Source: Washington File Press Release

Source: The Forward

http://www.forward.com/main/article.php?ref=eliassian200503161124

On March 18, 2005 The Forward reported, "Though the holiday of Purim is celebrated by Jews worldwide, the story, based as it is in Persia, has special resonance for the Jews of Iran. Recent decades have proved difficult for Persian Jews, many of whom fled the country after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. From a community of about 100,000, now an estimated 25,000 to 35,000...

Source: Muslim Women's League Press Release

http://www.mwlusa.org/responses/womanledprayer.htm

On March 18, 2005 Muslim Women's League Press Release reported, "Dr. Amina Wadud, noted Muslim scholar, will deliver the sermon and then lead the congregational prayer at an undisclosed location in New York City. This event has sparked international debate among Muslims, many of whom oppose female leadership in public Islamic worship, as well as many who support such...

Source: Journal Gazette...

Source: Tampa Bay Online

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGBDEMUD46E.html

On March 18, 2005 Tampa Bay Online reported, "a substitute teacher accused of harassing a Muslim student at Greco Middle School will be fired from the Hillsborough County school district. The school board is expected to approve the termination of Shari Deanna Wilson at its next meeting April 5, said Joe Trumbach, manager of noninstructional professional standards. Wilson was under investigation by the district...

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: RNS

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/162/story_16273_1.html

On March 18, 2005 Beliefnet/RNS reported, "female professor led an Islamic prayer service Friday with men in the congregation despite sharp criticism from Muslim religious leaders in the Middle East who complained that it violated centuries of tradition. Amina Wadud, a professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led the...

Source: The Washington Times

Wire Service: UPI

http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050317-042309-6926r.htm

On March 17, 2005 United Press International reported, "A new organization is seeking to unite, with the blessings of the Kremlin, members of the historically Islamic ethnic communities of the Russian Federation, a development that will undermine the powers of the existing Muslim spiritual directorates but may create...

Source: Yahoo! News

Source: IslamOnline.net

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2005-03/16/article04.shtml

On March 16, 2005 IslamOnline.net reported, "After years of reluctance, the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg has approved teaching Islamic subjects in its schools as of the school year 2006-07. 'The Muslim students in Baden-Wurttemberg will be allowed to study Islamic subjects in German,' Ali Demir, the chairman of the Islamic Council in the state, said in...

Source: Reuters

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34885-2005Mar14.html

On March 15, 2005 The Washington Post reported, "declaring that the United States 'must do a better job of engaging the Muslim world,' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice introduced former presidential adviser Karen Hughes yesterday as the Bush administration's choice for a State Department post designed to change Islamic perceptions about America. Hughes,...

Source: New York Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/289986p-248265c.html

On March 15, 2005 the New York Daily News reported, "the Transit Authority may be cracking down on workers wearing turbans, but the agency is ignoring secular headgear - everything from Russian-style winter hats to Mets caps to do-rags, a federal survey has found. Conducting surveillance at subway stations, bus stops and terminals, the Justice Department, which has...

Source: MSNBC.com/Newsweek

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7101281/site/newsweek/

On March 14, 2005 MSNBC.com/Newsweek reported, "A year ago Madrid's cavernous Atocha train station was filled with twisted steel and mangled bodies, killed by suspected Islamist terrorists. Spain is an ancient battleground between Christians and Muslims. The bombings of March 11, 2004, posed the question: would it be so again? The answer—no—is clear from an inconspicuous memorial at Atocha. It's a...

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/2005/schools/0503/14/A01-116550.htm

On March 14, 2005 The Detroit News reported, "enrollments at Islamic schools in Metro Detroit and Michigan are booming. Parents say they are attracted by the discipline, the values-based religious instruction and the stress on academic achievement that includes individual attention and smaller class sizes. The local communities of Arab and south Asian descent -- which comprise...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4347061.stm

On March 14, 2005 BBC News reported, "there is a stirring in Muslim communities. A new breed of activists driven by anger and injustice against Muslims, both at home and abroad, is on the move. The US election in 2004 captured the attention of Muslim Americans like never before and brought them back into politics The war on terror at home, the invasion of Iraq and the Abu...