“I’m an interior minister, not a mosque builder,” Roberto Maroni told reporters on Sunday. A member of the xenophobic Northern League Party, Maroni said that he solved the “problem” by closing the mosque.

Following the recent closing of Milan’s biggest mosque, Milan’s Christian archbishop Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi called for more tolerance from the city’s municipal government toward the Muslim community.

“Milan’s civic institutions must guarantee everybody the freedom of religion and the right to worship,” Tettamanzi told Italian newspaper La Repubblica in an interview published on Saturday.
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This year, though, many American Muslims are greeting Ramadan’s end with a measure of worry, as the holiday coincides with the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

“Most Muslim communities will be reluctant to have something that’s perceived to be celebratory on 9/11 even though we’re not celebrating 9/11,” said Ibrahim Hooper, National Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

“There’s a whole cottage industry of Muslim bashers now who would seize on that,” he said. “Unfortunately, these are the times we live in.”

With many American Muslims already feeling intense scrutiny over the controversy surrounding a proposed Islamic center and mosque near New York’s ground zero, many mosques and Islamic groups are dramatically altering their usual plans for Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan holiday.

In the United States, most mosques are expected to celebrate the holiday – typically called Eid – this Friday, September 10, though some may celebrate it a day later – Saturday, September 11 – because of their interpretation of the lunar cycle. Ordinarily, festivities – bazaars, potlucks, bowling alley parties – would extend for three days, following more solemn prayers on the morning of Eid itself.   »»» CNN.com

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The poll, conducted by the New York Times among 892 adults across the city, records that 67% want to see the Muslim community centre built in a less controversial location.

Under the current plans, the $100m (£65m) project for the 13-storey multifaith centre would be built in Park Place, just north of the World Trade Centre, where almost 3,000 people lost their lives when al-Qaida brought down the Twin Towers.

The remaining third of those New Yorkers sampled felt that to move the centre would be to compromise American values.

The findings of the poll suggest that the intense dispute surrounding the planned mosque, which has seen national politicians as well as Christian and other religious groups wade into the controversy, has had an impact on the city that has up to now prided itself on retaining its traditional tolerance even in the face of the terrorist threat.

The proposed mosque, the brainchild of the moderate Islam group the Cordoba Initiative, has had a strong backer in the mayor of the city, Michael Bloomberg.

The survey suggests that among some New Yorkers there is a residue of anti-Muslim feeling. A fifth said openly that they feel animosity towards Muslims, and a third that they thought Muslims more sympathetic to terrorism than other subsections of US society.   »»» The Guardian (U.K.)

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Evening prayers were disrupted at the Iman Mosque on Steinway Street in Astoria when the unhinged man “came in with a beer bottle in his hands, clearly very intoxicated,” said Mustapha Sadouki, who was attending services.   »»» NYPOST.com

Abu Hurairah, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him), narrates a tradition about a similar incident:

“A Bedouin stood up and started making water in the mosque. The people caught him but the Prophet ordered them to leave him and to pour a bucket or a tumbler of water over the place where he had passed the urine.”

At that timed, mosques had earthen floors, making the damage much less than that caused in the New York incident. However, the lesson is the same. Even in moments of great annoyance, we are called to forebearance and self-restraint.

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The cultural center and mosque face fierce opposition from conservative politicians and people who consider its location insensitive to families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks by al Qaeda militants in 2001.

But the newly formed New York Neighbors for American Values, made up of more than 40 religious and civic groups, said the debate was creating fear and division and that it would fight for US constitutional freedoms to be upheld.

“We were not attacked by the Muslim world,” said Donna O’Connor, spokeswoman for September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, whose pregnant daughter was killed in the World Trade Center attacks. “We 100 percent fully support the Islamic cultural center in New York City.”    »»» bdnews24.com

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The attacker, a 21-year-old man who was reportedly drunk at the time of the incident, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder as a hate crime after he attacked Ahmed Sharif on Tuesday evening.

The man was 43-year-old Sharif’s first fare of the night, the Taxi Workers Alliance said in a statement. As the cab headed for Times Square, the passenger began a friendly conversation with Sharif about his religion, asking him if he was fasting in observance of the Muslim month of Ramadan.

After a few moments of silence, the man “suddenly started cursing and screaming,” the statement said.

“He yelled ‘Assalamu Alaikum. Consider this a checkpoint,’ and then slashed Mr. Sharif across the neck. As Mr. Sharif went to knock the knife out, the perpetrator, continuing to scream loudly, cut the taxi driver in the face (from nose to upper lip), arm and hand,” the alliance said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (pictured) said he had spoken to Sharif and “assured him that ethnic or religious bias has no place in our city. The mayor said Sharif had accepted an invitation to meet with him at City Hall on Thursday.

The Taxi Workers Alliance linked the attack on Sharif to the controversy surrounding plans for a mosque and interfaith center near the New York site of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The New York City Coalition to Stop Islamophobia denounced the attack as “particularly disturbing in the context of the toxic atmosphere of Islamophobia produced by opponents of the Park51 community project.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations also warned that inflammatory rhetoric emerging from the debate about the center, which critics say insults the memory of those killed on 9/11, was creating a dangerous environment.

