Author: Sudarsan Raghavan

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/27/AR2009062702416.html

Over the past two weeks, Marcelle George has watched with amazement as legions of Iranian women, most wearing black, full-length Islamic garments, defiantly protested Iran's leadership.

Even in her native Egypt, where some opposition to the government is permitted, most...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSBKK423415

A female Buddhist teacher was shot dead by suspected insurgents in Thailand's restive Muslim south on Sunday, police said.

Two gunmen riding a motorcycle fled after killing the 38-year-old victim on a road in Narathiwat province.

In an incident in the south on Saturday a suspected insurgent and two security officers died in a gun...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/27/relief_protest_greet_opening_of_mosque_in_roxbury_crossing/

With the cutting of a taut green ribbon and the haunting chant of a call to prayer, a crowd of hundreds of local Muslims inaugurated a large new mosque yesterday in Roxbury Crossing.

The...

Author: Katy Jordan

Source: The Boston Herald

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20090627boston_muslims_unveil_facility/srvc=home&position=7

Boston’s Muslim community celebrated a long-awaited milestone yesterday with the official unveiling of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, a 68,000-square-foot mosque and cultural center in Roxbury.

Nearly 2,000...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC New

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8122026.stm

The US State Department has appointed its first Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Farah Pandith would play a leading role in US efforts to "engage Muslims around the world".

She said Ms Pandith, who was born in Indian-administered Kashmir, would bring years of experience to the role.

The...

Author: Helen T. Gray

Source: The Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/1288476.html

The Kansas City area has no pool catering to the Muslim community; therefore, Muslim women have been paying to use area pools.

One group uses a YMCA pool at 1101 N.E. 47th St. every two or three weeks. About 20 women and girls usually come, said Susan Lynn, who makes the arrangements with the help of a neighbor, who is a member of the Y.
...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/26/muslim_community_to_celebrate_mosque8217s_ceremonial_opening/

&amAt midday today, a local Muslim will clamber 185 feet up a ladder inside the narrow minaret atop the domed brick mosque and recite Islam’s haunting call to prayer, starting with the...

Author: Prat Thakkar

Source: NECN

http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/06/26/Mosque-opening-met-with/1246051819.html

It was a project two decades in the making which almost never happened. Today a brand a new mosque opened in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood. The Muslim community is celebrating, however there are others who have ongoing reservations about the facility.

Those opponents gathered...

Author: Samuel G. Freedman

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/us/27religion.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Sometimes during the past two weeks, making her rounds as a hospital resident, Dr. Saughar Samali has caught a glimpse of television news in a patient’s room or heard a bulletin on the radio in the family-practice office. Against her desire, against her better judgment, she has been plunged...

Author: Michelle Chabin

Source: The Kansas City Star/Religion News Service

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/1288422.html

Devora, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never felt comfortable in the sleek, revealing bathing suits sold at the stores she frequented in her native France or in her adopted Israel.

While she ordinarily wears fashionable skirts that fall below the knee and blouses that extend to her wrists, Devora, 31, was unable to find a...

Author: William Wan

Source: The Washington Post

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/godingovernment/2009/06/free_quran_given_by_muslim_civil_liberties_group.html

On the premise that nothing makes a better gift than a good book, a Muslim civil liberties group is launching a campaign to hand out 100,000 free copies of an expensive Arabic-English copy of the Qur'an to elected...

Author: Angelique Chrisafis

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/26/sarkozy-france-paris-islamic-veils

In the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with its busy market, fast-food joints and bargain clothes shops, Angelica Winterstein only goes out once a week – and only if she really has to.

"I feel like I'm being judged walking down the street. People tut or spit. In a smart area...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8119273.stm

A survey of British Muslim opinion for the BBC has revealed significant divisions over the conflict with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said it was wrong for the West to intervene militarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At the same time, a similar number (78%) said they opposed Taliban attacks against Nato...

Author: Sebnem Arsu

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/26arts-TURKISHCOURT_BRF.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

A court in Istanbul on Thursday acquitted a Turkish writer who was accused of inciting religious hatred in a novel based on the birth of Islam. Nedim Gursel’s “Daughters of Allah,” was published last year in Turkey.

Author: Staff Writer

Source: PRNewswire