Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/30/news/UN-GEN-UN-Islam.php

GENEVA: Islamic countries pushed through a resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday urging a global prohibition on the public defamation of religion — a response largely to the furor last year over caricatures published in a Danish newspaper of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

The...

Source: Islamic Republic News Agency

http://www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-20/0704076794172311.htm

Muslims are pervasive among all of Britain's ethnic groups and represent more than half of all non-Christian believers, according to a new fact-file.

The fact-file, based on an analysis of the UK's last census in 2001, showed that 52 percent of non-Christian believers were Muslim, compared with 18 percent Hindus, 11 percent Sikhs, nine per cent Jews and 5...

Source: Houston Chronicle

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4694503.html

PARIS — French presidential front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy has backed off his proposal to modify French law to allow state support for mosques, but said in an interview he wants to keep Islam in France "cut off from foreign influences."

Sarkozy, of Jacques Chirac's ruling conservative party, has upset many in...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6532109.stm

The High Court in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has suspended a ruling which said Muslims could no longer be treated as a religious minority.

Groups classified as minorities enjoy various privileges.

On Thursday one of the High Court judges ruled that census figures showed that Muslims were no longer a minority in Uttar Pradesh.

The state government appealed. Now two other...

Author: Michelle Brooks

Source: News Tribune

http://newstribune.com/articles/2007/04/06/community/269com01.txt

A place to gather with family and friends for meals and community.

A holy site for prayer.

A mosque to call the House of God.

For more than four years, a few dozen local Muslims have gathered in a tiny office space for weekly prayers and gatherings. Several others of the faith have chosen to...

Author: BARBARA KARKABI

Source: Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/4694492.html

As nearly 400 Shia Ismaili Muslims gathered this week to celebrate Muhammad's birthday, they heard a story from the time of the prophet.

A Bedouin once asked Muhammad to explain the religion of Islam from start to finish, said Hamid Mavani, associate professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University.

...

Author: CLAY ROBISON

Source: Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4689405.html

AUSTIN --Republican Sen. Dan Patrick on Wednesday boycotted the first prayer delivered in the Texas Senate by a Muslim cleric, and then praised religious tolerance and freedom of speech in an address at the end of the day's session.

"I think that it's important that we are tolerant as a people of all faiths, but that doesn't mean we have...

Author: Jane Perlez

Source: International Herald Tribune

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/05/europe/london.php

LONDON: The British government on Thursday took a first step toward regulating Muslim religious leaders and mosques, declaring that imams working in government prisons and hospitals would be required to meet certain criteria, including a good grasp of English.

In addition, the minister of local government and communities,...

Source: The New York Times

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/05/world/asia/05thai.html?ex=1176436800&en=45b07c8c87731468&ei=5070&emc=eta1

BANGKOK, Thursday, April 5 (Reuters) — A bomb was thrown into a mosque in Thailand’s rebellious south on Thursday, wounding at least 14 worshipers, a police official said.

About 100 people had gathered for morning...

Author: Farish A. Noor

Source: Khaleej Times

Author: Stephanie Innes

Source: Arizona Daily Star

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/176940

Officials with the Islamic Center of Tucson say a recent rise in "anti-Muslim rhetoric" may have spurred vandalism at the University of Arizona-area mosque.

Tucson Police Department detectives are investigating a Sunday-night break-in at the mosque during which someone smashed the lock on a side door, broke an office window, ransacked the office and wrote "Bush was...

Author: Abdi Aynte

Source: Minnesota Monitor

http://www.minnesotamonitor.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1549

For eight months, Issak Horor delayed his floating break time to say his dusk prayers. That was until Sunday, when his employer, Gold’n Plump, a St. Cloud-based chicken processing company, told him that he wasn’t eligible to do that anymore.

“I told them that God made me eligible to pray five times a day,”...

Author: BRADLEY HOPE

Source: The New York Sun

http://www.nysun.com/article/51736

The New York Police Department has hired a 24-year-old Muslim leader to become the Islamic chaplain for the thousands of Muslims in the department, officials announced yesterday.

Khalid Latif is the second Islamic chaplain ever hired by the police.

"Because of the life-and-death nature of police work, the role of the chaplain in the police department takes on...

Author: R.G. Ratcliffe

Source: Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4686200.html

AUSTIN -- The first prayer ever by a Muslim cleric in the Texas Senate will be delivered today --outraging some conservatives because it is occurring just before Easter.

The invocation will be delivered by the Imam Yusuf Kavakci of the Dallas Central Mosque at the invitation of state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano....

Author: Christina M. Woods

Source: The Wichita Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/212/story/34441.html

Teaching Arabic is Yassin Shourbaji's method of building bridges between communities.

Shourbaji, a retired engineer and member of the Islamic Society of Wichita and the Islamic Association of Mid-Kansas, has been teaching Arabic to English-speakers for four years.

He expanded his course offerings in March to include an introductory course for...