Source: New York Times - By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

For Muslim Students, a Debate on Inclusion

SAN JOSE — Amir Mertaban vividly recalls sitting at his university’s recruitment table for the Muslim Students Association a few years ago when an attractive undergraduate flounced up in a decidedly un-Islamic miniskirt, saying “Salamu aleykum,” or “Peace be upon you,” a standard Arabic greeting, and asked to sign up. (more…)

Source: Common Ground News Service

Why a woman wears the headscarf is her personal decision. It is important that those looking at the headscarf from outside the tradition keep an open mind – open enough to let the true reasons and motivations of Muslim women in, say Hafsa Kanjwal and Khadijeh Zarafshar.

Washington, DC - We are American Muslim women, who strongly identify with our faith. We are Georgetown University seniors who remain active and involved with the American Muslim community. One of us wears a headscarf, known in Arabic as the hijab. The other does not. Yet the right to wear the headscarf – without censure, condemnation or patronising pity – is a right we both defend. (more…)

Source ===> Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr.’s column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: lpitts@herald.com

Barack Obama is not a Muslim. (more…)

John Deady, the co-chairman for Rudy Giuliani’s veterans’ coalition in New Hampshire has resigned after making statements about Muslims when he was quoted as saying that “We need to keep the feet to the fire and keep pressing these people until we defeat or chase them back to their caves — or in other words get rid of them.”

When pressed about it later, Deady remarked:  “I’ve been very concerned about this Muslim thing for quite awhile. The average American does not know beans about what the Muslims are about. I am talking about the Muslims in general. I don’t subscribe to the principle that there are good Muslims and bad Muslims. They’re all Muslims.” (more…)

Very recently, Mike Hucakbee, former Arkansas Governor and US presidential candidate remarked on Benazir Bhutto’s death that he is concerned about illegal Pakistanis crossing the border.

Huckabee said that the US should,

have an immediate, very clear monitoring of our border, and particularly to make sure, if there’s any unusual activity of Pakistanis coming into the country.  We just need to be very very thorough in looking at every aspect of our own security internally.

(more…)

………… 

[Posted by Jauharah (IqraSense Reader) in response to post Root Cause behind Muslim mapping in Southern California, USA]

As salaamu alaikum: As someone who has only known life in the West what I find troubling, yet unfortunately not surprising, is that those in power have always sought to “label” and “target” a specific group as a means of oppression brought about simply by insecurity that is baseless. In this instance today it is Muslims, as if we are responsible for the actions of a small segment and that we are all “guilty by association”; this association being a shared faith.

(more…)

Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) announced a “Muslim Mapping” program that the LAPD said was meant to identify enclaves in the region which might be susceptible to “violent, ideologically based extremism”. When pressured, the department said that their plan was to “deepen ties” with Muslim communities.  

The plan would have had data assembled by the University of Southern California’s Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events.  (more…)

 With the US awaiting the 2008 presidential elections, there are quite a few issues you need to note as an American Muslim by way of preparing yourself to vote for the right candidate. As a Muslim residing in America, you might ask, “Is it so important for me to take active part in elections in a non-Muslim country?” Dr.Anwar Hajjaj, President of the American Islamic Information Center notes that the small role that you might play as a voter in the US elections can be crucial in safeguarding the rights and interests of the fellow Muslims in America. In addition, this can benefit the international Muslim community on the whole.   Here are some of the reasons your vote may count big while you are residing in the US.  

• With the number of American Muslims phenomenally rising up, the Muslim community is turning out to be a significant constituency in the US. To be heard and sought-after by the political nominees, it is important that the Muslims speak out and show-up in big numbers, actively joining the political process.

(more…)

Everyone knows that Muslims, especially those living in North American and European countries have faced a lot of discrimination after the events of 9/11. Muslim women for example have constantly been criticized in the media and elsewhere about the Hijab and their Islamic lifestyles in general. While Muslims have reacted and responded to such discrimination in many ways, the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) decided to take a different approach on October 26^th, 2007.  

The Canadian Islamic Congress organized an event called the “National Pink Hijab Day” and gave away pink hijabs to Muslim as well as non-Muslim women to raise awareness of breast cancer and to raise funds for the “Susan G. Komen for the Cure” Foundation. This foundation’s is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. CIC’s organizers’ objective was to raise the awareness of Islamophobia, discrimination that Muslim women face in covering their heads and hair using the Hijab along with supporting the cause of breast cancer that organizers hoped will garner wider support and awareness of all issues.   (more…)

 Greenwood Press has released an encyclopedia covering various aspects of Islam. Released to the market on September 30, 2007, the 1176 pages encyclopedia weighing almost 6 pounds has been compiled by a number of scholars who mainly belong to the Harvard University’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies.  

The encyclopedia being very new to the market has received little commentary from Muslim and Muslim scholars. Media reports to date suggest that the encyclopedia is objective while delving into the topics of homosexuality, terrorism, and others.   (more…)

A few day ago, a lot of US university campuses held what is being called as the Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Their whole objective seemed to be to highlight the illegal and non-Islamic actions of those few that purport to be waving the banner of Islam.

Unfortunately, such events, as we all know and recognize are based on nothing but ignorance and fueled by the voices of the right-wing media, especially talk shows. Instead of holding such events that fan more hatred and mislead the uneducated, a forum garnered to promote education and understanding would bring more awareness to the masses. However, when overtaken by one-sided opinions, people rarely listen to the voices of reason - no matter how “college educated” they may be.