Sharif, in remarks released by the Taxi Workers Alliance, described himself as “very sad”.

“I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before,” he said.   »»» easterneye.eu (U.K.)

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“I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.

But, he continued: “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are.”

In hosting the iftar, Mr. Obama was following a White House tradition that, while sporadic, dates to Thomas Jefferson, who held a sunset dinner for the first Muslim ambassador to the United States. President George W. Bush hosted iftars annually.

Last week, New York City removed the final construction hurdle for the project, and New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke forcefully in favor of it.

In his remarks, Mr. Obama distinguished between the terrorists who plotted the 9/11 attacks and Islam. “Al Qaeda’s cause is not Islam — it is a gross distortion of Islam,” the president said, adding, “In fact, Al Qaeda has killed more Muslims than people of any other religion, and that list includes innocent Muslims who were killed on 9/11.”

Noting that “Muslim Americans serve with honor in our military,” Mr. Obama said that at next week’s iftar at the Pentagon, “tribute will be paid to three soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq and now rest among the heroes of Arlington National Cemetery.”

Mayor Bloomberg, in a statement, said: “I applaud President Obama’s clarion defense of the freedom of religion tonight.”   »»» NYTimes.com

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The seven point declaration, signed by 38 influential clerics belonging to the Canadian Council of Imams, is designed to be read in hundreds of mosques across Canada at the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

“We believe in peaceful coexistence, dialogue, bridge building, and cooperation among all faiths and people for the common good of humanity,” the statement read.

“Islam does not permit the killing of innocent people, regardless of their creed, ethnicity, race, or nationality.    »»» Yahoo! Canada News

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The gold dinar and silver dirham coins provide an alternative to Malaysia’s currency, the ringgit, in the northeastern state Kelantan, which is governed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, a conservative opposition group that promotes religious policies in its rule.

The gold dinar was the official currency of Muslim societies for centuries. The value of the coins used in Kelantan can fluctuate according to market prices, but officials say it remains a better alternative to a currency affected by the US dollar and other foreign currencies.    »»» The Daily Star (Malaysia)

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The firebombing was the first in an unprecedented string of arson attacks and vandalism at places of worship last January that threatened to undo decades of religious harmony in the Muslim-majority country. Eleven churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer rooms were assaulted before the tensions abated.

Two ethnic Malay brothers in their 20s were arrested and placed on trial for the 8 January attack, which partially gutted a Protestant church. The attack, which did not injure anyone, came days after some Muslims were angered by a court verdict that allowed Christians to use the word Allah in Malay-language publications.

Komathy Suppiah, a Kuala Lumpur district court judge, convicted both suspects of “mischief by fire” with the intention of destroying a place of worship. They had faced a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but Suppiah sentenced them to five years each.

“You have shamed the society and country … The message from this court must be loud and clear: Don’t play with fire,” Suppiah told the men.

The Reverend Hermen Shastri, an official with the Council of Churches of Malaysia, praised the court’s decision.

“This serves as a reminder to all citizens of the country that violence against religious places – be it whatever religion – will not be tolerated,” Shastri told the Associated Press. “This is a clear signal that basically the majority of Malaysians are peace-loving.”

   »»» guardian.co.uk

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Opponents have protested against the construction of an Islamic cultural centre and mosque several hundred feet away from the site of the Twin Towers.

Mr Obama acknowledged “sensitivities” surround the 9/11 site, but said Muslims have the same right to practice their religion “as anyone else”.

“Our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable,” Mr Obama said.   »»» BBC News

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Having gained an interest in Islam after 9/11, Kosorok found many parallels between his Mormon faith and Islam. Islam’s traditional 99 names for God – “The Provider,” “The Compassionate” – inspired Kosorok to dive deeper into Islamic theology.

Kosorok, who teaches at Brigham Young University, aims to produce one glass sculpture for each of the 99 names, and one final piece to represent all the names together – 100 installations in all. So far, he’s finished seven pieces; five are in production and 13 others are planned by year’s end.   »»» Houston Chronicle

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The study for the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) also found that 63% of people surveyed did not disagree with the statement “Muslims are terrorists” and 94% agreed that “Islam oppresses women”. It included qualitative as well as quantitative data. One respondent said: “”If I had my way I’d kick them all [Muslims] out of here.”

The results follow an online YouGov poll, published in June, that found 58% linked Islam with extremism and 69% believed it encouraged the repression of women.

Despite the widespread negative perceptions of Islam, iERA believes the fact that most opinions were formed in ignorance of the faith indicates that Muslims can positively influence them.

Four-fifths of those polled said they have less than very little knowledge about Islam, while 40% did not know who “Allah” referred to and 36% did not know who the Prophet Muhammad was.   »»» guardian.co.uk

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India’s minorities watchdog has received a record number of complaints from Muslims who say they have been prevented from opening bank accounts.

India’s Muslim community is among the poorest in the country.

Some bankers say it is not so much their religious background, but their economic status that makes it hard for Muslims to get banking facilities.

The National Commission of Minorities says that there has been a 100% increase in the number of complaints it has received over the past year from Muslims who say they are being prevented from opening accounts in state-run banks.    »»» BBC News

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