Author: Mark Sappenfield

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0307/p04s01-wogn.html

Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict...

Author: David Dishneau

Source: San Mateo County Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_8473414

He has met with two U.S. presidents, lectured on Islam in scores of countries and appeared on global television. So Imam Yahya Hendi could be forgiven for declining engagements in the sticks.

But on successive days last month, Hendi drove from his...

Author: ANGELA DOLAND

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Wire Service: AP

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/life/stories/2008/03/06/2_BOOK_FAIR_BOYCOTT.ART_ART_03-06-08_D4_LV9I4R2.html?sid=101

Israeli writers will be the toast of the Salon du Livre international book fair this month, but some Arab intellectuals argue that honoring Israel's literature...

Author: JANE WARDELL

Source: AP

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ivJGBkGjotf38frGIdEK98-Tm4pAD8V850NO5

After taking a battering from the global credit crisis, London has a potential ace up its sleeve as it seeks to restore its reputation as a global financial center — its premier position in the Islamic banking industry.

The British government will decide next week if it will issue a sovereign Islamic bond, or...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Star Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/16335451.html

Representatives of five non-Christian faiths will meet with Pope Benedict XVI during his first U.S. visit as pontiff next month.

The 45-minute event on April 17 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington will include a papal address, greetings from the faith leaders and a...

Author: Jibril Adan

Source: allAfrica/The East Africa Standard

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803041134.html

ODM nominated MP and Muslim preacher, Sheikh Mohamed Dor, will become the first Imam in Kenya's Parliament.

Dor and Ms Safia Abdi were selected by the National Muslim Leaders Forum (Namlef) for the ODM nominations and would be sworn-in on Thursday.

Dor told The Standard yesterday in Mombasa that he would continue his work as...

Author: Maureen Simpson

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/55822/author-chips-away-at-hollywood-stereotypes-of-arabs-muslims/

George Clooney asked him to work as a consultant on two films - including “Syriana” - and national news programs and networks such as “The Today Show,” “Nightline” and CNN have featured the Hilton...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Dawn

http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/06/int10.htm

The Vatican and Muslim leaders agreed on Wednesday to establish a permanent official dialogue to improve often difficult relations and heal wounds still open from a controversial papal speech in 2006.

A joint statement said the first meeting of “The Catholic-Muslim Forum” will take place from Nov 4 to 6 in Rome with 24 religious leaders and scholars from each side....

Author: Robert Pigott

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7266729.stm

I met Medine in the coastal town of Le Havre, in a scaled-down version of France's notorious banlieues.

Medine was here - hunched into a parka against the chill sea breeze - to practise in the municipal dance hall.

He was brought up in the bleak tower blocks that overshadow the place, and was once a member of the disenchanted Muslim youth who preached...

Author: Elise Amendola and Denise Lavoie

Source: USA Today

Wire Service: AP

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-03-04-muslim-gym_N.htm

Harvard University has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week, a move to accomodate Muslim women who, for religious and cultural reasons, cannot exercise comfortably in their presence.

The policy is already unpopular with many on campus,...

Author: Catherine Jun

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/METRO/803050452/1361

A fired Muslim employee has filed a lawsuit against the Detroit Medical Center alleging religious and ethnic harassment before being unlawfully terminated.

The announcement was made this morning at the Michigan office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southfield this morning...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Yahoo!News

Wire Service: Reuters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080305/film_nm/dutch_dc

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende asked France Wednesday to show solidarity with his country if there is any fallout over an anti-Islamic film made by a Dutch right-wing politician.

Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who has called for the Koran to be banned, has made a film in which...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The New York Sun

http://www.nysun.com/article/72228

The Justice Department is taking the first steps toward what could be another criminal prosecution of a former Florida college professor and prominent Palestinian Arab activist, Sami Al-Arian. One of Al-Arian's attorneys, Jonathan Turley, said a hearing was held in federal court yesterday in Alexandria, Va., after prosecutors summoned Al-Arian before a grand jury there. Al-Arian has...

Author: Felix Corley

Source: Forum 18

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1096

The Presidential Administration has rejected for now a harsh new Decree which would have brought in sweeping controls on religious activity. But Kanat Murzakhalilov, Deputy Head of the State Agency for Religious Affairs, told Forum 18 News Service that his agency hopes to present a final draft of a controversial new Religion Law to the government by the end of...