Author: Staff Writer

Source: Malaysia Today

http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/14913/84/

Norien Hassan is used to pushing the limits in her yoga studio. What she did not expect was to test religious as well as physical boundaries.

The 37-year-old began practising yoga in Kuala Lumpur after she heard it could help women conceive.

Three years later, she is a proud married mother of two who now practises yoga up to six days a week as...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: Reuters

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/africa/...

Author: Michele Dargan

Source: The Palm Beach Daily News

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/2008/11/16/MONislam1117.html

Rabbi Marc Schneier attended a summit of imams and rabbis last November designed to promote better understanding between the Islam and Judaism.

The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, of which Schneier is president, hosted the summit and, from that, a Weekend of Twinning was...

Author: Charles Bremner and Marie Tourres

Source: The Times Online

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5158566.ece

They are born in France and called Louis, Laurent or Marie but they want to become Abdel, Said or Rachida. Such requests from immigrants’ children for name changes are mounting in the French courts and worrying a state that lays store on melding a single national culture.

In a sign...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: AFP

http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Islam_28/European_Islamic_media_network_in_the_works.shtml

The heads of the two main Muslim news and networking Internet sites in France and Spain hosted a meeting Friday in Madrid to discuss the creation of a European-wide Islamic media network.

"We hope to create a better understanding of the Muslim faith and...

Author: Dominic Casciani

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7728577.stm

Urgent action is needed to boost the number of Muslim officers in counter-terrorism units, the National Association of Muslim Police has said.

A survey carried out by the association and think tank Demos suggests Muslims remain under-represented in the police. Half of the 51 UK forces took part.

There are 27 Muslim counter-terrorism officers out...

Author: Ilene R. Prusher

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1113/p01s01-wome.html

Sheikh Ishaq Abdel-Jawad Taha's phone is ringing off the hook.

"You're welcome, go ahead," says Sheikh Taha, sitting behind his desk at the Palestinian Authority's Al-Fatwa Council, of which he is the director. "She's still recovering, so she doesn't have to pray," he says.

The voice on the other end of the phone is...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Media for Freedom

http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=12378

Hindus have lauded the groundbreaking three-day dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, which concluded at Vatican City on Thursday, and called it a “step in the right direction”.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was wonderful to watch the world’s...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7719059.stm

A conference attended by thousands of Muslim clerics, scholars and community leaders in India has endorsed a religious ruling against terrorism.

The ruling or fatwa was issued earlier this year by an Islamic seminary.

It said that Islam rejected all kinds of bloodshed and the killing of innocents for selfish and politically motivated gains....

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7718715.stm

Governments across Europe must do more to safeguard freedom of speech for Muslim reformers who face threats from extremists, a think tank has warned.

The UK-based Centre for Social Cohesion highlighted the cases of 27 writers, including Sir Salman Rushdie, activists, politicians and artists.

The centre said they had suffered violence and intimidation...

Author: Paul J. Weber

Source: The Houston Chronicle

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6105353.html

Federal prosecutors made their closing arguments that a Muslim charity in Texas raised millions of dollars to finance international terrorism before again handing the case to a jury Monday.

Last year's trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development ended...

Author: Wyre Davies

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7715921.stm

Religious leaders in Jerusalem are warning of dangerous consequences after a decision by Israel's Supreme Court to allow the destruction of part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

The graveyard has not been used for more than 50 years, but contains the bodies of some important Islamic figures.

Many of those bodies will now be disturbed to make way...

Author: Paul Vitello

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/nyregion/07muslims.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

It was easy for them to love the candidate. With the same passion, and for the same reasons that millions of other young people did, they loved Barack Obama’s call to activism, the promise of change, the sheer newness of the guy.

What was hard was feeling they could not show it because...

Author: Nicole Neroulias

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=16858

After months of balancing their support for the presidential candidate with concerns that their allegiance could do more harm than good, millions of relieved American Muslims cheered the election of the son of a Muslim immigrant whose middle name is Hussein.

Record numbers of U.S. Muslims had cast their votes, boosted by registration...

Author: Debra Rubin

Source: The New Jersey Jewish News

http://www.njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/110608/njMuslimsJewsPackRutgers.html

In what both sides hope will be the first of many interfaith encounters, Muslims and Jews at Rutgers University packed a student lounge in New Brunswick to discuss how they view dating, religious holidays, and food prohibitions.

At the Oct. 30 program, arranged by Rutgers Hillel and the...