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Senate Sponsors: OBAMA. Short description: 11/1/97-ISLAMIC COMMUNITY DAY Synopsis of Bill as introduced: Declares November 1, 1997 to be South Shore Islamic Community Center Day. Last action on Bill: SESSION SINE DIE Last action date: 99-01-12 Location: Senate Amendments to Bill: AMENDMENTS ADOPTED: HOUSE - 0 SENATE - 0 Declares November 1, 1997 to be South Shore Islamic Community Center Day. 97-10-16 S REFERRED TO SENATE RULES COMMITTEE RULES 99-01-12 S SESSION SINE DIE 90_SR0110 LRB9007260KBkbA 1 SENATE RESOLUTION 2 WHEREAS, Since 1995, the South Shore Islamic Community 3 Center, located at 2672 E. 75th Street, has worked to improve...

WASHINGTON, July 23 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled that the city council of Fredericksburg, Virginia had proper authority to require "non-sectarian" prayer content and exclude council-member Rev. Hashmel Turner from the prayer rotation because he prayed "in Jesus' name." Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing the decision, said: "The restriction that prayers be nonsectarian in nature is designed to make the prayers accessible to people who come from a variety of backgrounds, not to exclude or disparage a particular faith." Ironically, she admitted Turner was excluded from participating solely because of the...

Amber Tracy spent the past academic year studying Arabic. But with a full-time job and other classes, she wasn't progressing as quickly as she had wanted. On June 23, she began an intensive Arabic program at Cal State San Bernardino, learning Arabic all day and practicing it in residence halls well into the night. "I think I've learned more in the last week than I did all last semester," Tracy said after finishing a lunch of Arab-style chicken, rice and salad with her tutors and other students. "Being able to focus on Arabic and not think about anything else is...

It was claimed that the boys, from a year seven class of 11 and 12-year-olds, were given detention after refusing to take part in a practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. Yesterday parents accused the school of breaching their human rights by forcing them to take part in the exercise. One, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far. I understand that they have to learn about other religions. I can live with that but it is taking it a step too far to be punished because they wouldn't join in Muslim prayer. "Making them pray...

U.S. company: Blackwater Flight 61 crash lawsuit governed by Islamic law   To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.    The lawsuit “is governed by the law of Afghanistan,” Presidential Airways argued in a Florida federal court. “Afghan law is largely religion-based and evidences a strong concern for ensuring moral responsibility, and deterring violations of obligations within its borders.”.......(News Observer)

With fatal terrorist attacks on the decline worldwide and al Qaeda apparently in disarray, it would seem a time for optimism in the global war on terrorism. But the war has simply shifted to a different arena. Islamists, or those who believe that Islam is a political and religious system that must dominate all others, are focusing less on the military and more on the ideological. It turns out that Western liberal democracies can be subverted without firing a shot. Nowhere is this more evident than in the educational realm. Islamists have taken what's come to be known as the...

An Islamic group has been banned from visiting classrooms in Seminole County schools after officials said it crossed the line between telling students about the Muslim culture and pushing its religion. The flap over the Academy for Learning Islam's visit to Lake Brantley High School also has caused the school system to re-evaluate who it lets into county classrooms to present educational programs and what they can talk about. By fall, teachers will have stricter guidelines. Speakers on religion, drugs, alcohol and nearly 50 other touchy topics will get closer scrutiny before they can speak on campuses, Superintendent Bill Vogel...

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Muslims are Attacking the Minds of our Children As I stated in a previous column, Muslims are attacking the minds of our children. They are doing this to brainwash them by putting a false positive spin on the religion of hate. This is an attempt to get our kids to accept Islam. Then unfortunately, one day in the future they will see they harsh reality of Islam. By then it just might be too late. This is also a violation of church and state, that is happening more and more. There CANNOT continue to be special...

The Friendswood Junior High principal who outraged some parents by allowing an Islamic group to make a 40-minute presentation to students last month is now off the job. In a two-sentence statement sent late Wednesday, the school district said Robin Lowe "has accepted another administrative position effective immediately."

