabs.

I opposed this “two-light solution,” arguing in “Don’t Bring That Booze into My Taxi” that it intrudes Islamic law into a mundane transaction of American commercial life. I urged readers who share my views to write the commission to make known their views.

On October 10, a few hours after my article first appeared, the commission met and reversed itself on the two-light solution. A press release issued later that day, “Proposed Taxi Test Program Canceled at Minneapolis-St. Paul International; Other Options Will be Considered To Improve Taxi Service,” explained that public response to the proposed program “has been overwhelmingly against creation of a two-tiered taxi service system.”

MAC executive director Jeff Hamiel noted that, based on public response to the proposed test program the test program (which never went into effect and will not be implemented),” it is clear that its implementation could have unintended and significant negative impacts on the taxi industry as a whole.” Or, in the words of MAC’s press release, “Some taxi service providers have expressed fears that people opposed to the program will choose other ground transportation options rather than take any taxi from the airport.”

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