Muslim Woman Caught Driving While Using Her Phone Was ‘Listening To Koran To Cure Toothache’

Muslim
MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP/Getty

A Muslim woman in the Netherlands who was pulled over by police for using her mobile phone claims she was listening to the Koran to cure her toothache.

The woman was pulled over by police at a motorway service station on the A27 in the Netherlands for illegally using her mobile phone whilst driving, and for not wearing a seatbelt, reports the Mail Online.

When pulled over, she claimed that she did not have the phone to her ear to make a call, but to listen to the Koran, which she said was the best was to cure a toothache.

The police officer advised her that “an aspirin will probably work better against the pain than the Koran”.

The Muslim woman also claimed her doctor had given her permission to drive without a seatbelt for medical reasons.

The entire incident was captured by a film crew who were shooting a documentary called ‘Wegmisbruikers’, which translates to ‘Road Offenders’, a series in the same vein as Britain’s ‘Traffic Cops’.

After being pulled over, police officer Patrick Vermeulen offered his hand for her to shake – a social norm in the Netherlands – which the Muslim woman refused apparently on religious grounds.

Muslims refusing to shake hands with members of the opposite sex has become a multicultural trait that has been challenged in Switzerland, with one school board demanding that all school children, including Muslim children, shake hands with their teachers as a sign of respect and cultural integration.

However, in progressive Sweden, a Swedish police force stood by a Muslim police officer who refuses to shake women’s hands, saying that they “embrace diversity”.

The Muslim woman also covered her face with her hand, and demanded that the cameras be switched off.

Officer Vermeulen explained that the television crew had the right to film on public roads.

Her pleas were however not accepted by the police officer, who fined her €230 for using a mobile phone without a hands-free device whilst driving.

A record was also made in the police system that she had attempted to fraudulently make use of a doctor’s note.

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