Author: Peter Gelling

Source: The New York Times

Author: William F. O'Brien

Source: The Edmond Sun

http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/local_story_068221249.html

Oklahoma Council of American Islamic Relations Director Razi Hashmi told the members of that organization at their third annual dinner last week that many Muslims came to this state seeking a better life. And on the whole, he said, they have succeeded in that endeavor.

Hashmi reminded them that the more than 30,000 Muslims...

Author: Michelle Green

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=2797

Leaders of Malaysia's minority religious groups have criticised the country's government for restricting the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims in Bibles, a Catholic newspaper and other texts.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism said in a statement made available on 6 March that...

Author: David Hench

Source: Portland Press Herald

[pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=243829]

For many Muslim women, being seen in public with one's head uncovered is a violation of religious tenets as well as an embarrassing display of immodesty.

Head coverings also can be, to varying degrees, important to Jews, Sikhs and people of other faiths.

But that obligation has collided with security concerns and cultural standards prevalent in American courts and prisons, where removing...

Author: Andrew Higgins

Source: The Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638477632658147.html

Christians have lived in these parts since the dawn of their faith. But they have had a rough couple of millennia, preyed on by Persian, Arab, Mongol, Kurdish and Turkish armies. Each group tramped through the rocky highlands that now comprise Turkey's southeastern border with Iraq and Syria.

The current menace is less...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Hindu-families-from-Pak-seek-refuge-in-India/articleshow/4239397.cms

Stating that they do not wish to return to Pakistan due to Taliban's tyranny in the tribal areas, a group 35 Hindus, nearly half of them women, from the neighbouring country have crossed over to India and asked the government to allow them to...

Author: Gregg Krupa

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090306/LIFESTYLE04/903060356/1041/LIFESTYLE04

As Muslims commemorate the birth of the prophet Muhammad beginning Saturday at dusk, some say that remembering the events of the prophet's life and the guidance revealed by the Quran are especially important this year, after some pointed attacks on the reputation of...

Author: Samuel G. Freedman

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/us/07religion.html?_r=1&scp=11&sq=religion&st=nyt

Until a stranger without an appointment showed up one day in late 2001, Stephen L. Ranzini was feeling rather pleased with himself. University Bank here, which he led as president, had just won a national award for community service. The honor attested to Mr. Ranzini’s success...

Author: Mark Magnier

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-pakistan-sharia6-2009mar06,0,3072254.story

In an apparent expansion of Islamic fundamentalists' authority in the picturesque Swat Valley, local Pakistani officials have agreed to close shops at prayer times and crack down on prostitution and drug dealing as part of a proposed peace deal, according to...

Author: Taye Obateru

Source: All Africa

http://allafrica.com/stories/200903050017.html

The co-chairman of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), who is also the president of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rt. Rev. John Onaiyekan has advocated sanctions for religious leaders who preach inciting messages as a way of curtailing incessant religious crisis in the country.

Similarly, the Sultan of Sokoto and co-Chairman of the same council...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Journal Record

http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=96553

An American Islamic group asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Wednesday to determine whether legislation in Oklahoma and Minnesota prohibiting the wearing of religiously required head scarves in driver’s license photos is constitutional.

In Oklahoma, language was added to a measure in committee that would not allow “hats,...

Author: Seymur Kazimov

Source: Institute for War & Peace Reporting

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=350704&apc_state=henh

“In Azerbaijan, non-Muslim, Christian communities are allowed to operate freely, whereas the Muslim community for some reason is not.”

So said Haji Gamet Suleimanov, imam of the Abu-Bekr mosque in centre of the capital, Baku. “It’s because the Council of Europe and the Americans are behind the...

Author: Elisabetta Povoledo

Source: International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/04/europe/muslims.php

On one side of a drab street in working-class Milan, a squat structure houses a conservative mosque linked in the past to suspected Islamic terrorists.

On the other, an office building houses the budding newsroom of "Yalla Italia" (Let's Go, Italy), a monthly magazine written by 2Gs - the name here for second-...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Adnkronos International

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Religion/?id=3.0.3069915929

The leader of Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation, Hasyim Muzadi, has called for greater religious tolerance and understanding at an interfaith conference held in the Italian capital, Rome, on Wednesday. Muzadi, president of Nahdlatul Ulama, was at the conference organised by the Indonesian and Italian governments and...

Author: Karin Zeitvogel

Source: Middle East Online

http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/culture/?id=30729

Muslim American women are educated, active in the workforce and on an equal footing with men in terms of income, according to a report released Monday, which analysts said chips away at myths associated with Islam.

"What we learned in the study is that US Muslim women are roughly equal to men and to women who are non-...