Author: Christian Science Monitor

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0314/p08s02-comv.html

Something special went unnoticed last week when the US State Department gave out its first awards for "women of courage" to 10 foreign recipients: Seven of the women had demonstrated their honored bravery within Muslim countries.

Were these awards another US effort to help reform Islam? Possibly. But Secretary of State...

Author: Kristin Erekson

Source: The Jewish Advocate

http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=2704

Three Jewish groups are aligning themselves with the Islamic Society of Boston, leaving leaders of the local organized Jewish community hesitant to speak about the implications of this rift.

Jewish Voice for Peace, Tekiah and the Boston Tikkun Community signed a joint amicus curiae - a “friend...

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/11/asia/AS-GEN-Thailand-Southern-Violence.php

BANGKOK, Thailand: Muslims and Buddhists staged rival protests Sunday in southern Thailand, as violence in the troubled area continued with three more killings.

In Pattani province, about 60 veiled Muslim women blocked a main road to demand the release of three...

Author: Andrea Elliott

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/nyregion/11muslim.html?hp

Under the glistening dome of a mosque on Long Island, hundreds of men sat cross-legged on the floor. Many were doctors and engineers born in Pakistan and India. Dressed in khakis, polo shirts and the odd silk tunic, they fidgeted and whispered.

One thing stood between them and dinner: A visitor from Harlem was coming to ask...

Author: Juli S. Charkes

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/11WEmain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

MUSLIM inmates at the Westchester County Jail are free to study the Koran and worship together. But they say that they are not able to adhere fully to their faith because county jail officials have declined to meet their demands in one area: their diet.

“...

Author: Mona Siddiqui

Source: The Scotsman/The Messenger

http://living.scotsman.com/books.cfm?id=380012007

WITH AN INCREASING FOCUS ON Islam and the Muslim world, it has become fashionable to talk about a "Muslim reformation". Indeed, the western world in particular is quite rightly eager to discover who are the voices of reformative Islam, who are the scholars and thinkers calling for the Muslim world to reflect on the challenges posed by modernity and...

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/10/america/NA-GEN-US-Mosque-Harassment.php

BOISE, Idaho: A few swastika-emblazoned stickers have been left on a mosque and another building in Boise, Idaho, prompting a police investigation, officials said.

The stickers were reported Sunday as children arrived at the Islamic Center of Boise for Sunday school, said...

Author: Stephen Schwartz

Source: TCSDaily

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=030707B

At the launching of the Center for Islamic Pluralism (CIP) two years ago, TCSDaily was one of the media institutions most supportive to our work, and I have therefore chosen this venue to present a balance sheet of CIP's activities in promoting moderate Islam.

We have enjoyed significant success. But some notable obstacles remain before us. These include...

Author: Pamela Constable

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702311.html

In its modest way, the Muslim Community School in Montgomery County is a tiny bulwark against the hate-filled sectarian violence that has ripped Iraq apart, threatens to divide the Muslim world and has created tensions among Muslim immigrants in the United States.

Each...

Author: TERI MADDOX

Source: Belleville News-Democrat

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/living/16857523.htm

You've never heard of prejudice based on first names? That's because your name isn't Mohammed.

After 9/11, Belleville psychotherapist Mohammed Kibria noticed people began treating him as "stupid" or "dangerous" or both. He faced intense security checks at airports and eventually was asked to leave his job at a mental-...

Author: Vanessa E. Jones

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/07/a_study_in_comfort/

Imam Salih Yucel sits beside the hospital bed of Fazal Mabud, a 66-year-old native of Pakistan who lives in Brighton, and begins offering him spiritual guidance. Mabud had heart surgery six months before, but it was unsuccessful. The next morning he would go under the knife again.

"You...

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/03/muslim-congressman-talks-up-american.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department is turning to Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to help burnish the country's image in the Muslim world -- despite Ellison's outspoken criticism of the Bush administration's foreign policy.

"I plan to talk to people in the State Department and...

Author: Abdussalam Mohamed

Source: Southern California In Focus

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/4012/135/

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center has raised at least $200 millions, mainly from American donors, to build a Museum of Tolerance on the Ma’am Allah cemetery, a site believed to contain the remains of dozens of companions of Prophet Muhammad as well as thousands of Jerusalemite Muslims.

On May 3,...

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/07/europe/EU-GEN-Netherlands-Muslim-Minister.php

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: One of the first two Muslims appointed to a Dutch Cabinet post, Ahmed Aboutaleb calls himself a "foot soldier" in the cause of immigrant integration. And as a foot soldier, he expects to be a target, he said Wednesday.

Since being sworn...