SubscribeMuslim Cabbies Want Parking While Praying
From the religion section of the Chicago Sun-Times:
Taxi cabs and limousine drivers must pass through the O’Hare Commercial Vehicle Staging Area before picking up travelers at the airport. Drivers often have to wait one to two hours, but pass time by socializing inside and outside of their cabs. Some drivers sleep, while others do other activities such as play soccer, make phone calls, do homework, or pray.
Muslim cabbies get tickets while praying
Drivers say police at O’Hare have fined 500 for blocking lanes
September 16, 2007
BY LEONARD N. FLEMING Staff Reporter
Faisal, a taxicab driver who works at O’Hare Airport, wants to be a good cabbie while staying true to his Muslim faith.
But Muslim cabdrivers are finding the latter difficult lately, as they’ve been hit with a rash of tickets for parking in access lanes leading to the airport terminals near where the city helped set up a prayer trailer for them.
“For most of us who need to pray, that’s part of our religious duty,” said Faisal, a 13-year-cab veteran who declined to give his last name…
Drivers such as Faisal say they mean no harm by parking in the lanes leading to the prayer trailer on the grounds of O’Hare’s commercial lot — which either have no-parking signs posted or are meant for brief stops…
Drivers are particularly worried about receiving tickets as they celebrate the holy month of Ramadan, a time for steadfast prayer, fasting and spiritual reawakening…
The commercial access area is the staging ground for taxis and limo drivers who use various lanes to park their cars for shift changes or for a brief lunch stop. It is only open to commercial vehicles that pick up passengers at the airport and is maintained by the city’s Department of Aviation.
Wolfgang J. Weiss, one of the managing directors of the Chicago Professional Taxicab Drivers Association, said more than 500 cabs have been ticketed. Ultimately, drivers are responsible for paying the tickets — ranging from $50 to $80 — which can cut their daily profit in half, Weiss said…
But Weiss admits that authorities probably won’t give them a break, so his association is going to petition Mayor Daley and others for relief.
Aviation Department spokesman Greg Cunningham said authorities do not want to interrupt Muslims and their prayer habits. But he contends that cabbies must follow the rules at a facility that needs to be clear of traffic in order for operations to run smoothly and safely.
“It’s a temporary parking and holding area,” Cunningham said. “If a vehicle blocks off other vehicles from leaving the facility, it becomes a problem.”
Iqbal, another Muslim cabdriver, said the city is punishing honest people duty-bound to their faith. “It doesn’t happen every day,” he said…
Gee, what a perfect excuse for a car bomber to leave his car near an airport.
They ought to be grateful that they are just getting ticketed.
In any case, given all their problems, maybe the practitioners of Islam should just not take jobs as taxicab drivers.
Surely there must be other fields of endeavor that would allow them to pray five times a day and to avoid any contact whatsoever with alcohol, pork or dogs — or any of the other myriad of things they consider haraam.
Or maybe they should just move to an Islamic country.
7 Responses to “Muslim Cabbies Want Parking While Praying”
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September 17th, 2007 at 11:38 am
There is NO WAY the City of Chicago is going to give up this revenue.The city makes up a large portion of its budget shortfall from parking and traffic tickets.This is Chicago…Money talks,….
September 17th, 2007 at 11:51 am
WHOA!!
Not only am I from Chicago (go BEARS) but I am a cabbie here in Honolulu. I say fine them and tow the damn cabs. If they don’t like it then send them the hell out of the US.
September 17th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
How about this? You want the protection of US laws, you MUST swear to follow those laws. This will exclude Islam, because there is no law but Islam. It may also exclude the far left.
This will be a lose-lose proposition. Either true Muslims will lie (big surprise) to us infidels, which means that a Muslim’s word is worthless as far as us infidels are concerned, or the true Muslim will be apostate and a traitor to Islam–or Islam will have to bend from their body of traditions and from the Koran, much as Christianity bent and deviated from the Bible during the Protestant Reformation.
It is an insult to Islam that there are laws governing Muslims other than Islam. That includes parking tickets.
SG, how many parking tickets are given to illegally-parked car bombs, such as the first WTC bombing in 1993?
September 17th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
I would really like to know what “help” the city of Chicago provided in setting up this “prayer trailer”?
Did we, the taxpayers fund this “help”?
Obviously, the “prayer trailer” is on public property so exactly how did the city get around the establishment clause, (a favorite meme of the ACLU)?
Is the “prayer trailer” open to all faiths?
As a Christian or Jewish cabbie, I would be allowed to enter the trailer and pray at the same time Muslims were conducting their prayers?
Five simple questions for the Sun-Times reporter who offered this whitewash tripe and for the city of Chicago’s aviation authority.
Our children in public schools are not allowed silent prayer time prior to the start of the days classes because that constitutes an “establishment” but city authorities sanction this obvious appeasement of Muslims? WTF..??
The hypocrisy of the left never ceases to amaze me..!!
September 17th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Render unto Ceasar that which belongs to Ceasar.
Oops, sorry, that quote is from Jesus Christ.
September 17th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
“Interfaith Chapel / Religious Options
An interfaith chapel is available for travelers who wish to pray and/or meditate while at the airport. Located on the mezzanine level of Terminal Two, the chapel is open 24 hours a day with a chaplain available for personal emergencies. Call 773-686-2636 for more information. Or visit their website at http://www.ohareairportchapel.org”
The prayer trailer mentioned in the article is definitely not listed as interfaith. Providing it to appease moz cabbies is unabashed and unjustifiable pandering by the City of Chicago. Where is the ACLU when we need it?
September 17th, 2007 at 6:46 pm
What the hell is this Horse S…?
Old Faisal just parks his cab where ever he feels like, And if he is obstructing traffic so he can pray, He thinks its O.K.
Now old Weissy is gonna petition the governor to stop the evil police from writing tickets to some inconsiderate mooselimb that thinks he can do as he damn well pleases no matter how many people are inconvienced.
Then along comes Mr. Flaming ass To trumpet how mean the cops are for writing a ticket for the offence.
Whats next prayer stops on the interstates?
This appeasement crap is a very slippery slope.