Islam

White House appoints new Muslim community liaison

April 14, 2023

President Joe Biden has appointed Mazen Basrawi as a senior adviser and White House liaison to American Muslim communities, making good on a campaign promise to fill a slot eliminated by former President Donald Trump, according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council, where Basrawi currently serves.

Multiple Muslim groups have publicly hailed Basrawi’s expected appointment in recent weeks. 

“With his extensive background in civil rights and advocacy, this is a great step forward in the push for Muslim representation and inclusion, and we are excited...

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Minneapolis becomes first major U.S. city to allow all five Muslim daily prayer calls

April 13, 2023

Minneapolis on Thursday became the first major American city to permit unfettered broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer, allowing the adhan to be heard over speakers five times a day, year-round.

The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to amend the city's noise ordinance, which had prevented some morning and evening calls at certain times of the year because they occurred at times of the day when tighter noise restrictions are in place.

"The Constitution doesn't sleep at night," said Jaylani Hussein, executive director of...

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US soccer leagues add game breaks for players fasting during Ramadan

April 4, 2023

As darkness fell over Saturday’s Major League Soccer match between the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake, the referee briefly halted play while Crew defenders Mohamed Farsi and Steven Moreira knelt on the sideline, eating pitted dates and sipping sports drinks.

The stoppage — a rarity in a sport that frowns on “timewasting” and reserves pauses in play primarily for injuries, substitutions and exuberance after goals — allowed the two to break their daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan before going on to play the game’s remaining 70 minutes. 

The...

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Prayer rug design project aims to highlight Islam's diversity in US and Latin America

April 3, 2023

A Muslim convert, Mustafa Dustin Craun cherishes a brown prayer rug he bought on his first Umrah pilgrimage to the sacred site of Mecca more than 15 years ago.

Unlike the Hajj, the mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca, Umrah is a voluntary spiritual journey, which Craun performed in 2007. While in Saudi Arabia, he ventured to Medina, where the Prophet Muhammad is buried and where Craun found his prayer mat. It has been with him everywhere he has moved since — Mexico, Ghana, Morocco and San Diego, California, where Craun has been working on a documentary about a Muslim group he helped...

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Shia Muslim scholars denied entry into US suspect religious bias

April 3, 2023

It took the US consulate seven minutes to reject Nabil Ahmed Shabbir’s visa application.

Shabbir, a British Shia scholar, had applied for his US visa to assist with the birth of his first child. His wife, an American Shia Muslim, wanted to have the birth in the US.

Shabbir hadn’t even left the embassy gate after handing in his visa application when he got a text message saying it had been rejected.

Source:...

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Muslim Association of Greater Pittsburgh holds Interfaith Iftar

April 3, 2023

After being on pause for the past several years because of COVID-19, the Muslim Association of Greater Pittsburgh opened its doors for Interfaith Iftar – Ramadan 2023.

People of all faiths were invited to the open event in Gibsonia.

“In our religion, in our culture in Islam, Ramadan is our holy month. We fast the whole month. We break fast at sunset, and we break fast with our friends, family and neighbors. This is very special for us to be able to break our fast with our neighbors of different faiths, share our culture, our food with everyone,” said Syeda Raisa, of...

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Muslim holidays find welcome from mainstream retailers with new Ramadan goods

March 14, 2023

When Natasha Khan Kazi was a student at the University of Pittsburgh in the early aughts, Eid al-Fitr — a major Muslim holiday that marks the end of a monthlong fasting during Ramadan — fell just before Christmas break. So while many of her classmates went through finals week anticipating the warmth of holiday gatherings a few days later, Khan Kazi spent her Eid in a crowded classroom bent over her exams.

“There were so many moments growing up where I wasn’t seen or acknowledged, or all the joy I felt for my celebration was quieted,” she told Religion News Service recently....

