Author: Jane Lampman

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0303/p02s02-ussc.html

A "national portrait" of Muslim Americans, released Monday by Gallup, depicts the youngest and most racially diverse religious community in the country as striving for a secure place in American society and an active role in public life.

The report describes a group that has achieved successes and shares much in common with other...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The New York Times

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/world/asia/04briefs-HEADSCARVESB_BRF.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Kyrgyzstan, a predominantly Muslim country in Central Asia, has banned head scarves from schools to protect children from religious influence, an official said Tuesday. “We are a secular state,” the...

Author: Christopher Landau

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7915393.stm

The role that women play in mosques varies substantially around the Muslim world. Visits to two mosques in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, show just how different women's experiences can be.

The al-Seddeeq mosque, in a prosperous suburb of Cairo, stands in front of a park - unusual enough in an overcrowded city lacking much green space.

The...

Author: Lashonda Stinson Curry

Source: The Gainesville Sun

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20090302/articles/903021005

The faces of Muslims are framed in an art exhibition at Reitz Union that offers a window into their lives and culture.

University of Florida students Mohamed-Eslam Mohamed, Asaad Musba, Charissa Dawn Scott and Hena Waseem and UF graduate Muhsin Aziz Ahmad were asked to take pictures that documented Muslim life...

Author: Erin Carlyle

Source: City Pages

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/03/somali_student.php

A St. Cloud legislator's bill would require full exposure of the head and face in driver's license photos. A Somali group says the proposal would violate their freedom of religion.

State Rep. Steve Gottwalt, of St. Cloud, introduced the bill last month. The Somali United Movement, a group of college-aged Somalis working to improve...

Author: Shannon Kari

Source: National Post

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1343205

The Ontario Human Rights Commission is arguing that a provincial court judge failed to recognize the religious freedoms of a Muslim woman when he ordered her to testify at a sexual assault trial without a veil known as a niqab.

The government agency is asking for special permission to be allowed to intervene at a Superior Court proceeding...

Author: William F. O'Brien

Source: The Edmond Sun

http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/local_story_061223435.html

“None of you truly believe,” the Prophet Mohammad told his followers, “Until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

President Obama recently quoted that statement at the National Prayer Breakfast. The president said in his Inaugural Address that the United States is reaching out to the...

Author: Lynn Berry

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/europe/chechen.php

The president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at a mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had "loose morals"...

Author: Teresa Watanabe and Paloma Esquivel

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-muslim1-2009mar01,0,1456958.story

The Islamic Center of Irvine is a beige stucco building that blends into the rows of office buildings surrounding it. But last week, it became the most publicized mosque in California with disclosures that the FBI sent an informant there to spy and...

Author: Eileen Ng

Source: The Associated Press

Author: Nasser Shiyoukhi and Diaa Hadid

Source: Press Democrat

http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090224/API/902241719?Title=2-Palestinian-women-become-judges-in-Islamic-court

The Islamic courts were among the last male-only bastions in Palestinian society, where women have been presidential candidates, police officers and even suicide bombers.

Now two stern-looking...

Author: Barbara Karkabi

Source: The Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6284810.html

At 65, Akbar Ahmed could be sitting comfortably, looking back on his long career as a diplomat, author and professor of Islamic studies.

Instead, Ahmed is on the road with a team of twenty-somethings, leading what he calls a “journey into America.”

Their goal, he said during a visit to...

Author: Jessica Nunez

Source: Columbia Missourian

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/media/multimedia/2009/02/26/media/Archive/index.html

When Katie Hurst moved to Columbia 10 years ago to study religion at MU, her intention was to work at a nonprofit or teach Christian education. She didn’t expect to have adopted an entirely new lifestyle and belief system by the time she graduated.

But that’s...

Author: Marina Jimenez

Source: The Globe...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7910426.stm

A dedicated Muslim burial area has been introduced for the first time in a Dorset town.

The burial area, in Kinson cemetery, Bournemouth, will help to meet the religious customs of the Muslim community, the borough council said.

Bournemouth's cemeteries were laid from 1878 to 1938 and in line with Christian traditions, meaning a Muslim...