Source: The Capital
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2006/11_19-57/LIF
WASHINGTON - Mohammad Malik, owner of Bismillah Halal Meat in Langley Park, doesn't have Thanksgiving off. He will spend the day in his store, cooking the food his Muslim customers want for the holiday - lamb and goat roasts and pound after pound of rice.
But recently, more people have come in requesting something different: turkey.
"I guess more and more people getting into that tradition," said Mr. Malik, 34, of Gaithersburg. "Just as an American, they are celebrating Thanksgiving. I guess more people, Muslim people, are going, 'Why not have a turkey?"'
Although there is still no nationwide distributor of turkeys that are "halal," or slaughtered according to Islamic law, halal food stores in Maryland and around the country report increasing demand for the birds as more Muslims immigrate to the United States and assimilate into the mainstream.
In 2000, Maryland had an estimated 52,867 Muslims, the eighth-highest population of any state, according to the Glenmary Research Center, a leading religion research group. Most of the state's Muslim population is concentrated in Baltimore and suburban Washington.