Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On December 28, 2000, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that about 400,000 Muslims from the Chicago area celebrated the end of Ramadan on Wednesday with communal prayer and Eid-al-Fitr, the communal feast of fast-breaking. "The monthlong Ramadan is the most holy period in the Islamic year." It "is a time of personal and communal abstention and religious discipline," which includes daily fasting from dawn to dusk. Fasting "is considered to be an effective way of cleansing the believer's heart, especially when it is accompanied by...

Source: The Buffalo News

On December 27, 2000, The Buffalo News reported both "growth in the area's Muslim population" and the fact that Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, "has unified the religious community" in the area. "During Ramadan, observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset, for spiritual renewal. Ramadan usually lasts 29 or 30 days...Ramadan activities include educational programs about local and national Muslim issues, the community and donating food to charity." Today...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On December 27, 2000 The Houston Chronicle reported on the closing of the month of Ramadan, a Muslim holy month, whose celebration dates back hundreds of years. Explains the director of a Houston Islamic society, "this is the month in which our holy book, Koran, was supposed to have been revealed to our prophet, Mohammed. It has quite much importance to us." Its celebration includes fasting from dawn until dusk and extra praying: "The people keep awake - some of them praying the whole night." Fasting and praying are...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On December 26, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that on December 27, Muslims would celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, the "feast of fast-breaking," which "marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset." They chose the 27th because the holiday is not declared until the new moon is sighted, which would happen Wednesday. "The festivities can continue for three days, with the large communal prayer on the first day...Girls decorate their hands with intricate henna designs, women sing and dance...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On December 26, 2000, The Columbus Dispatch reported that in Columbus "ignorance of religious or ethnic customs" sometimes leads to discrimination against immigrants, in particular against Somali immmigrants, whose numbers have "soared to 14,000 citywide, from about 40 in 1996." Columbus has America's second-largest Somali population. Like other ethnic groups before them, Somali residents must travel a path they see as "pockmarked by fear, ignorance, unfair treatment and a lack of respect for their customs." Hassan Omar, the...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 26, 2000, The Boston Globe reported on a tradition known as moonspotting, during which Muslims, "since the days of Muhammed,...scan the sky for the slender crescent of a new moon that signals an end to the fasting of Ramadan." Ramadan marks the period when the Koran was supposed to have been revealed to the prophet Muhammed. "It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the end of Ramadan to Muslims. After a month in which Muslims do not eat, drink, or have sex from sunup to sundown, the new moon signals...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On December 26, 2000, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on Meadowcreek High School senior Haaris Quraishy, who is "among the estimated 9 million Americans observing Ramadan, the annual monthlong fasting period observed by Muslims around the world. Ramadan is one of the five pillars of the Muslim faith and requires worshipers to abstain from food, drink and sexual relations from dawn to sunset." Quraishy is "a standout guard" for the basketball team and was "named one of the top 10 players in...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On December 23, 2000, The Houston Chronicle reported that Ramadan is a way for orthodox Muslims and followers of the Nation of Islam to bury their differences. "Orthodox Muslims have long spurned Nation of Islam followers as 'not real Muslims,' for - among other reasons - insisting on observing Ramadan in December instead of when it descends according to the lunar calendar...But Nation of Islam founder, the late Elijah Muhammad, justified the December fast by explaining that the group's members were not 'mature enough in...

Source: The Denver Post

On December 19, 2000, The Denver Post reported that while it may seem like Ramadan fasting is responsible for Denver Nuggets' athlete Tariq Abdul-Wahad's flu, he insists it is not. He says that during his first three years in the NBA, he never lost any weight during Ramadan. This year, however, he has lost weight and he blames it on the flu. Since most games are at night, fasting is not a problem, since the fast is broken at sunset. Nuggets rookie center Mamadou N'diaye, also a Muslim, said Abdul-Wahad has helped him "grow in his...

Source: The New York Times

On December 19, 2000, The New York Times reported on the Rabbi Meir Kahane Memorial Fund, which was established in memory of "the radical Brooklyn Jew and Israeli politician who was assassinated" 10 years ago. The fund supports the "political and religious activities in Israel" of Kahane's son Binyamin, who has "been associated with terrorist groups." Members of the Kahane political organizations "are still seen organizing anti-Arab demonstrations and handing out literature." In 1995, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 18, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor reported on a Christian and her appreciation of Ramadan. She focuses on fasting, because it requires self-restraint. As she understands it, fasting is a way for people to turn away from materially satisfying the physical body and instead, turn to spirituality, to "a realm beyond the physical and to the home of the perfect and divine." She believes that the spirituality emphasized during Ramadan is not restricted to one religion or only one time of the year. In a...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/documentv1?DBLIST=cd00&DOCNUM=37752&TERMV=230:4:234:7:241:5:

On December 14, 2000, The Columbus Dispatch published an article entitled "Post Office Oks Break For Muslims."

Source: The Plain Dealer

On December 14, 2000, The Plain Dealer reported that "about 40,000 Muslims throughout Northeast Ohio are in the midst of Ramadan, a month of fasting and reflection that commemorates Allah revealing Islam's holy book, the Koran, to the prophet Mohammed. Among the faithful are scores of new immigrants who have come from countries where Ramadan is as deeply ingrained in the culture as Christmas is among Americans. For them, maintaining their schedule of prayers and keeping the traditional sunrise-to-sunset fast presents new challenges...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On December 14, 2000, the St. Petersburg Times reported that Ramadan fasting is tough for athletes, especially when they become dehydrated. Rabih Abdullah is one such example. "Coaches like to talk about mental toughness and willpower, about sacrifice and commitment. Well, they need to look no further than Rabih. He is all of those things, a man of faith playing a game grounded in fear and brutality...It's challenging enough, but it can be tricky for the handful of professional and collegiate athletes who follow the Koran....

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 10, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "during the month of Ramadan, two Muslim teenagers on the Magnolia High School basketball team have to execute something tougher than a crossover dribble: playing hoops in the afternoon after going all day without food or water. Talal Trablci and Khalid Khoudari, who play on the freshman-sophomore team in Anaheim, won't be alone in competing on an empty stomach. Hundreds of Muslim high school athletes, sprinkled on teams throughout Southern California, face the same...