Author: Dominic Casciani

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7728577.stm

Urgent action is needed to boost the number of Muslim officers in counter-terrorism units, the National Association of Muslim Police has said.

A survey carried out by the association and think tank Demos suggests Muslims remain under-represented in the police. Half of the 51 UK forces took part.

There are 27 Muslim counter-terrorism officers out...

Author: Ilene R. Prusher

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1113/p01s01-wome.html

Sheikh Ishaq Abdel-Jawad Taha's phone is ringing off the hook.

"You're welcome, go ahead," says Sheikh Taha, sitting behind his desk at the Palestinian Authority's Al-Fatwa Council, of which he is the director. "She's still recovering, so she doesn't have to pray," he says.

The voice on the other end of the phone is...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Media for Freedom

http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=12378

Hindus have lauded the groundbreaking three-day dialogue between Catholics and Muslims, which concluded at Vatican City on Thursday, and called it a “step in the right direction”.

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was wonderful to watch the world’s...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7719059.stm

A conference attended by thousands of Muslim clerics, scholars and community leaders in India has endorsed a religious ruling against terrorism.

The ruling or fatwa was issued earlier this year by an Islamic seminary.

It said that Islam rejected all kinds of bloodshed and the killing of innocents for selfish and politically motivated gains....

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7718715.stm

Governments across Europe must do more to safeguard freedom of speech for Muslim reformers who face threats from extremists, a think tank has warned.

The UK-based Centre for Social Cohesion highlighted the cases of 27 writers, including Sir Salman Rushdie, activists, politicians and artists.

The centre said they had suffered violence and intimidation...

Author: Paul J. Weber

Source: The Houston Chronicle

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6105353.html

Federal prosecutors made their closing arguments that a Muslim charity in Texas raised millions of dollars to finance international terrorism before again handing the case to a jury Monday.

Last year's trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development ended...

Author: Wyre Davies

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7715921.stm

Religious leaders in Jerusalem are warning of dangerous consequences after a decision by Israel's Supreme Court to allow the destruction of part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.

The graveyard has not been used for more than 50 years, but contains the bodies of some important Islamic figures.

Many of those bodies will now be disturbed to make way...

Author: Debra Rubin

Source: The New Jersey Jewish News

[njjewishnews.com/njjn.com/110608/njMuslimsJewsPackRutgers.html]

In what both sides hope will be the first of many interfaith encounters, Muslims and Jews at Rutgers University packed a student lounge in New Brunswick to discuss how they view dating, religious holidays, and food prohibitions.

At the Oct. 30 program, arranged by Rutgers Hillel and the Muslim Student Association, there were male students in yarmulkes and female students...

Author: Rachel Donadio

Source: The New York Times

Author: David N. Goodman

Source: The Associated Press

[pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=16870]

Michigan is getting its first female Muslim legislator, thanks in large part to her Jewish boss, the incumbent.

Rashida Tlaib, a lawyer, community activist and daughter of Palestinian immigrants, easily won a House seat in Tuesday's general election after emerging from an eight-way Democratic primary with 44 percent of the vote in August.

Tlaib, 32, said she wouldn't have run but for the...

Author: Paul Vitello

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/nyregion/07muslims.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

It was easy for them to love the candidate. With the same passion, and for the same reasons that millions of other young people did, they loved Barack Obama’s call to activism, the promise of change, the sheer newness of the guy.

What was hard was feeling they could not show it because...

Author: Nicole Neroulias

Source: Religion News Service

[pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=16858]

After months of balancing their support for the presidential candidate with concerns that their allegiance could do more harm than good, millions of relieved American Muslims cheered the election of the son of a Muslim immigrant whose middle name is Hussein.

Record numbers of U.S. Muslims had cast their votes, boosted by registration drives held by the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation...

Author: Marc Parry

Source: Times Union

[timesunion.com/ASPStories/Story.asp?StoryID=736309]

Amin Abdullah spreads the inmates' letters over his mosque's green rug.

The authors are imprisoned in Clinton. Fishkill. Marcy. Abdullah reads aloud from one who writes of "a problem with addiction."

"I will be homeless once I am released," he says. "So I am begging and pleading for your help."

Help may be coming. A group of Muslims is trying to aid inmates like him with a new faith-based...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7705413.stm

A cross-party group of Jewish and Muslim MPs are beginning a tour of English universities to promote better interfaith relations between students.

The Coexistence Trust will address tensions created on campuses by the Middle East conflict.

It aims to highlight similarities in the histories of the two communities and encourage unity...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associated Press

[ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hV2FY0VMPKnB60D7V3A11c6jyWYQD947QU7O0]

Two men pleaded guilty Monday to firebombing a storefront mosque that was reduced to rubble with black swastikas spray painted on it.

A federal indictment said the two and a third defendant also tagged "White Power" on the outside of the mosque before torching the building with Molotov cocktails. No one was injured in the February fire that burned down the Islamic Center of...