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Airport adds foot basins for Muslim cabbies [HOMELAND INSECURITY]
WND ^ | April 28, 2007

Posted on 04/27/2007 10:30:23 PM PDT by jdm

The Kansas City International Airport has added several foot-washing basins in restrooms to accommodate a growing number of Muslim taxicab drivers who requested the facilities to prepare for daily Islamic prayer, WND has learned.

The move concerns airport police who worry about Middle Eastern men loitering inside the building. After 9/11, the airport beefed up its police force to help prevent terrorist attacks.

"Why are we constructing places of worship for them inside our airports?" said an airport official who requested anonymity. "Why are we catering to their rituals? We don't do it for any other religion."

Other major airports also are dealing with increased demands from Muslim cabdrivers.

For instance, cabbies at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport recently caused a stir when they refused to carry passengers possessing alcoholic beverages or accompanied by seeing-eye dogs. Alcohol is forbidden in Islam, and dogs are considered unclean.

There are approximately 250 taxicab drivers operating at KCI Airport in Missouri, one of the largest airports in the U.S., linking some 10 million passengers between mid-America and other U.S. cities. Approximately 70 percent of the drivers are of Middle Eastern heritage and practice the Islamic faith, sources say.

KCI Airport Police are responsible for the cab drivers, including the holding areas of the building. The KCI Aviation Department, which oversees the police, recently expanded the taxicab facility restroom area to include the construction of four individual foot-washing benches.

The cost of the project is not immediately known. A spokeswoman for the engineering department said she could not break out the figures.

KCI Airport Police Capt. Jim Harmon declined comment, explaining, "This is a touchy subject."

He referred questions to the KCI Aviation Department.

In a cleansing ritual known as ablution, Muslims are required to wash their feet before praying to Allah five times a day. They often complain that public restroom sinks do not accommodate their needs. Floor-level basins make it easier for them to perform their foot-washing ritual.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has pressed government agencies and businesses to install the foot basins in restrooms.

The controversial Muslim lobby group advises employers to allow Muslim workers time to perform both the washing ritual and prayer, which "is usually about 15 minutes," according to a pamphlet CAIR publishes called, "An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices."

The Islamic purification ritual, known in Arabic as "wudu," involves a 10-step process, which includes:

1. Praising Allah while washing both hands up to the wrist three times, making sure that the water reaches between fingers and under rings.

2. Rinsing out the mouth thoroughly three times, using the right hand (the one not used for cleaning private parts) to bring the water to the mouth.

3. Snorting water into the nostrils from the right hand, three times, to cleanse them of demons that Muslims believe reside there, clearing the passages of any mucous using the left hand.

4. Washing off the tip of the nose with the left hand.

5. Washing the entire face three times from right ear to left ear.

6. Continuing to wash from forehead to throat.

7. Washing the right arm and then the left arm, three times, from the wrist up to the elbow, removing watches.

8. Moving wetted palms over the head from the top of the forehead to the back of the head.

9. Passing the wetted tips of the fingers into the grooves and holes of both ears, and also passing the wetted thumbs behind the ears and ear lobes.

10. Finally, washing both feet to the ankles starting with the right foot, including between the toes, then reciting: "Ash-hadu an la ilaha illal lahu wa ashhadu anna Muammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh" – meaning there is no god but Allah and he has no partners, and Muhammad is his servant and messenger.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airport; basins; cabbies; muslims
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To: jdm

This is total BS. Their religion permits them to wash with sand when water isn’t available, and no sin is attached to that. There is nothing in their Quran requiring them to have foot sinks, or even to perform all this particular washing with water.
If they feel polluted they should stay away from airports and cab passengers.
And tax dollars are paying for this chicanery?


41 posted on 04/28/2007 5:22:51 AM PDT by Graymatter (FREDeralist)
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To: jdm

And to think this total waste of time is done five times a day!


42 posted on 04/28/2007 5:42:42 AM PDT by Moonmad27
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To: Graymatter

I was wondering where they get that much water in the desert. They must tow a tanker on trips!! How did Mo and his flunkies carry that much water?

I will avoid Kansas City like the plague it is.


43 posted on 04/28/2007 5:48:46 AM PDT by jch10
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To: jdm

Can’t we just turn a fire hose on them? It’s known for driving out demons.


44 posted on 04/28/2007 5:54:33 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: jdm
But, but, but, they’re good for the economy! They’ve all got degrees, don’t you know. Soon they’ll make up 5 or 7 or 10% of the population. Will that improve this country? GWB and all the elite seem to think so.
45 posted on 04/28/2007 10:09:49 AM PDT by jordan8
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To: jdm

Read my reply number 51 here for more info on this

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1825066/posts?q=1&;page=51


46 posted on 04/30/2007 7:11:29 PM PDT by Shots (Loose lips sink ships)
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To: jdm
Well, that MY tax dollars were spent this way is ridiculous. But could you imagine the response if the Archbishop requested kneelers in the airport for devout Catholics to pray the rosary on their knees while waiting to fly?!?!? They’d never come CLOSE to allowing it, even if the Bishop paid for it, let alone spend tax dollars on it. How can you possibly spend tax dollars to accommodate one religion (a minority one at that) and not another. These same politicians are the ones trying to keep the Pledge of Allegiance out of schools because of the “under God” phrase. Talk about hypocrites.

And, as one who travels a lot, and has had my share of Muslim cab drivers, I can say that the “purification” ritual 5 times a day hasn’t done ANYTHING for their BO. They REEK!

47 posted on 05/01/2007 9:12:16 AM PDT by Sens55
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To: spotbust1

I don’t know.... I have harvested some boogers that I believe were from the underworld!


48 posted on 05/15/2007 11:40:04 AM PDT by Airborne80
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To: Sens55

I am sure that Airports in Islamic states will have areas for other religions to practice. Oh and the fact that terrorists must go through this ritual prior to blowing themselves up, makes this great for them. Now they can take care of that business just prior to boarding the plane to kill all of us non believers! They laugh at us!!!


49 posted on 05/15/2007 11:40:06 AM PDT by Airborne80
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To: Airborne80

Gross, just GROSS!!!! :-)


50 posted on 05/15/2007 4:18:02 PM PDT by spotbust1 (Procrastinators of the world unite . . . . .tomorrow!!!)
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