Author: Susan Schmidt

Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022603267.html

Even before the 2001 terrorist attacks, American-born imam Anwar al-Aulaqi drew the attention of federal authorities because of his possible connections to al-Qaeda. Their interest grew after 9/11, when it turned out that three of the hijackers had spent time at his mosques in California...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Dallas Morning News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/022808dnnatbushenvoy.1f89f1f.html

President Bush, acknowledging that the U.S. needs to burnish its image in the Islamic world, named a Texas entrepreneur as liaison to The Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Sada Cumber, who is...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7267100.stm

The largest survey to date of Muslims worldwide suggests the vast majority want Western democracy and freedoms, but do not want them to be imposed.

The poll by Gallup of more than 50,000 Muslims in 35 nations found most wanted the West to instead focus on changing its negative view of Muslims and Islam.

The huge survey began following the 11...

Author: Pam O'Toole

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7267519.stm

Turkey's main pro-secular opposition party has asked the Constitutional Court to overturn a reform allowing headscarves in universities.

The Republican People's Party said the reform violated the secular principles of Turkey's constitution.

The reform - approved by parliament earlier this month - has prompted major controversy in Turkey.

Many...

Author: Suna Erdem

Source: The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3448827.ece

Turkey's highest religious authority is preparing to publish a groundbreaking guide to Islam for the modern world, putting the words of the Prophet Muhammad into context for a sweeping reinterpretation of the religion.

The Presidency of Religious Affairs in this Muslim, but strongly secular, country has commissioned a...

Author: Robert Pigott

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7265021.stm

See the Akhtar family at a weekend lunch, and the renewal of Islam in America seems inevitable and irresistible.

Shahid and Mino Akhtar were born in Pakistan and, like their son and three daughters, they are devout Muslims who attend the mosque regularly.

Meeting them at their house in a quiet tree-lined street in Emerson, New Jersey, it soon seems...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7267070.stm

Thousands of people have demonstrated in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, in protest at the reprinting of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The cartoons were reprinted in Danish newspapers two years after they first prompted worldwide protests.

President Omar al-Bashir called for a Muslim boycott of Danish goods and said Danes were no longer welcome in...

Author: Stephen Graham

Source: The Buffalo News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/international/story/286064.html

Pakistan’s telecommunications regulator said Tuesday that it had lifted restrictions imposed on YouTube over an anti-Islamic video clip but rejected blame for a cut in access to the Web site in many countries over the weekend.

The authority told...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Age/AAP

http://news.theage.com.au/brisbane-airport-defends-headgear-search/20080226-1uv1.html

Brisbane Airport has defended the action of security officers when they demanded 13 Sikh community members remove their turbans and a woman take off her face veil.

The search on Saturday caused a bottleneck at a security checkpoint and delayed at least one international flight, The...

Author: Roger Hardy

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7264810.stm

The European Union has criticised the new penal code being drafted in Iran, particularly a section that imposes the death penalty for giving up Islam.

The EU said this section and other parts of the code violated Tehran's commitments under international human rights conventions.

Death for apostasy already exists in Iran under Sharia - or...

Author: IMRAN GHORI

Source: The Press-Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_scarf26.3e7c803.html

A lawsuit accusing San Bernardino County of violating a Rialto Muslim woman's rights by forcing her to remove her headscarf was allowed to proceed by a federal judge Monday.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips denied a motion by the county's attorneys seeking to have part of the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Reuters

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAL2587372420080225

Vowing "Revenge against Crusaders who attack the symbol of Islam," dozens of Jordanian Islamists burned the Danish flag on Monday to protest the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers.

The Islamic Action Front, Jordan's main licensed opposition party and the political offshoot of the Muslim...

Author: Don Lajoie

Source: Windsor Star

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=4b8872a4-043c-435e-9e34-e6a92f7b4871

Hundreds of members of Windsor's Shiite Muslim community marched Sunday in the name of freedom and justice to mark the martyrdom of their founding religious leader, Imam Hussain, 1,400 years ago.

The procession, which began at the An-Noor Islamic School at 1480 Janette Ave....

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Christian Science Monitor/AP and Agence France-Presse

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0225/p04s03-wosc.html

Pakistan has ordered all Internet service providers to block the YouTube website for containing "blasphemous" content and material considered offensive to Islam, officials said Sunday.

An inter-ministerial committee has decided to block YouTube because it contained "blasphemous content, videos and...

Author: Suleiman al-Khalidi

Source: Reuters

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAL2587372420080225

Vowing "Revenge against Crusaders who attack the symbol of Islam," dozens of Jordanian Islamists burned the Danish flag on Monday to protest the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers.

The Islamic Action Front, Jordan's main licensed opposition party and the political offshoot of the Muslim...