Public school students at Friendswood Junior High in the Houston area have been roped into Islamic training by representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations during class time, prompting religious leaders to protest over Principal Robin Lowe's actions. Pastor Dave Welch, spokesman for the Houston Area Pastor Council, confirmed the indoctrination had taken place and called it "unacceptable." "The failure of the principal of Friendswood Junior High to respect simple procedures requiring parental notification for such a potentially controversial subject, to not only approve but participate personally in a religious indoctrination session led by representatives of a group with well-known...

Seeking a balance between outreach and enforcement, Miami is launching a nearly $1 million crime-fighting initiative in Overtown that will mix police patrols, video cameras -- and suit-and-tie wearing Muslims. The stepped-up policing seeks to deter would-be lawbreakers without making Overtown residents feel ''invaded,'' in the words of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones. Which is where the Muslims come in. Along with budgeting hundreds of thousands of dollars for increased police patrols and the installation of surveillance cameras, Miami is spending $150,000 on a ''Peacemakers'' pilot program run by a nonprofit with ties to the Nation of Islam.

The curriculum at a charter school catering to Muslims complies with federal and state law, the state Education Department said Monday but it directed other changes be made in religious areas. The state said Tarik ibn Zayad Academy should change its busing schedule and its handling of Friday prayer services. The shorter prayer services on other days were found to be acceptable, but not the 30-minute service on school grounds on Muslim's holy day. The department said bus rides home should be available right after school ends; currently students must wait until after a voluntary after-school religious program. State law...

News crew attacked during report at TiZA charter school The state Education Department on Monday directed a Minnesota charter school to "correct" two areas related to religion at the school. Tarik ibn Zayad Academy, which focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, came under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students. "The Minnesota Department of Education goes to great lengths to make clear to charter schools and their sponsors that, while schools should appropriately accomodate students' religious beliefs, they must be...

The state Education Department on Monday directed a Minnesota charter school to "correct" two areas related to religion at the school. Tarik ibn Zayad Academy, which focuses on Middle Eastern culture and shares a mosque with the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, came under fire after a teacher alleged that the school was offering religious instruction in Islam to its students. Charter schools in Minnesota are publicly funded and must be nonsectarian. The allegations first surfaced in an article by Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten. The Education Department subsequently began a review of the suburban Inver Grove Heights school and...

Unless you live in a rural area, there is probably a mosque (or more than one) in your town, and most people -- including local law enforcement officials -- regard them with the complete indifference shown the local churches. It is the height of political incorrectness to even suggest that possibly, just possibly, it might be worth checking into the local mosque’s sources of funding, and what they’re teaching there. As a Las Vegas city councilor exclaimed when some people objected to a proposal to build a mosque right beyond the fence of the international airport, “What’s the big deal?...

Scotland's first Muslim Police Association is being created in an attempt to encourage more Muslims to join and stay in the force. Strathclyde Police hopes the group will also help tackle Islamophobia and improve understanding of Islam. Pc Amar Shakoor, who was Scotland's first Muslim officer, said negativity had recently been directed towards the Muslim community. He said the association hoped to put Islam in a more positive light. "We want to highlight some of the positive things Islam can provide to the communities and not just the police services," he said. According to Pc Shakoor, since the 9/11 World...

British Muslims perform their traditional prayers By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with 1.63 million church-going Christians, according to calculations by Christian Research, a think- tank. The figures are published in the latest in a series of reports entitled Religious Trends. The think-tank has warned that 4,000 churches could close by 2020 if congregations continue to shrink at current rates. According to the most recent figures from the Church of England, regular Sunday, weekly and monthly attendance each fell by one per cent in 2006. Fewer than a million people attend church...

THE cheque from the Saudi Government for $360,000 was enclosed in an envelope. It was a donation, a gift, a part payment to subsidise the construction of a building that would become Sydney's Muslim heartbeat: Lakemba mosque. "They said: 'Please, can you mention the tragedy of the Palestinian people and what's happened to them in your sermon?"' Shami tells Inquirer. "Which is really a very noble cause, a very noble cause, I couldn't see a negative in their request." The message Shami received from Riyadh brings into question the influence petro-dollars can have on their recipients... But the Saudi cash...

