Author: Moni Basu

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/21/hijab.html

Lisa Valentine shed her Baptist beliefs 11 years ago and adopted a faith she felt wholly served her: Islam.

She was no longer Lisa, but Miedah. She studied the Quran and donned a head covering, or hijab, because Islam mandates modesty for women.

She had not uncovered her head in a...

Author: Raja Abdulrahim

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-warren21-2008dec21,0,7004420.story

Fresh from being tapped to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration, Orange County Pastor Rick Warren spoke Saturday night to about 800 members of the Muslim Public Affairs Council at its convention in Long Beach.

Warren's theme was about people...

Author: Kimi Yoshino

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/12/iraq-draft-from.html

Trying to prove just how much safer Baghdad is these days, Iraqi officials threw a party for Christians on Saturday, complete with huge event posters featuring pictures of Jesus Christ.

A skinny Santa Claus draped in an Iraqi flag also made an appearance, waving and posing for photos.
...

Author: Moni Basu

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/17/hijab.html

A Douglasville woman was jailed Tuesday after a judge found her in contempt of court for refusing to remove her hijab, the head covering worn by Muslim women.

Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, 40, was arrested at the Douglasville Municipal Court for violating a court...

Author: Mahmud Lalo

Source: All Africa

http://allafrica.com/stories/200812170410.html

Abbas Jimoh & Ahmed Mohammed — Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar and Most Reverend John Onaiyekan, both co-chairmen of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), yesterday kicked off peace and reconci-liatory process between Mus-lim and Christian communi-ties in Plateau State following the recent crisis in Jos over local government council elections...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Yahoo News/PRNewswire-USNewswire

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20081216/pl_usnw/georgia_muslims_barred_from_court_because_of_hijab

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a series of incidents in which Muslim women in Georgia were prevented from entering courtrooms because they were wearing Islamic headscarves...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7786495.stm

Hundreds of members of Pakistan's Hindu community have turned out to protest on behalf of a Muslim charity accused by India over the deadly Mumbai attacks.

The protesters in the city of Hyderabad in Sindh province complained that Jamaat-ud-Dawa was not a terrorist organisation and should not be banned.

They said it was a "saviour" in providing...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Independent Catholic News

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/muscthl321.html

Yesterday, the XI talks between the Pontifical Council for Interfaith Dialogue and the World Islamic Call Society, based in Tripoli, Libya began at the Vatican.

A spokesman said these are the latest in a long series of meetings that have taken place in various venues and regular intervals since 1989 to now.

Author: Emily Wax

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121502717.html

During the three-day siege of Mumbai, an Indian television news anchor took a call from one of the suspected attackers, a young man who identified himself as Imran Babar.

"You're surrounded. You're definitely going to die. Why don't you surrender?" the anchor at India TV implored...

Author: Paul Edward Parker

Source: The Providence Journal

http://www.projo.com/news/content/ISLAMIC_SCHOOL_12-15-08_8BCKSPR_v15.359aebe.html

Rhode Island’s Islamic community paused yesterday afternoon to mark a milestone: the purchase of a former Catholic school and adjacent gymnasium building to serve as an Islamic elementary and middle school.

The Islamic School of Rhode Island — the state’...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: PTI News

http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/1BA120C88AF8FA376525752000494540?OpenDocument

With several Muslims expressing resentment over a decree which declared Yoga as 'haram' for them, Malaysia's National Fatwa Council has said the edicts issued by it were only "views" and are "not binding" on any state.

Some Malaysian states like Sarawak had banned Yoga while...

Author: Tom Pfeiffer

Source: The Washington Post

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/15/AR2008121500008.html

A new breed of undercover Christian missionary is turning to Muslim north Africa in the search for new converts, alarming Islamic leaders who say they prey on the weak and threaten public order.

Missionary groups say the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Court_grants_custody_of_Hindu_girl_to_Muslim_foster_father/rssarticleshow/3836522.cms

A Muslim man was granted custody of his Hindu daughter, by a local court here, whom he had brought up as his own after finding her abandoned on a railway station 13 years ago.

Judge H K Ghayal of...

Author: Yonat Shimron

Source: The News...

Author: By Henry Chu and Mark Magnier

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-india-muslims14-2008dec14,0,6568609.story

The Muslims of terror-plagued Mumbai know the drill.

First there is bloodshed. Then come the whispers, the accusing stares, the scarcely veiled hostility.

"They are going to say that all Muslims do this," restaurateur...