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'It's time for us to be bold': Why six religious leaders are fighting to expand abortion access

February 13, 2023

It's a somewhat familiar story: A group of religious leaders last month filed an abortion-related lawsuit. They argued their religious freedoms were being violated.

But, instead of challenging abortion rights, they wanted to see an abortion ban overturned. The leaders are seeking to reverse Missouri's abortion ban, arguing lawmakers imposed their religious beliefs on others through passing it.

“We want this not just to be a lawsuit but also a public awareness campaign to show people they can be religious and also in support of abortion rights,” said the Rev. Cindy...

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Sporadic and subjective: How Pennsylvania's religious 'garb ban' has impacted teachers

February 14, 2023

Haajar Abdullah-Aziz was 8 or 9 when her mother, a Philadelphia public school teacher, told her she might lose her job.

Her mother, Aisha El-Mekki, was a devout Muslim. El-Mekki’s principal approached her, she said, and told her she was violating Pennsylvania’s school code by wearing a hijab and modest dress.

“I learned that no teacher can wear anything that symbolizes their religion,” the principal reportedly said. “What are we going to do about this?”

Source:...

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Annual Interfaith luncheon brings community together to spread love

February 1, 2023

At the end of every year, faith leaders, local organizations and officials gather together to break bread at the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton and further build relationships with one another.

The Muslim Center of Greater Princeton in West Windsor brought local officials, faith leaders, residents and organizations together in the large multi-purpose room at the mosque to learn more about one another in December before the start of this new year.

“If we know each other, we love each other. When we don’t know each other there is the fear of the unknown,” said...

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Muslim-American opinions on abortion are complex. What does Islam actually say?

February 1, 2023

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion, Zahra Ayubi started to notice a theme among some critics of the historic shift.

"They'll draw analogies between abortion bans in the United States and Muslim conservatism," Ayubi, a professor of Islamic Ethics at Dartmouth College, said of some of the commentary she saw on TV and on social media. Critiques ranged from attempts at humor to outright Islamophobia.

In some cases, as Ayubi recalled, critics blamed the so-called "Texas Taliban" for new abortion restrictions in that...

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Omar says some Republicans don't want a Muslim in Congress: 'These people are OK with Islamophobia'

January 29, 2023

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on Sunday said some Republicans are “OK with Islamophobia” in response to questions about efforts by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to block her from continuing to sit on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. 

“You remember Donald Trump coming into my state and saying, ‘Muslims, Somali refugees are infiltrating our country.’ You remember [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-Ga.] coming to Congress after...

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After Lecturer Sues, Hamline University Walks Back Its 'Islamophobic' Comments

January 17, 2023

Hamline University officials made an about-face on Tuesday in its treatment of a lecturer who showed an image of the Prophet Muhammad in an art history class, walking back one of their most controversial statements — that showing the image was Islamophobic. They also said that respect for Muslim students should not have superseded academic freedom.

University officials changed their stance after the lecturer, who lost her teaching job, sued the small Minnesota school for religious discrimination and defamation.

“Like all organizations, sometimes we misstep,” said a...

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Hamtramck City Council votes to allow religious animal sacrifices with conditions

January 10, 2023

The city of Hamtramck voted Tuesday night to change its animal ordinance, which would allow for religious sacrifice as long as it’s done legally and humanely.

The religious slaughtering of certain animals like goats or sheep is practiced among Muslims during the holiday of Eid. The city’s Muslim population has been booming in recent decades, with the city recently becoming the first in the U.S. to have an all-Muslim city council and a Muslim mayor.

In the city council chambers in Hamtramck, residents packed inside talking during public comment for nearly three hours...

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New Ohio law requires colleges accommodate religious observances

January 4, 2023

 A new Ohio law will provide college students with more flexibility when it comes to observing religious holidays. 

House Bill 353, known as the Testing Your Faith Act, requires higher education institutions to give students a minimum of three days every semester and also provide accommodations in order to observe religious holidays.

The bipartisan-backed bill was signed by Gov. Mike DeWine Tuesday.

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