Free Republic

A Minneapolis neighborhood, which lies in controversial Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s district, will begin broadcasting the Muslim call to prayer five times a day over outdoor loudspeakers throughout the month of Ramadan, reports say. The move is “believed to be the first publicly-broadcast call to prayer in a major US city,” al Jazeera English said in a post on Twitter. The city granted a noise permit for the prayer. “Tonight’s historic call to prayer in Minneapolis will bring comfort and remind the faithful and the neighborhood that as we are physically distant we can still be connected to our faith...

A litigious atheist organization known for its lawsuits challenging Christian prayer and symbols in public spaces and Bibles in public schools is now voicing objection to the designation of a Muslim prayer space at the University of Iowa (UI). The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) says it is “questioning the appropriateness” of the two prayer rooms created primarily for male and female Muslim faculty and students at UI. FFRF states in a press release: The public university, located in Iowa City, has recently established two prayer rooms for its Muslim students. This is in addition to a longstanding university...

On Friday, CBS This Morning reported on news that Duke University had cancelled plans to have a Muslim call-to-prayer projected from the school’s famous bell tower at the Duke Chapel and, while Duke suggested that there were “several factors” that led to the decision, the segment prominently tied it to Rev. Franklin Graham and subsequent threats against them. CBS News correspondent Julianna Goldman fretted that the cancellation came as “students, faculty, and administrators spent months working on a new way to make campus feel more inclusive for its 700 Muslims.” Goldman added that the event was axed “following security threats...

Apparently last semester the Office of Religious Life made up of chaplains' from various faiths thought there should be a new addition to the weekly Muslim service. The adhan, the Muslim call to prayer would be broadcast from speakers on the top of the Chapel bell tower. Omid Safi, director of Duke's Islamic Studies Center said, "We had hoped for a symbolic action that would shine a light on how a leading international university in the American South can be a place where the symbol of the Christian heritage of the university is demonstrating hospitality to its Muslim community members."...

Muslim Brotherhood-linked Muslim Students Association behind the effort In a move described as an initiative to promote “religious pluralism,” Duke University announced Tuesday it would broadcast a weekly call to prayer for Muslims from the Duke Chapel bell tower each Friday at 1 p.m. Yesterday, however, the University reversed itself. “Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.” Thus Duke takes a...

On Tuesday, Rosie O'Donnell, the obnoxious 9/11 truther who has made her share of racist comments, thinks that a 15-yard penalty against Kansas City Chiefs safety Husain Abdullah for a Muslim prayer in the end zone on Monday night is reflective of a systemic anti-Muslim bias that can propel the country to war.

The current Turkish prime-minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan is considering the possibility of Muslim prayer at Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul (Constantinople), reports Romphea. Erdogan is planning to participate in a namaz at the historic Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople, reports the Radikal Turkish daily newspaper. The Muslim prayer will probably be performed during the annual celebrations of the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, just before the August elections, when Erdogan wants to retake his office of prime-minister. Realizing that such prayer at Hagia Sophia may provoke active opposition, the Turkish authorities have to make concessions and...

A federal judge on Friday gave the government 30 days to start allowing American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and other Muslim inmates to hold group prayers outside their cells in a high-security prison in Indiana. In a seven-page order, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson said the Bureau of Prisons might have misconstrued her ruling seven months ago that granted Lindh’s request to hold group prayers in the Terre Haute federal prison’s Communications Management Unit, so she made her intent clear. “The warden is to allow group prayer during every Muslim prayer time for which the inmates are not confined to their...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Kqh8cTi34

SOME OF THE TRANSCRIPT Warning to Muslims who believe that the public space can be invaded without consequences. For a number of years, certain of you muslim gentlemen dare to regularly occupy the public space for your prayers. This occupation, as you well know, is illegal, and is, as we well know, a provocation and a demonstration of force designed to show your domination in certain parts of France and your contempt for our laws and the secular nature of our country.

Tuesday, June 1, 2004 11:04 p.m. EDT Same Judge OK'ed Muslim Prayer The same San Francisco federal judge who just overturned a federal law banning partial-birth abortions also approved of Muslim prayer in schools when federal rulings ban all other denominational prayers and activities. In a December 2003 decision, U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton decided that it was lawful for a California middle school teacher to require students to recite Muslim prayers, get down on their knees and role-play as Muslim adherents. As part of the class students were told to recite: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the...