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Headlines Archive
Islam's holiest month
Eight million American Muslims - practitioners of the Islamic faith - representing every race, ethnicity and culture, live in the United States. Many Muslims were born in the U.S.; others immigrated from other countries in hope of a better life. Islam, which espouses peace, mercy and forgiveness, is not only a religion but a way of life.
The Islamic religion is based on five pillars: belief in God, prayer to one God, giving to charity, fasting during the month of Ramadan and, if one can afford it, the pilgrimage to Makkah. Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, is the universal place of worship for people of the Islamic faith.
Sun-Herald, 9/19/2008
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Muslims' visibility in region grows
Marcus Johnson, a Richmond native and senior at Virginia Commonwealth University, entertains customers at a Shockoe Bottom restaurant by playing the violin.
He's also a Muslim, something that patrons of Bottoms Up Pizza, where he also works as a host, often are surprised to find out.
Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/11/2008
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W. Deen Mohammed, 74, top U.S. Imam, dies
Imam W. Deen Mohammed, a son of the Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, who renounced the black nationalism of his father’s movement to lead a more traditional and racially tolerant form of Islam for black Muslims, died on Tuesday in Chicago. He was 74.
New York Times, 9/10/2008
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U.S. mega-mosques: Muslim tradition with U.S. convenience
As Islam makes inroads in the United States, American Muslims are setting up mega-mosques that combine religious tradition with typical American convenience.
Modelled on the huge, non-Catholic churches that offer their congregations of at least 2,000 members several different sites for worship, US mega-mosques have become a necessity in some places.
Agence France-Presse, 9/4/2008
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Muslims work around prejudice in politics
Recent sermons at Bay Area mosques - from San Francisco to Hayward to San Jose - have urged Muslims that voting in this election is their duty. Voter registration drives are being conducted around the region at mosques as well as religious or cultural events.
"The voter registration drives are an effort to counter the despondency where Muslims might feel marginalized here," said Asma Ahmad, president of the Bay Area Association of Muslim Lawyers, which is co-sponsoring numerous voter drives.
San Francisco Chronicle, 8/23/2008
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American Muslims: Not what you think
In television land, it always seems to be prayer time for Muslims. Every mention of Islam evokes rows of men bowing toward Mecca, rising and falling in robotic unison.
So pervasive is this image that many Americans think Islam alone defines the attitudes and actions of all Muslims, even those in the United States. By extension, many fear that all Muslims are a threat to U.S. democracy. We see this manifested in the hostile reactions to the persistent -- and false -- rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
These attitudes cripple our debates over immigration, law enforcement, education and foreign policy. They also hide the fact that U.S. Muslims are a constituency up for grabs in the November election. Electoral swing states such as Michigan, Ohio and Virginia all have significant Muslim populations. And on some hot-button cultural issues, Muslim Americans could potentially be a strong ally to the Christian right.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/17/2008
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Muslim hails tolerance among U.S. Christians
I was once again reminded this summer of the amazing degree of religious tolerance that many Christians in this country display habitually.
I had the rare honor on June 29 of giving the sermon in a Christian service at the St. Thomas Episcopalian Church in Newark, Del. I have given the Islamic sermon (Khutbah) at mosques, but giving one at a church was an extraordinary ecumenical experience.
Philadelphia Daily News, 8/16/2008
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Muslim charities will undergo review process to win back donors
Muslim charities in the U.S., hit by a drop in donations since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are turning to the Better Business Bureau in an effort to give donors the confidence to open their wallets again.
Under an initiative unveiled Wednesday, seven Muslim charities have so far volunteered for a review process designed by the bureau to validate their transparency and financial soundness.
Wall Street Journal, 8/14/2008
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Miami Gardens Muslim group donates school supplies
Sometimes it's hard for students to get into a straight line at school. But on Saturday, kids didn't think twice about scrambling into a huge line. The reason: they were getting free school supplies.
``I love it, said Shellitia Campbell, 10, from Miami Gardens. ``I can't wait for school to start.''
So getting free supplies for her was the beginning of a new academic year.
Shellitia, who attends Robert B. Ingram Elementary School, and other students scrambled into a huge line to receive supplies at the Masjid Miami Gardens, 4305 NW 183rd St. More than 250 students from Miami, Opa-locka, Hialeah, and as far away as Delray Beach attended the event.
The supplies were donated by the South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Miami Herald, 8/12/2008
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Muslim teen proud of her dual heritage
For someone so young, Monsura Sirajee sure has traveled in a lot of different worlds. She's Muslim, loves to research and write about her religion, and
has visited far-off Bangladesh. She's lived in America her whole life
and wouldn't have had it any other way. She is proud of both heritages. The 17-year-old is also a high-powered Chaparral High School senior
with dreams of being a lawyer and a professional writer on the side. Her worlds come together at a Muslim Youth Leadership Conference
that starts Thursday in Sacramento. She is one of only 30 students
statewide invited to attend.
