Islam

An Anti-Muslim Symbol From India Is Paraded on Main Street, New Jersey

September 25, 2022

The India Day Parade featured a pretty standard lineup of festival fare.

A Bollywood actress waved to fans from the top of a handmade float. Indian flags fluttered in the breeze. Flashy cars and quirky ads (“Kidney donors are sexy,” read one) passed by.

Then, toward the middle of the caravan, came a small, yellow piece of construction equipment decorated with photos of India’s prime minister and a hard-line protégé who has been called “...

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Prom or Passover? Schools making progress on accommodating the diversity of Santa Cruz County

September 26, 2022

Debra Feldstein is a bit frustrated, and cautiously optimistic.

Since her older child started going to school 11 years ago, she’s been asking teachers, principals and administrators if they could consider not having picture day, school dances or crucial testing happen on important Jewish holidays, such as the Rosh Hashana New Year’s celebration happening this week.

“I have been fighting this battle every year for 11 years,” she told Lookout on Wednesday. Now, given new efforts to respond to such concerns by both the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and some...

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Biden leaves American Muslims wanting

September 12, 2022

When President Biden was elected in 2020, Muslim Americans hoped to see a change in representation in government.  

At the time, hate crimes against Muslims were on the rise, and anti-Islamic rhetoric was surging, which critics attribute, in part, to former President Trump.

The former president took a hardline stance on Muslims, signing an executive order in 2017 banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries and sending shockwaves throughout the Muslim American community....

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ISNA Convention in Rosemont is nation's largest gathering, networking event for Muslim community

September 3, 2022

A long time tradition for the Muslim community makes a grand return to Rosemont after two years of virtually gathering during the pandemic.

The Islamic Society of North America is bringing in thousands of people from different states and countries for its 59th annual convention.

"Just a great opportunity for not just the adults, but the young kids and kind of coming together in a social setting," said attendee Habeeb Quadri.

Source:...

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Most Colleges Do Not Offer Campus Organizations for Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim Students

August 16, 2022

A recent study by researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Oklahoma State University has revealed that the majority of U.S. colleges and universities do not offer campus clubs or groups for Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim students. 

The researchers assessed religious organizations at 1,953 four-year, not-for-profit colleges and universities. They found that 66 percent have no minority religious student group of any type. Buddhist and Hindu student groups each exist at only 5 percent of campuses. One-quarter of the schools have Jewish student organizations, and...

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The Future of Religion in the Metaverse

August 9, 2022

Tech companies are investing in the metaverse and increasingly recognizing that religious communities, some which have already been meeting in virtual reality, will play a key role in the digital future. Many questions remain, however, as to whether that relationship will be good for the religious communities themselves or merely prioritize profits through engagement at any cost.

The metaverse is an immersive virtual world where people can...

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Muslim Killings in Albuquerque Stir Sectarian Ghosts

August 15, 2022

Five years ago, Muhammad Syed was eyeing a new life with his family in a new land. They had fled war-torn Afghanistan and resettled as refugees into a small duplex near the airport in Albuquerque. Mr. Syed found work as a truck driver. But then the troubles began.

Coming from a culture where women largely stayed at home, he grew enraged with his wife as she was learning how to drive, grabbing her hair and kicking her out of the car, according to one of several reports of domestic violence the police were called to investigate. A security camera showed him slashing the tires of...

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Muslim men sue Alaska airlines for removal from flight over Arabic texts

August 9, 2022

Two Black Muslim men have sued Alaska Airlines for discrimination after they said the airline removed them from a flight following a fellow passenger’s complaint over text messages in Arabic and would not allow them to travel together on rebooked flights.

Attorneys with the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which first ...

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Albuquerque Welcomed Muslims. Then Four of Them Were Killed.

August 9, 2022

Tahir Gauba attended funerals on Friday for two members of Albuquerque’s largest mosque, victims in a spate of apparently targeted killings that have shaken this Southwestern city, which in recent years has welcomed a growing community of immigrants and refugees.

Afterward at the mosque, Mr. Gauba ran into Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old from Pakistan. “Naeem asked me, ‘Brother, what’s happening in Albuquerque?’” said Mr. Gauba, 43, who also came to New Mexico from Pakistan. “I told...

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A religiously diverse Edmonton hosts Pope Francis' visit

July 26, 2022

As Pope Francis pays a historic visit to Canada, he is encountering a country that is less Catholic, more secular and more religiously diverse than the last time it hosted a pontiff two decades ago.

And the city where he landed on Sunday — Edmonton — reflects that diversity more than outsiders might expect from a provincial capital in Canada’s prairie heartland.

Edmonton and its province of Alberta do have a large, long-settled population of Christians of European descent.

Source:...

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An interfaith group in Oregon is behind one of nation's strictest gun control measures

July 26, 2022

Oregonians will be voting on one of America’s strictest gun control measures on the ballot this November.

If passed by voters, the gun safety initiative would ban the sale of magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds and would require permits and firearm safety courses to purchase any gun. Applicants would have...

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'This is an issue of equality': Maryland law to allow religious garments in college sports

July 20, 2022

Executive Director for the Aspen Institute's Religion & Society Program, who studies religion, racism and justice — recalls his own experience of fighting for inclusion as a turbaned Sikh athlete.

Growing up in Texas, he says he and his brothers were often denied the right to play school and college sports because of their turbans, a religious head covering worn by men of the Sikh religion.

His is one of the voices welcoming the US state of Maryland's Inclusive Athletic...

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Members of minority faith, belief communities have mixed responses to Supreme Court ruling in favor of football coach praying on field

July 8, 2022

Members of minority faith and belief communities had mixed reactions after the recent Supreme Court ruling that said the Constitution protected a high school football coach in Washington who prayed on the field after games.

Some worried the high court’s ruling isn’t necessarily...

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Jewish, Islamic faith leaders say religion drives their abortion access views

July 7, 2022

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, some religious leaders celebrated the decision. Others denounced it. 

"It's just horrifying and frustrating and angering, and that feeling hasn't gone away and isn't going to go away," Rabbi Bonnie Margulis said. 

Margulis is the chair of the Wisconsin Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. She said she...

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Islamic call to prayer shows Muslims 'belong' in Minneapolis

July 5, 2022

 Pastor Jane Buckley-Farlee was recently walking through her Minneapolis church’s Cedar-Riverside neighbourhood when an unexpected song broke out.

“I heard this music that sounded sort of heavenly,” she told Al Jazeera. At first, she did not know what it was – but after a few moments, she realised it was the adhan, or the Muslim call to prayer.

“It was echoing among all of the buildings, but it was still a little hard to hear with all of the...

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