U.S. Muslims face growing movement to limit their public lives By Andrea Elliott April 28, 2008 Debbie Almontaser dreamed of starting a public school like no other in New York City. Children of Arab descent would join students of other ethnicities, learning Arabic together. By graduation, they would be fluent in the language and groomed for the country's elite colleges. They would be ready, in Almontaser's words, to become "ambassadors of peace and hope." Things have not gone according to plan. Only one-fifth of the 60 students at the Khalil Gibran International Academy are Arab-American. Since the school opened in...

"A woman reacts after hundreds of policemen threw a tight security ring around the courthouse and chased away the families of the defendants during a trial session of the Muslim Brotherhood leading members at a military court in Cairo, Egypt Tuesday, April 15, 2008. A security official at Egypt's military trial of 40 top members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood group says that 25 of the Islamists on trial have been sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.""A veiled woman holds a sign reading in Arabic 'Freedom for the hostages of reform' after hundreds of policemen threw a tight...

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, a public charter school in Inver Grove, MN that “offers tuition-free education to all students upon admission” is in full swing with Islamic centered traditions at taxpayer’s expense. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the school serves halal food- Islamic permissible food-and that students participate in ritual washing and prayers. It offers Islamic studies and requires students to study Arabic as a second language. The school’s calendar also reflects that it is closed for an entire week in October in observance of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.

An Inver Grove Heights charter school has received harassing and threatening calls in the wake of accusations that it blurs the line between religion and state by promoting Islam, the school's director said Friday. The city's police are investigating and will put extra patrols in the area as a precaution, said Police Chief Chuck Kleckner. He said the school's director contacted the department Friday morning. Asad Zaman, the director and founder of Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), said that he and the school received several derogatory phone messages and e-mails. The school came under fire last month after Star Tribune...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry plans to host a private dinner followed by fireworks near Austin on Saturday to honor the Aga Khan, a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad celebrating his 50th year as the spiritual leader of a Muslim sect. Earlier in the day, the leaders are expected to be on hand as the University of Texas signs an agreement with Aga Khan University, which has campuses in Pakistan and other countries, fostering student and teacher exchanges between the institutions.

Muhammad Al-Munajid: Some of these heretics say: "Islam is not the private property of anyone." So what do they want? They say: "No sect has a monopoly on Islam." So what do they want? They say: "We want to issue rulings." Someone who is ignorant, who does not know any Arabic, or who has no knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence wants to issue rulings?! They say: "We reinterpret the texts." There is a very dangerous conspiracy against the religion of Islam in newspapers and in what these people say. A journalist, or one of those lowlifes, wants to... These people are...

Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion. Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers. TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.

MORE ISLAMIC THAN IRAGI, HE SAYS Al-Sadr emphasizes the religious character of his movement. Of course, Western analysts will continue to dismiss him as a Misunderstander of Islam.

Muslims students at the University of Miami have organized for the Islamic call to prayer, broadcasted each Friday afternoon this month from Richter Library's clock tower in commemoration of Islamic Awareness Month. The call to prayer, or Adhan, is spoken in Arabic and is meant to resonate throughout the area. "It serves as constant reminder of when we have to pray, because prayer itself is a reminder of our religion and how we practice it," said Selima Jumarali, the vice president of the organization. According to the teachings of Islam, Muslims are to pray five times a day. In Muslim-majority...

Fury over plan to let imams teach the Koran in state schoolsBy LAURA CLARK - More by this author » Last updated at 11:11am on 25th March 2008 The NUT says state schools must allow children to practise their faith State schools must allow children to practise their faith by inviting in preachers such as imams and introducing prayer rooms and religious holidays, the country's biggest teaching union said yesterday.  They should make arrangements for pupils to be given "instruction" in their own religion during the normal school day and rights to pray and worship instead of attending regular assemblies,...

CHICAGO (AP) - Barack Obama briefly turned his attention to Indiana with Andre Carson's election to Congress. Obama congratulated the Indianapolis Democrat on his Tuesday night special election victory over Republican Jon Elrod. Carson will succeed his grandmother, Julia Carson, who died in December. In a written statement from Chicago, Obama said he expected Carson to be like his grandmother by being "a tireless fighter for Indiana's working men and women." The Illinois senator said he looked forward to working with Carson in Congress to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq and to work together in other causes. With Obama...

