Minnesota's Teetotal Taxis

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A kind of Islamism does exist in Minneapolis: some Somalis demonstrated there recently in support of the brief Islamist takeover of their homeland. But Rasheed Garaad, 29, whom I talked to as he waited to join a terminal cab line, didn't connect his pickup policy with a desire to change this country.

"I don't practice Islam as much as back home," he says. "I just go to Friday prayers. I try to enforce the laws that I think are very important, like praying five times and not drinking alcohol. There are, like, nine different things dealing with alcohol that are forbidden, and for me, I don't want to do anything with it. This is how we were in Somalia." As a result, he says, he has bypassed three fares in five years.

What if a judge ruled he had to drive customers with alcohol or find another job? "It would hurt my beliefs," he says. "But there are rules in this country. If we want to impose our rules and our beliefs, we should stay where we came from. If the court finds that what we are doing is wrong, then it's wrong. I could get another job." That sounds both Islamic and realistic.