By Phyllis Chesler

Are immigrant Muslim taxi drivers heroically selfless “family men” or are they soldiers in an advancing jihadic Army?

As a New Yorker, I have been driven by very friendly and exceptionally courteous male Muslim taxi drivers from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, and Somalia, and once, by an enchanting woman driver from Afhganistan—but I have also held on for dear life as ill-tempered, mentally unbalanced, unbelievably misogynistic male Muslim drivers have indulged in full-blown rage attacks as they careened in traffic.

Of course, I have also experienced similarly bad behavior at the hands of home-grown taxi drivers as well. Maybe long hours, low pay, and No Exit will do it every time.

Nevertheless: Aqsa Parvez’s father Muhammed, who honor-murdered his daughter because she refused to wear an Islamic headscarf worked as a taxi driver in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto. Yasir Said, who murdered his two teenage daughters, Amina and Sarah, because they had become too western, was also a taxi driver in Dallas.

Taxi drivers in England have been known to constitute a network in which they spy on and actively return girls and women who are trying to escape being honor murdered. According to a just-released report, UK teachers and police officials are “afraid to take action against so-called honour crimes for fear of being accused of racism.” The Daily Mail notes that, in addition,

“Researchers say taxi drivers, police and government workers of Asian origin are returning women to the domestic abuse they want to escape.”

Taxi drivers again!

In 1997, in New Orleans, a blind woman tried to enter a taxi with her seeing eye dog. The Muslim taxi driver physically attacked her and further injured an already-broken wrist. At trial, the judge described the driver’s behavior as a “total disgrace” and sentenced him to 120 days of community service at the Lighthouse for the Blind.

In 1999, a Muslim taxi driver in Cincinnati refused to transport a blind female passenger with a seeing eye dog. The woman complained; CAIR defended him as having acted in accordance with his religious beliefs. (Dogs are considered impure and contact with them is considered to render a Muslim ritually unfit for prayer).

In 2000, in Edmonton, Canada, a blind woman tried to enter a cab with her seeing eye dog. The driver first claimed “allergies,” but then stated that “taking a dog conflicted with his religion.” At trial, he failed to produce the necessary proof from an allergist. However, the case against him was dismissed because it had been improperly filed.

We also know that in 2005 and 2006, some Muslim taxi drivers in Minneapolis refused to pick up airport fares whom they suspected of transporting alcohol or pork. In 2007 the Metropolitan Airport Commission of Minnesota they unanimously voted to crack down on such drivers who “declined to transport passengers with alcohol or pork” ).

What next? Will Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport “naked” women? “Naked” as in with their faces showing?

But, what’s true of some Muslim taxi drivers is also true of some Muslim convenience store owners.

For example, in 2003, in Edmonton, Canada, a blind woman tried to enter a convenience store owned by a Muslim and was forcibly ejected by the owner who stated that “this store is also my church because I pray and eat here and my religion will not allow dogs or any animal to come in here.” In 2004, at trial, she stated that he started yelling at her and did not allow her to explain why she needed the dog, what the dog meant to her, or to enunciate her legal rights.

In 2005, a blind man in Brooksville, Florida, who tried to enter a store with his seeing eye dog, was similarly thrown out by a raging Muslim.

Other correlates of “raging Muslim” behavior also exist: Poverty, a limited education, (but this is not always so), dim prospects for a brighter future—coupled with a very specific cultural and religious zero-frustration tolerance, hostility towards non-Muslims, and paranoia when non-Muslims are in control. However, “male” and “Muslim” are also correlates of this behavior.

Please understand: Nothing that I am saying has anything to do with “race.” Muslims come in all colors and ethnicities.

If I lived in England, I would now have to describe Muslim taxi drivers who engage in any of the above behaviors as committing “anti-Islamic” acts. By the way, I originally thought that UK officials had lost their last marble when they issued these new, Orwellian directives, but I also understand that these officials are finally getting desperate and want to inspire the hopefully “good” but all-too-silent Muslim majority to protest the jihadists who have hijacked their culture and religion.

Let’s see if this works.

A final point: Generations of immigrants to the West have “done time” as taxi and truck drivers, dishwashers, small shop owners. There is no shame in this. They have put their children through college and graduate school. I hope that the silent Muslim majority, including the taxi drivers, follow in their august footsteps—and yet, I remain uneasy about this.

POSTSCRIPT: Individual taxi drivers are innocent until proven guilty. Culturally different styles do not always rise to the level of a crime—although rudeness and arrogance in public life is always quite disheartening and intimidating. But, as a group, taxi drivers know city routes; convenience stores and gas station owners control the city’s food and gasoline supply. Were even a small group of drivers and shop owners united for an Islamist purpose—we would be vulnerable in these specific ways. Muslim citizens would be as vulnerable as non-Muslims.

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© 2007 Phyllis Chesler. This article was originally posted on Chesler Chronicles. You are free to copy, distribute and transmit this work, but you may not alter or transform it. You must attribute this work to the author.

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Related: Islam, Society

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