Author: Samuel G. Freedman

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/27/us/27religion.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Sometimes during the past two weeks, making her rounds as a hospital resident, Dr. Saughar Samali has caught a glimpse of television news in a patient’s room or heard a bulletin on the radio in the family-practice office. Against her desire, against her better judgment, she has been plunged...

Author: Michelle Chabin

Source: The Kansas City Star/Religion News Service

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/1288422.html

Devora, an Orthodox Jewish woman, never felt comfortable in the sleek, revealing bathing suits sold at the stores she frequented in her native France or in her adopted Israel.

While she ordinarily wears fashionable skirts that fall below the knee and blouses that extend to her wrists, Devora, 31, was unable to find a...

Author: William Wan

Source: The Washington Post

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/godingovernment/2009/06/free_quran_given_by_muslim_civil_liberties_group.html

On the premise that nothing makes a better gift than a good book, a Muslim civil liberties group is launching a campaign to hand out 100,000 free copies of an expensive Arabic-English copy of the Qur'an to elected...

Author: Angelique Chrisafis

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/26/sarkozy-france-paris-islamic-veils

In the northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with its busy market, fast-food joints and bargain clothes shops, Angelica Winterstein only goes out once a week – and only if she really has to.

"I feel like I'm being judged walking down the street. People tut or spit. In a smart area...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC New

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8122026.stm

The US State Department has appointed its first Special Representative to Muslim Communities.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Farah Pandith would play a leading role in US efforts to "engage Muslims around the world".

She said Ms Pandith, who was born in Indian-administered Kashmir, would bring years of experience to the role.

The...

Author: Helen T. Gray

Source: The Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/1288476.html

The Kansas City area has no pool catering to the Muslim community; therefore, Muslim women have been paying to use area pools.

One group uses a YMCA pool at 1101 N.E. 47th St. every two or three weeks. About 20 women and girls usually come, said Susan Lynn, who makes the arrangements with the help of a neighbor, who is a member of the Y.
...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/26/muslim_community_to_celebrate_mosque8217s_ceremonial_opening/

&amAt midday today, a local Muslim will clamber 185 feet up a ladder inside the narrow minaret atop the domed brick mosque and recite Islam’s haunting call to prayer, starting with the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8119273.stm

A survey of British Muslim opinion for the BBC has revealed significant divisions over the conflict with the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Three-quarters of those surveyed said it was wrong for the West to intervene militarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

At the same time, a similar number (78%) said they opposed Taliban attacks against Nato...

Author: Sebnem Arsu

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/arts/26arts-TURKISHCOURT_BRF.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

A court in Istanbul on Thursday acquitted a Turkish writer who was accused of inciting religious hatred in a novel based on the birth of Islam. Nedim Gursel’s “Daughters of Allah,” was published last year in Turkey.

Author: Staff Writer

Source: PRNewswire

Author: Eboo Patel

Source: The Washington Post

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/eboo_patel/2009/06/besa_world_war_ii_re-told.html

"As Muslims we welcomed them all. We welcomed them with bread, salt, and our hearts."

We hear many accounts of what happened during the Holocaust. The atrocities committed; the times and places in which unspeakable acts against humankind occurred; the millions of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Syracuse.com

Wire Service: AP

Two Muslim inmates held in a special unit at the U.S. prison in Terre Haute say they aren't allowed to pray in groups as often as their religion requires and have asked a federal judge to ease limitations on worship imposed by the Bureau of Prisons.

The prison in western Indiana houses several high-security inmates, including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Syracuse.com

Wire Service: AP

A government survey has found that there may be some one million more Muslims living in Germany than previously thought, meaning that they make up about 5 percent of the total population.

Germany has conducted no general census since reunification in 1990 and West Germany last conducted one in 1987. However, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees had previously estimated that the Muslim population was...

Author: Stephanie Hancock

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8117185.stm

Few images shout Middle East quite like the abaya - the long, black overgarment worn by millions of women across the Arab world.

The design has remained pretty much unchanged for centuries, but a crop of young new designers in the United Arab Emirates are now giving the traditional dress a modern-day makeover.

Nothing is off limits -...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Sikh Coalition

http://www.sikhcoalition.org/advisories/TurbanBrandingPressConference.htm

On Tuesday, a majority of the New York City Council called on the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to end a policy requiring Sikh workers to brand their turbans with the MTA logo. 27 of the Council's 51 members sent a letter to Howard Roberts, president of MTA New York City Transit, charging that the...