The Press-Enterprise, 8/11/2008
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Washington’s Muslim electors could make history
If Democrat Barack Obama carries Washington state and the nation to
win the White House in November, he won't become the first Muslim
president of the United States. That's because, despite Internet rumors, he's not a Muslim. But Jeff Siddiqui is – and an Obama victory in the state and nation
would give Siddiqui a small but possibly historic role in choosing the
next president. Siddiqui, a real estate agent who lives in Lynnwood, is one of 11
presidential electors designated by the state Democratic Party.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8/6/2008
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Islamic superheroes going global
Like other kids the world over, Middle Eastern children have long
fantasized about superheroes battling injustice in American cities or
fighting beasts in Japan. Five years ago, they got some champions of
their own to cheer on when Kuwait-born businessman Naif Al-Mutawa
created a new breed of superheroes endowed with Muslim traits and
virtues. Now Mutawa is on an even greater mission: taking those same
Islamic characters around the world.
Time, 8/5/2008
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Designer creates fashion-forward clothes for tradition-conscious Arab Americans
In an 820-square-foot space in West Dearborn, amid a jeweler, a shoe repair and a spa, Samaher Mohammad walks among garments of silk and organza, chiffon and crinoline.
She touches the tulle of a kimono-inspired abaya, an everyday Islamic dress, and the embroidery of a thoub, a formal Islamic dress.
Over days and weeks and months, the 27-year-old designed these gowns, dresses of lace and beading and Swarovski crystals -- Arab in their array of color, Islamic in their modesty and American in their silhouette.
They exude fun and creativity yet mesh with the conservative standards sought by many Arab-American Muslims like her.
Detroit Free Press, 8/3/2008
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Muslim community opens arms to church
To at least one minister, the people killed and wounded Sunday at
the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church aren't just victims. They are martyrs.
Knoxville News Sentinel, 8/2/2008
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Muslim women's law firm breaks down stereotypes
In what may be the nation's only law firm composed solely of Muslim women, the attorneys represent the ethnic and religious diversity within the Islamic faith: Some cover their hair, some don't. Some are Sunni; others are Shiite, and at least one is happy to be secular.
The six women hope that by founding Amal Law Group, they are helping to dispel common stereotypes held about Muslim women.
Chicago Tribune, 8/1/2008
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Turning humiliation into inspiration
Yasmine Hafiz was passing through security at an airport near Washington several weeks ago when a federal agent stopped her. Something strange and metallic had shown up in her carry-on bag during screening. Now she needed to explain what the suspicious object was.
At 18, newly graduated from high school, Yasmine knew the drill all too well. A few years earlier, an immigration officer had demanded she present a visa to board a flight from Canada to her home in Arizona. It was as if, because she had dark skin and a Pakistani surname and was Muslim, she, an American citizen, still needed permission to enter her own country.
The New York Times, 7/26/2008
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Young American Muslims hope to help, educate
They filled the cafe night after night. To the
casual observer, it might have appeared to be a roomful of
20-somethings with enviable amounts of idle time. Yet the 30 young Muslim men and women who met
for 30 days had serving society, not socializing, on their minds. And
the group calling itself 30/30 emerged from the meetings with an
agenda: to help teens in their community deal with social ills such as
drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness — and to teach those on
the outside about their faith.
USA Today, 7/17/2008
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Young Muslims gather in D.C. for leadership summit
Dr. Naba Sharif, a former pediatric resident at Hasbro Children’s Hospital, in Providence, was one of 25 Muslim Americans selected to speak with national political leaders and public officials shaping national policy during last week’s Young Muslim American Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.
The Providence Journal, 7/14/2008
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Muslim, American and proud
No doubt terrorism is a threat to our national security, but this presidential campaign has convinced me that ignorance may be our biggest affliction.
The Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/11/2008
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Young Muslims dream of a diverse Congress
Of the 435 members of the United States House of Representatives, only two practice the Islamic faith. Not a single Senator is Muslim. But the Muslim Public Affairs Council wants to change that.
The group brought 26 young Muslims to Washington, D.C. for three days of meetings with lawmakers, government officials and religious leaders of all faiths.
The delegates, who ranged in age from 18 to 28, used the opportunity to discuss everything from racial profiling to Jewish-Muslim relations.
Medill Reports, 7/10/2008
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When pursuing happiness means taking to the skies
“On a Wing and a Prayer” is, if nothing else, a congenial exercise in cultural bridge building. This hourlong documentary introduces us to Monem and Iman Salam, an investment manager and his wife who live in Bellingham, Wash. He travels too much for work; she scrapbooks; they debate whether to buy a new truck or take an anniversary trip to the Maldives. If this were in Us Weekly it would be called “American Muslims: They’re Just Like Us.”
The New York Times, 7/7/2008
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