France has launched a groundbreaking program to educate future imams and Muslim chaplains about the country and its values. The goal: to put a French stamp on Islam, the second largest religion in France. Lisa Bryant has more from Paris. The courses are being held in an unusual location - the Catholic Institute of Paris, an institution better known for training priests and Christian scholars than Muslim clerics. Established in collaboration with the French government and the Paris mosque, the program began in January with a largely male class of 25. It aims to give the students a broad understanding...

American Muslims Believe They Found A Way To Establish Shariah Law in the USA. Quote: And while our attention is diverted by our clueless leaders and the apologists and appeasers of Islamism, this is what’s happening behind our backs. http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/featu..._system/0013143 Issa Smith writes in the American Muslim that Native American courts can be used as a precedent for Islamic courts in the US. Although the Muslim community in North America is vastly different from the Indian community, I feel that in developing a plan for the implementation of Muslim family law, we can in some ways imitate the paradigm of...

In the war on terrorism -- specifically Islamic terrorism -- law enforcement would like nothing more than to have the cooperation of the Muslim community.  But, many times, those searching for answers are greeted with a wall of silence.  One of the groups working hard to build up this wall is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).  This month, the head of CAIR-Florida visited a storied terror haven to instruct congregants on how to evade those charged to protect us all. On Saturday, February 16, 2008, the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) broke ground on its soon-to-be 30,000 square...

A diocese of the Church of England is giving an unprecedented £250,000 towards a multi-faith building in which the largest amount of worship space will be reserved for Muslims. The Guildford diocese is one of the wealthiest in the UK. The Bishop of Guildford, the Right Rev Christopher Hill, today handed over the £250,000 cheque to Surrey University for the first multi-faith building of its kind in Britain. The £6.5 million building will contain separate worship spaces for the Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Sikh communities, along with a further shared space for Buddhists and Hindus. All faiths will share the...

A convert to Islam stands an election victory away from becoming the second Muslim elected to Congress and a role model for a faith community seeking to make its mark in national politics. Political newcomer Andre Carson is the Democratic nominee in a March 11 special election to succeed his late grandmother, Julia Carson, representing Indiana's 7th District. She died in December of lung cancer, and her grandson is seeking to fill out the rest of her sixth term, which expires at year's end. If Andre Carson wins the Democratic-leaning Indianapolis district over a freshman Republican legislator and a long...

A Muslim imam's opening-day prayer at the Iowa Legislature has sparked controversy over statements he made. They're statements that at least one northwest Iowa lawmaker says are like a "terrorist call" to harm Americans. It's a ritual Iowa state representatives follow every morning the convene in Des Moines. A daily prayer. But, it's this prayer that's caused some concern at the capitol. "I can't sit here while jihadist statements are made from the rostrum of the people's House of Iowa," said Rep. Gary Worthan, (R) Storm Lake. Worthan said he was angered by one specific line in the prayer offered...

The Government has drawn up a controversial phrasebook on the language of terrorism and is insisting civil servants no longer blame fanatical extremism on Islam, for fear of upsetting the Muslim community. The new counter-terrorism guidelines suggest that phrases such as "Islamic terrorist" and "jihadi fundamentalism" are too inflammatory and imply that all Muslims explicitly are responsible for extremism. Instead the leaked Home Office document advises Whitehall bosses that they refer to violent extremism and criminal murderers or thugs to avoid any link between Islam and terrorism. However, the war on terror handbook has provoked an unfavourable response from people...

Federal authorities say a high-level Muslim Pentagon aide, who led a campaign to silence a Pentagon intelligence analyst for taking a hard line against Islam, is running an "influence operation" on behalf of U.S. Muslim groups fronting for the radical Muslim Brotherhood. Hesham H. Islam (left), Muslim aide to the deputy secretary of defense, with Muslim military chaplain Abuhena M. Saifulislam (right) Hesham H. Islam, a special assistant to deputy Defense secretary Gordon England, recently criticized Maj. Stephen Coughlin, one of the military's leading authorities on Islamic war doctrine, for making the connection between the religion of Islam and terrorism....

