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Europe | |
"Muslim taxi" offers Germans gender-segregated rides | |
2012-01-30 | |
Those interested in offering rides specify their gender, asking price and the number of passengers they can carry. Potential passengers contact the driver directly. Selim Reid, a 24-year-old from Norderstedt told the Hamburger Abendblatt that Muslims' bad ride-sharing experiences inspired him to create the site. For example, his parents, originally from Iraq, caught a ride with a Muslim-hating driver who criticized them. Reid told the newspaper, "The driver and the people with him swore the whole way about foreigners in general and in particular about my mother's head scarf." You don't need to be a Muslim to use Reid's service, of course. He told the Abendblatt, that's one of the main points of the service. He said, "Those really looking for dialogue will find it by using Muslim Taxi." The website has attracted criticism. People have accused Reid of wanting a parallel society and supporting immigrants who don't want to integrate. But Reid says the positive response shows that he's filling a niche. He said, "Many Muslim brothers and sisters complained that they can't use conventional offers because the gender segregation stipulated by Islam is not implemented." | |
Posted by:ryuge |