Tamsir Drammeh, a New York cabbie, has been hit with a $350 fine after he refused to allow a mother to sit in the front seat after she and her family piled into his cab at Penn Station. Drammeh reportedly said that the husband could sit in the front seat but that having a woman in the sit would violate Islamic values.
We have previously discussed such conflicts with Muslim taxi drivers and others such as the case where Muslim drivers refused to drive people bringing bottles of wine or alcohol from the airport.
The driver in this case said that Islam bars him from being so close to a female stranger, a position rejected by many Muslims. Notably, one Muslim driver said that he could allowed her in the front seat but could refuse her if she was “wearing a skirt hiked up to here” and then “He wouldn’t have her in the front, but only if she is alone.” Even that is a rather curious and arbitrary rule for women to have to deal with in trying to determine when their dress barred them from sitting in the front seat of a taxi.
Notably, this was a mother who got into the taxi with her two children and husband. However, Drammeh still considered her sitting in front to be an affront to Islam.
In contesting the fine, Drammeh found himself facing Judge Laura Fieber, who ruled “That his religion did not allow him to sit next to a woman is not an acceptable defense in an occupation that is operated to serve the public. Of significance, respondent made it clear that the husband would be welcome in the front seat, while the wife/complainant would not be.”
Despite his discrimination against women, Drammeh was only suspended for a day.
Source: NY Post