A senior Iranian lawmaker warned the Netherlands on Monday not to allow the screening of what it called an anti-Islamic film produced by Dutch politician, claiming it "reflects insulting views about the Holy Koran." Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' work is shown. "If Holland will allow the broadcast of this movie, the Iranian parliament will request to reconsider our relationship with it," Boroujerdi said, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. "In Iran, insulting Islam...

According to the Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia, the Spanish football club Barcelona is altering its famous badge in some Arab countries in order to avoid offending Muslims. The badge is especially altered in Saudi Arabia or Algeria, where the Barcelona shirts are being sold without the red cross of Saint George, the patron saint of the Catalan region which Barca claims to represent, the La Vanguardia newspaper found in a private investigation. The badge, which was created in 1906, features a single vertical red line in Saudi Arabia and Algeria, due to the fact that there, the red cross represents...

“You say you want a revolution, well you know, We all want to change the world...” – The Beatles, Revolution Ironic, if one reads all of the lyrics to The Beatles Revolution: Despite being left-leaners for their time, the tune almost sounds like something a conservative music artist might write today. Snapshot of America: For the moment, we are still “allowed” to believe and say what we wish. I am not saying this to underscore my right to say what follows, but to acknowledge the right of those with whom I vehemently disagree to believe and say what we wish....

SIX volunteers agree to live under Islamic law in a bid to understand more about the religion. Make Me a Muslim sees non-Muslims — and one lapsed Muslim — from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, get their introduction to Islam. But they find it’s not easy coping with the laws of the Qur’an for three weeks. The series, over three nights, begins when the volunteers are stripped of items such as alcohol and make-up. Each goes their separate way to find out if the Muslim way of life has any meaning in modern Britain. Some fare better than others with one participant...

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam's five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men's and women's prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces. Sound like a mosque? The place I'm describing is the "meditation room" at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington.

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam's five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men's and women's prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces. Sound like a mosque? The place I'm describing is the "meditation room" at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington. A row of chest-high barriers splits the room into sex-segregated sections. In the smaller, enclosed area for women sits a pile of shawls...

Last week, I visited a Muslim place of worship. A schedule for Islam's five daily prayers was posted at the entrance, near a sign requesting that shoes be removed. Inside, a barrier divided men's and women's prayer space, an arrow informed worshippers of the direction of Mecca, and literature urged women to cover their faces. Sound like a mosque? The place I'm describing is the "meditation room" at Normandale Community College, a 9,200-student public institution in Bloomington. Until recently, the room was the school's only usable racquetball court. College administrators converted the court into a meditation room when construction forced...

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., was on the list of those who endorsed the statement recognizing Islam but refused to support the Christmas resolution that noted the holiday "is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and around the world." The Christmas resolution, like the Ramadan resolution, decried the violence that targets religion around the world. A spokesman...

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, could have the best chance of making headway in a U.S. diplomatic strategy in Iran, noted Middle East experts said Thursday. During a forum on the future of U.S.-Iranian relations sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, former Pakistani Ambassador to the United Kingdom Akbar Ahmed pointed to the success of Muslim members of the House of Lords in negotiating the release of a British teacher from a Sudanese jail. Ellison, D-Minn., could have similar success negotiating with Iran, Ahmed said. Though he doesn't have much background in international diplomacy, Ellison...

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians.

Only weeks after voting for a resolution that "recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world," nine Democrats in the U.S. House refused to vote for a Christmas resolution that condemns the worldwide persecution of Christians.

Why we stay mute on Islamic sex apartheid The Australian ... US Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton last week urged President George W. Bush to call on King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to drop all charges ... against the gender apartheid under which women in large parts of the Islamic world live, as there was against racial apartheid in South Africa. ... http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22882381-7583,00.html

An official from Sudan says that Westerners going to live in Sudan should have to pass an exam on the local culture ... in other words, be indoctrinated on the Islamic ways of life. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7127128.stm Khalid al Mubarak works at London's Sudan embassy. He says that courses were mandatory in the colonial era and they "worked very well." He says a two-week course could help avoid accidental insults ... like naming a teddy bear after the prophet Muhammad. The courses would be run through government colleges and "should consist of educating somebody of what is acceptable and what is not...