Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On May 19, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "Muslim worshippers arriving for Friday prayers at a North Side mosque found the building locked and posted with notices that it violated environmental codes..City officials closed the Islamic Center...because of its septic system." Hundreds of Muslims, many of whom recently arrived from Somalia, now have no place to gather for traditional communal Friday prayer.

Source: The Washington Post

On May 19, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "the world of American finance is changing to deliver more options, thanks to demand from the growing number of observant Muslims in the United States and their adherence to Islam's moral code on financial matters. Islam prohibits usury, or interest...What makes interest-free financing possible is a system in which the capital supplier shares ownership -- and risk -- with the consumer...As Islam grows in the United States, it's not just for-profit lenders who are rethinking...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 19, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "a daylong seminar on ways to bring peace to the Holy Land...held...at UCLA by a coalition of liberal Jewish peace activists, Muslim organizations and Christians." The seminar is called "The Israeli-Palestinian Crisis: New Conversations for a Pluralist Future."

Source: Newsday

On May 18, 2001, Newsday reported that "after an unusual effort to hold an interreligious dialogue about conflict in the Middle East, [New York City] clergy said that they hoped to meet again in hopes of finding ways to help ease tensions. But the Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders who met at Marble Collegiate Church in Manhattan said their intense, private discussion gave a sense of how deep the conflict runs."

Source: United Airlines

http://www.united.com/site/primaryPR/0,10026,1528_806,00.html

On May 18, 2001, United Airlines issued a press release reporting on recent changes to its uniform guidelines. "United’s customer service employees at the carrier’s hubs across the United States are allowed to wear a company-sanctioned hijab, turban or yarmulke as part of their uniform."

Source: Newsday

On May 16, 2001, Newsday published an opinion piece by Kevin James, a fire marshal at the New York City Fire Department, president of the Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel and a spokesperson for the Council on American Islamic Relations-New York, condemning the New York City Fire Department's "continuing refusal to hire a Muslim chaplain...The Islamic Society of Fire Department Personnel has presented Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen with more than 60 signatures of employees requesting a Muslim chaplain...A Muslim chaplain would...

Source: American Muslim Council

On May 15, 2001, the American Muslim Council issued a press release in which they reported that "the Director of the White Faith-Based Initiative, Dr. John Dilulio, met at his office in the White House with Dr. Yahya Basha, President of American Muslim Council (AMC) and Imam Hassan Qazwini, leader of the Islamic Center of America and member of the Board of Directors of (AMC). The discussion centered on relations with the American Muslim Community and the concerns raised by Rev. Jerry Falwell's comments calling on the White House to...

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 13, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on "a growing number of women embracing Islam in Greater Boston, and in one mosque, the Islamic Society of Boston in Cambridge, they outnumber new Muslim men by as much as 2 to 1." These women insist that, contrary to popular belief in America "in fact Islam is more forward-thinking about gender than many Western traditions...In modelling a more egalitarian form of Islamic culture in the United States than in some parts of the world, these women also say they may influence Muslims worldwide...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On May 5, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "relations between Jews and Muslims in the United States...have been strained further by the release of Children of Abraham: An Introduction to Islam for Jews, a book whose stated purpose, paradoxically, is 'to enhance mutual understanding and reduce mutual ignorance and suspicion.'" The full version of this story can be found online at http://www.jsonline.com.

Source: The Kansas City Star

On May 5, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported on "recent evidence...from a new study of Islam in this country called 'The Mosque in America: A National Portrait.'...Kansas City, it turns out, has become an attractive place for Muslims to live, with their numbers here now estimated to be at least 15,000 - double the number living here just a few years ago...As Islam becomes more prominent in America and Kansas City, Muslims and non-Muslims would do well to understand each other's traditions and find ways together to value diverse...

Source: Newsday

On May 5, 2001, Newsday reported that "researchers from Columbia University have given the first peek at two years of exhaustive research in which graduate students walked New York City block by block to document the Muslim community's rapid growth. The conference followed the release a week earlier of a separate national study of Muslims that also found rapid growth and a great deal of ethnic diversity in mosques. For some, the real news from the two studies is that Muslims are being studied at all."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On May 5, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "Pope John Paul II plans to become the first pontiff to step through the doors of a mosque...He and his Syrian hosts hope for a moment of unity between the world's two largest faiths...'The whole visit itself is a very important symbol that in a way is a reversal of the Crusades,' said John Voll, associate director of the Georgetown University Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. 'He's not going to the mosque to convert or conquer people; he...

Source: The New York Times

On May 3, 2001, The New York Times reported that "HSBC Bank, based in Manhattan, plans to offer services for Muslim clients who observe Shariah, the legal code of Islam...One prohibition of Shariah is the payment of interest."

Source: The Kansas City Star

On May 2, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported that Penn Valley Community College invited "Imam Mohammed Adnan Bayazid of the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City, Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn of the New Reform Temple and Father Jose Geronimo Herrera of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to answer questions about...Islam, Judaism and Christianity. For many, this was the first time to hear differing faith leaders compare notes about their traditions."

Source: The American Muslim Council

On May 1, 2001, the American Muslim Council reported that it "commends the establishment of the new national organization, the Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)...The purpose of MANA as stated in its mission statement is 'to pursue an agenda that reflects the points of view and experiences of the indigenous Muslims of North America and addresses their needs and aspirations.'" MANA is "a response to the widespread feeling that indigenous Muslims needed to be better organized."