Kudos to Katherine Kersten at the Star Tribune, for this piece on the Muslim cab drivers who refuse to carry infidels.

Why “kudos?” Because in a very rare case of mainstream media doing its job (which is supposedly to keep the public informed), Kersten has written an article that delves into the real agenda of the group promoting this Islamic intolerance—the Muslim Brotherhood: Airport taxi flap about alcohol has deeper significance. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

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.

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.”

But many Somali drivers at the airport are refusing to carry passengers with alcohol. 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.

The society is mediating the conflict between the cab drivers and the MAC. That seems odd, since the society itself clearly has a stake in the controversy’s outcome.

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.

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.”

What is the Muslim American Society? In September 2004 the Chicago Tribune published an investigative article. The society was incorporated in 1993, the paper reported, and is the name under which the U.S. branch of the Muslim Brotherhood operates.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna. The Tribune described the Brotherhood as “the world’s most influential Islamic fundamentalist group. Because of its hard-line beliefs, the U.S. Brotherhood has been an increasingly divisive force within Islam in America, fueling the often bitter struggle between moderate and conservative Muslims,” the paper reported.

The international Muslim Brotherhood “preaches that religion and politics cannot be separated and that governments eventually should be Islamic,” according to the Tribune. U.S. members emphasize that they follow American laws, but want people here to convert to Islam so that one day a majority will support a society governed by Islamic law.

How are society members to respond when questioned about a Muslim Brotherhood connection? The Tribune cites an undated internal memo: “If asked, ‘Are you the Muslim Brothers?’ leaders should respond that they are an independent group called the Muslim American Society.”

Read the whole thing. This is why I titled my first post on this issue, “Minnesota Shari’a Watch.” The MAS/Muslim Brotherhood is very deliberately pushing the US legal system to accept their Dark Ages, intolerant agenda, and the cabbies at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are just one front in the battle.

Expect serious seething, now that their rock has been turned over.