Author: Daniel P. Finney

Source: The Des Moines Register

[desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809230362]

In a tan building across the street from the Merle Hay Mall Younkers parking lot, the American dream is happening.

It looks like any other construction site in Des Moines: A stack of bricks sits on a trailer outside the front gate. Pails of spackle and paste sit inside the 3,700-square-foot structure. Scaffolding is assembled in a few locations, and drywall dust covers the...

Author: Noa Borkan

Source: The Wesleyan Argus

http://www.wesleyanargus.com/article/6724

The Jewish and Muslim chaplains came together last Friday to teach their congregants about the most famous anti-religion book in recent memory, Christopher Hitchens’ “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”

This seemingly unusual occasion has become a now-regular event: the fifth annual Interfaith Iftar-Shabbat Dinner, which brings...

Author: Paul J. Weber

Source: The News Tribune

http://www.thenewstribune.com/tacoma/24hour/religion/story/489414.html

Federal prosecutors Monday started a second attempt to convict leaders of a Muslim charity on charges of financing terrorism after the first trial last year ended with a mistrial on most of the allegations.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development is accused of funneling more than $12 million...

Author: Harold Reutter

Source: The Grand Island Independent

Author: Robin Farmer

Source: The Times-Dispatch

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment_living/religion.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-09-21-0276.html

When Amal Damaj learned another Iraqi family had settled in the Richmond area, she quickly visited.

She didn't arrive empty-handed.

Damaj, who lives in Chesterfield County, delivered a basket full of rice, dates, tea,...

Author: Helen T. Gray

Source: The Kansas City Star

[kansascity.com/255/story/804497.html]

Kansas City area Muslims are committed to their faith, perhaps even more deeply than Muslims in other parts of the country.

For example, 62 percent of area Muslims who responded to an informal Star survey this month said they attend prayer at a mosque once a week or more. That compares with 40 percent in a recent national survey.

As Muslims observe their holy month of Ramadan, The Star conducted...

Author: Meredith Heagney

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

[dispatch.com/live/content/faith_values/stories/2008/09/19/ramafast.ART_ART_09-19-08_B3_G6BB7E1.html?sid=101]

It was the kind of September afternoon that begs for a breeze or a raindrop -- anything to take the sun down a notch.

The 90-degree heat was getting to the players on the Hilliard Weaver Middle School soccer team. Sweaty and tired, they rushed to a group drinking fountain.

Rania Khamees, 13, stayed in the goal, firing balls...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7624523.stm

Muslim police leaders are demanding to know why no action has been taken over a leaflet which blames Muslims for the heroin trade.

The leaflet, distributed to hundreds of households in parts of Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire, says people should "heap condemnation" on Muslims.

The Crown Prosecution Service said there was not enough proof it was...

Author: Jean Ortiz

Source: The Associated Press

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associated Press

[ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jN9P7bJvEAwgj4WE5c5X2LhwvfKgD938QEFO0]

President Bush told a dinner honoring American Muslims that his administration has partnered with those practicing Islam around the world to promote tolerance and spread freedom to millions.

"We reject bigotry in all its forms," the president said before sitting down for dinner Wednesday with about 110 guests in the White House State Dining Room.

During the past eight...

Author: Vern Barnet

Source: KansasCity.com

[kansascity.com/255/story/798378.html]]

Last week the world lost one of the most transformative figures in the recent history of Islam, Warith Deen Mohammed, sometimes called “America’s Imam.” He was the first Muslim to offer the invocation for the U.S. Senate.

He had been scheduled speak in Kansas City last May but at the last minute was called to an international consultation.

I cherish a photo I have when he was here in 1997 for the...

Author: Azhar Usman

Source: Muslim American Society

[masnet.org/views.asp?id=5203]

On September 11, 2008, while countless American flags whipped in the wind and the television and radio waves were dominated by remembrances, recordings, and stories about the terror attacks of seven years ago, I attended the funeral of Imam W.D. Mohammed (may God be pleased with him). For me, it was a somber day, but I found myself mostly lost in thought: about African-American Muslim communities, about the challenges...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7619642.stm

British Muslims are guilty of a "victim mentality" and should take greater responsibility for their lives, a Muslim Labour MP has argued.

Sadiq Khan also said more British Muslims must tackle sexism, learn English and condemn forced marriages.

The representative for Tooting, south London, made his comments in a report for the Fabian Society think tank...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: All Africa

http://allafrica.com/stories/200809180319.html

The Office of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has begun the distribution of rice to several mosques in Monrovia and its environs in commemoration of the Holy month of Ramadan. The distribution which began early this week covered the United Dawah Ummah mosque on 17th street, and the Unity Foundation Mosque, located around the Fish market in Sinkor. Mosques in central...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associate Press

[blog.beliefnet.com/news/2008/09/union-muslim-workers-reach-dea.php]

A meatpacking plant has agreed to accommodate Muslim workers' request for prayer time during Ramadan, union officials said Wednesday.

Earlier this week 300 Muslim JBS Swift & Co. workers, most of Somali background, walked off the job in protest of the prayer dispute. No one was fired after the protest.

Dan Hoppes, president of the local United Food and Commercial...