Ivory Coast: Fight Against Female Circumcision Goes to Mosque
In certain parts of Africa, female genital mutilation (FGM) has been linked to religion, with Muslim communities mistakenly believing that the practice is a religious requirement. But in Côte d’Ivoire, religion is also being put at the service of fighting FGM. El Hadj Kassoum Traoré, an imam at a small mosque in Belleville — one […]
Letter Welcomes Opening of CAIR-NV
To the editor:Thank you for your story about the Council on American-Islamic Relations that appeared on the cover of the Nevada section of Sunday’s Review-Journal. I hope it interests your readership in using CAIR as a resource in learning more about Islam from actual Muslims, and to put a “human” face on what has been […]
MA: ‘Islamo-Fascism’ a Lazy, Simplistic Analogy
If language is a window on the world, a deliberate smudging of that window will make it harder to see the world clearly and comprehend it. So it is with the highly ideological term “Islamofascist,” a label that is being wielded as a blunt weapon in a left-right debate and has been carelessly bandied about […]
CA: Studying Islam for a More Peaceful World
Despite popular assertions that religion is at the root of the world’s problems as at no other time in recent history, closer study reveals that it is not religion per se that is plaguing the world but the misunderstanding of religion. Positing a divide between Islam and the West, or the religious and the secular, […]
CA: Center for Islamic Studies Opens Doors
When students – Muslim, Christian or Jewish – come to his classes on Islam, professor Munir Jiwa expects tough questions. “They are not apologetic,” he said. “But when bringing up divisive issues in class, it is in the spirit of learning to work with people different from themselves.” California’s largest seminary has long nurtured such […]
CAIR-NY Urges Support for Torture Victim
(NEW YORK, N.Y., 11/6/2007) – The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today urged the Muslim American community and all people of conscience to support torture victim Maher Arar and stand against the practice of rendition under the guise of national security. Arar, a Canadian citizen who entered the United States […]
Pakistani-Americans Concerned About State of Emergency
Washington D.C., November 4, 2007 – The Pakistani American Leadership Center (PAL-C) is gravely concerned about the proclamation of a state of emergency by the government of Pakistan and the subsequent suspension of the Constitution, suppression of the news media, and detaining of lawyers, politicians, human rights activists and others. While PAL-C respects the right […]
CAIR-CAN: Muslim Students Still Without Permanent Space
Muslim students at McGill are still without a formal prayer space, after being evicted from the basement of Peterson Hall in 2005.Sana Saeed, the external relations coordinator of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), explained that many Muslim students require prayer space.“As Muslims, praying is more than an integral part of our lives. We have five […]
Canada: Muslim Suspect Freed on Bail
A 44-year-old once described as the spiritual mentor of the alleged “Toronto 17” terrorist group was granted bail yesterday, bolstering supporters’ hopes that the case is weaker than the Crown has said it is. Since his arrest in June, 2006, Abdul Qayyum Jamal, a Mississauga labourer, had frequently been portrayed as a Svengali figure who […]
Canada: Raising the Veil on Harper’s Bill
Canadians could be forgiven for thinking veiled Muslim women pose an urgent threat to the integrity of our electoral system after Prime Minister Stephen Harper made one of his first priorities in the fall sitting of Parliament a bill to force voters to show their faces at the polls. But there is not one shred […]