The five young Muslim Americans huddled around a table inside the Yemeni coffee shop, pouring adeni chai into curved red and gold glasses. Voice by voice the discussion turned to why they must make their presence felt on Nov. 3, and the need to hold politicians’ feet to the fire on issues like immigration, racial justice and foreign policy.

“For a long time, Muslims have felt a lot of bigotry and racism, and just feeling like our contributions in society weren’t looked at or held like other communities,” Adam Abusalah, 19, told the group from behind his mask.

Source...

Normally Teresa Stanfield spends her days in prisons talking with inmates about how she changed the course of her troubled life, and how they can do the same. But the coronavirus has locked her on the outside.

“When COVID came and shut down programming, I was extremely disappointed,” said Stanfield, Oklahoma field director with Virginia-based Prison Fellowship. “But I also knew that God had a plan and we were going to do everything we could to continue to encourage our returning citizens and keep our volunteers connected.”

Source:...

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, has joined the Congressional Freethought Caucus.

Launched in 2018, the caucus seeks to promote secular government, separation of church and state, freedom of conscience and policy “based on reason, science, and moral values,” and to oppose discrimination against nonreligious people, or the so-called nones.

Source:...

A Utah man has filed a federal employment complaint against a Cedar City car dealership, alleging that his supervisors and colleagues harassed and discriminated against him after he converted to Islam.

When Allan Goodson was hired as a mechanic at Bradshaw Chevrolet one year ago, he was a Christian. He said soon after, he heard others at the dealership disparage nonwhite or non-Christian people, but in particular Muslims. Goodson said because of that, he started researching Islam. He said the teachings made sense to him, and he converted.

Source:...

Minnesota religious and political leaders are making a show of support for the state's Muslim community following an attack on a local imam. 

On Friday, a group of speakers gathered outside the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington. Among the elected officials were Gov. Tim Walz, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, Attorney General Keith Ellison and U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips. 

Source:...

In honor of Eid al-Adha, a Muslim holiday recognizing community and sacrifice, the La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network is helping neighbors secure good nutrition in a time of economic hardship.

The La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, a grassroots organization promoting tolerance, freedom and peace, donated $1,500 to WAFER food pantry earlier this month, hoping to assist families struggling to put food on the table during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source:...

Each Sunday, Ray Smith and his family go to their living room for church, which they've watched online since the coronavirus pandemic caused most places of worship to close earlier this year.

His wife knew how to prepare unleavened bread from her time at a small church while growing up and soon she was providing the bread for their home communion. 

Source:...

Three Muslim women who used to work at a state detention center for juveniles have filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Delaware officials claiming they were barred from wearing religious head coverings at work. 

The women, Tia Mays, Madinah Brown and Shakeya Thomas, claim nobody told them it was against policy to wear a hijab to work at the New Castle County Detention Center and Ferris School for adjudicated juveniles. 

Source:...

When Intisar Khanani’s children read “Meet Yasmin!,” the first book in Saadia Faruqi’s children’s book series, they burst into amazed laughter.

“They were like, ‘Look, Mommy, it’s our family! The mommy is a writer, and the daddy is a teacher,’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah ... how did she write us?’”

Source:...

Though places of worship are largely exempt from coronavirus restrictions, much of the Valley's religious community transitioned to virtual worship as infection rates skyrocketed in the state in the late spring and summer.

Major holidays such as Easter were celebrated in living rooms instead of sanctuaries. Ramadan fasts were not broken in a large community celebration. The trial-to-triumph story of Passover came to life.

Source:...

When Mariya Taher moved to Massachusetts five years ago, she was shocked to find out the state had no legislation in place against female genital mutilation and cutting. 

Taher launched a petition, which earned more than 400,000 signatures, urging the state to ban the practice. This morning, she marked the petition as victorious.

Source:...

At 4 a.m. in Houston, Afshan Malik wakes up to pray tahajjud, the voluntary night prayers for Muslims. That earns her 5 points. She wins another 20 points for salat al-tasbih and salat al-haja, the prayers of forgiveness and need. Five more for qada yawm, to make up for obligatory prayers missed over the years; another 5 for staying awake until sunrise; 1 for performing the mandatory fajr prayer; and an extra point for doing so just as dawn breaks.

By the time her five children wake up, Malik has already scored nearly half the 100 daily points she can earn as a...

At a traffic circle in Maryland, Mona Eldadah watched her father plodding in circles. 

Hadi Rahnama, 77, was walking around a black cube, a replica of the Kaaba shrine in Mecca, to demonstrate the tawaf, or ritual prayer, that Muslims perform when they visit the shrine on the hajj. 

Eldadah corrected her father. 

"No, Daddy, the idea is that the car is actually going to do the tawaf," she said. "It's a drive-through." 

Source:...