Muslim trucker sues over alcohol load

CHICAGO, Illiniois (Reuters) — A Muslim truck driver has filed a federal court suit in Tennessee against his employer, saying he was fired for refusing an assignment to transport beer, a Muslim advocacy group said Wednesday.

Ibrahim Barzinji, who is Kurdish and lives in Nashville, was granted the right to file the federal lawsuit against ex-employer J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier this week, said Ibrahim Cooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group.

The Lowell, Arkansas-based transport company, which is among the nation’s largest trucking companies, could not be reached for comment.

Barzinji had worked for the trucking company for a few months and had transported a load of auto parts to St. Louis last June when he was told to go to a brewery to pick up a load of beer for the return trip, he told the Nashville Tennessean newspaper.

“When I saw it was a beer company, I called my dispatcher and said, ‘I can’t do this. It’s against my religion,”‘ and he asked for a different load, he told the newspaper. The company subsequently fired him.

Muslims are forbidden to deal in any way with alcohol.

Most lawsuits having to do with Muslims’ religious rights usually involve an employer not setting aside time for prayers or having to do with growing a beard, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Nashville said.

Cooper said a similar case arose a few years ago in Minneapolis where Muslim taxi drivers refused to ferry passengers who carried alcohol purchased at airport duty-free shops. It was settled by having the drivers skip those fares, he said.

Read Another Article

Dolly the sheep’s immortal message
1984 Lafferty case still haunts

Related News Articles Topic(s): Islam Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com Islam Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog