Free Republic

Multiple people were shot during a Ramadan event in Philadelphia on Wednesday (April 10) afternoon. Police arrested numerous people and recovered several guns at the scene. At least one police officer fired their weapon. Officials have not said how many people were injured in the shooting. According to WPVI, hundreds of people were gathering to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, when shots rang out. The area was littered with chairs and tables that were left abandoned as people fled the area.

A top commander in southwest Asia reminded U.S military personnel stationed in Muslim countries in the Middle East of the restrictions placed on them during Ramadan. According to a report by the U.S. Air Forces Central Command Public Affairs, Brig. Gen. John Quintas, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing commander in Southwest Asia, said that the U.S. is "committed to the concepts of tolerance, freedom and diversity." But he added that soldiers should "become more informed and appreciative of the traditions and history of the people in this region of the world... [R]emember we are guests here and that the host nation...

Posted on Sat, Oct. 09, 2004 Teaching Ramadan in public schools Accurate lessons in demand after 9/11 By HOLLY LEBOWITZ ROSSI Religion News Service During the next few weeks, multicultural trainer Afeefa Syeed will bring third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students from a Muslim academy in Herndon, Va., to nearby public schools to share the practices and beliefs of their holiest month, Ramadan. Syeed and the children will present the call to prayer in Arabic, display prayer rugs and offer tastes of dates. In countless other classrooms across the country, similar efforts will be made to educate students about the time...

Sydney's leading Muslim cleric has told followers to "shape up or ship out" in the wake of a series of crimes that have embarrassed the Islamic community. In an address marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly also made a veiled criticism of the Prime Minister, John Howard, with whose foreign policy he disagrees. "Australia is our compassionate mother," the Mufti told about 20,000 faithful who gathered yesterday morning at Lakemba Mosque. "I say to every person living in Australia, from the person in the highest office down to the ordinary man on...

...Yet it would be wrong for the United States to conclude, as its enemies no doubt hope it will, that the time has come to embrace an exit strategy. There is no basis to believe that the U.S. goals of stabilizing Iraq under a representative government cannot be achieved. In much of the country there is little violence and coalition authorities have the support of most of the population. Even in Baghdad, there has been measurable progress in recent months: More power is on, the curfew is lifted, streets and shops are usually full. Most important, the coalition authority and...