May 21, 2012
A big religious feeling deserves a big house of worship. Algeria is set to get its own mega-mosque with the tallest minaret in the world.
Almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower, the $1.3-billion mosque will stand on 20 hectares of land and will be capable of hosting 120,000 worshippers within its prayer room. Its minaret will soar 270 meters high.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he wanted to “leave his mark” and enter history with this epic building.
The construction is currently underway in the city of Algiers, as the foundations began to be laid on Sunday. The building is due to be completed in 2015. China State Construction Engineering Corporation will build the mega-mosque, Al Arabiya reports.
It will also feature a library containing one million books and manuscripts, a museum and a research center.
The new mosque will be one of the world’s largest. Only those in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina, one in Iran’s Mashhad and one in Bhopal, India are capable of welcoming more worshippers. One of Europe’s biggest mosques is situated in Grozny, Russia’s Chechen Republic.
The world’s highest mosque resides on the 158th floor of the tallest manmade structure – the 830-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The world’s tallest mosque is currently the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. Its minaret is 210 meters tall. The Prophet’s Mosque in the city of Medina is 105 meters high.
Source: http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/chinese-algeria-tallest-largest-mosque-785/
May 20, 2012
The Associated Press
(AP) ISLAMABAD – Pakistan blocked the social networking website Twitter for much of Sunday because it refused to remove tweets considered offensive to Islam, said one of the country’s top telecommunications officials.
Continue reading ‘Pakistan blocks Twitter over anti-Islamic material’
BY TIM TOWNSEND
ttownsend@post-dispatch.com
Friday, May 18, 2012
When Adil Imdad’s 28-year-old cousin died of cancer in Ohio two years ago, the family’s grief was compounded by the absence of Muslim ritual following her death. There was no imam nearby to handle the religious customs that were called for. There was no Muslim funeral director to supervise the washing of the body in the appropriate way. And there was no Muslim cemetery where the family could lay her to rest.
Imdad, an environmental and geotechnical engineer in St. Louis, also was disturbed by the funeral costs. He found that in St. Louis, Muslim families — many of them newly arrived immigrants and refugees — couldn’t afford the $5,000 and $7,000 for burial services.
So he began taking night classes at St. Louis Community College, graduating last spring with a certificate of specialization in funeral directing. As Imdad awaits his state licensing exam next month, he is hosting a fundraiser this evening at Daar-ul-Islam mosque, 517 Weidman Road, to raise money for what he says will be Missouri’s first Muslim funeral home.
Continue reading ‘Muslim funeral home will be first in area’
By Jeffrey Fleishman,
Los Angeles Times
May 18, 2012
CAIRO — A mechanic hammered a fender and boys wandered amid tin and rust as Adham Bishr, his opinions flaring on an agitated afternoon along the Nile, said Egypt’s next president should give him a job, not tell him how to worship God.
Continue reading ‘For many in Egypt, the presidential vote is not about Islam’
By Lisa Bryant
May 16, 2012
PARIS, France – War crimes tribunals in The Hague are hearing cases against former Bosnian-Serb military commander Ratko Mladic and former Liberian president Charles Taylor.
Radko Mladic is facing 15 charges:
Continue reading ‘Mladic Goes on Trial for War Crimes’
May 16, 2012
By ERIC BELLMAN
JAKARTA—American pop star Lady Gaga will likely have to cancel her Indonesian concert scheduled for next month after police declined to give the necessary permit following protests by some Islamic groups who say she dresses provocatively.
Though the June 3 “Born This Way Ball” concert had already sold out of its more than 50,000 tickets, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said the event had been denied the police permit necessary for such a large gathering.
Continue reading ‘Lady Gaga gagged in Indonesia after Islamic opposition’
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published May 14, 2012
A New York police officer seeking to rename a Harlem street for a cop gunned down inside a Manhattan mosque 40 years ago was told by local leaders to seek the blessing of area Muslims.
Continue reading ‘NYPD officer told to get Muslim leaders’ blessing to honor cop killed in mosque’
May 15, 2012
This event is meant to spread awareness of the ongoing hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. This is both a protest against the NEED for hunger strikes as a form of resistance to the Israeli occupation and a show of support in solidarity with the Palestinian hunger strikers.
Continue reading ‘Rally in Support of Palestinian Human Rights and Remembering Nakba Day’
by Linah Alsaafin on Sun, 05/13/2012
In Defense of Human Dignity
The General Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Palestine calls upon all Palestinians and those in solidarity with their cause throughout the world, to stop whatever they are doing for 10 minutes at 12 pm Jerusalem time (9am GMT) on Monday, May 14th, 2012, On the Twenty-Eighth Day of the Open Ended Hunger Strike of Palestinian Prisoners in Israeli Jails, leave their homes, cars, and workplaces and take a collective stand in solidarity with the ongoing Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike.
Continue reading ‘International Action Day for Palestinian Prisoners Hunger Strike on 14 May’
May 13, 2012
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A bill designed to prevent Kansas courts or government agencies from making decisions based on Islamic or other foreign legal codes has cleared the state Legislature after a contentious debate about whether the measure upholds American values or appeals to prejudice against Muslims.
The Senate approved the bill Friday on a 33-3 vote. The House had approved it, 120-0, earlier in the week. The measure goes next to Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, who hasn’t said whether he’ll sign or veto the measure.
Continue reading ‘Kansas lawmakers pass anti-Islamic law measure’
May 12, 2012
By ANTOINETTE KELLY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
An Irish American U.S. military officer who had been teaching that Islam in general is America’s enemy has had his class canceled.
Continue reading ‘Irish American officer stopped from teaching that Islam is America’s enemy’
May 12, 2012
By Al Arabiya with Agencies
A panel of federal judges grilled Justice Department lawyers on Friday over the U.S. government’s “no-fly” list, questioning whether those barred from commercial air travel for suspected terrorism ties are given any realistic avenue for appeal.
Continue reading ‘Muslim Americans on ‘no fly’ list take on U.S. government in lawsuit’
May 11, 2012
By Kari Huus, msnbc.com
Emerging details of inflammatory anti-Islam materials used in U.S. military training have prompted a chorus of outrage from civil rights and American Muslim groups, and growing demands for the dismissal of military leaders associated with the course, and for other actions to address the issue.
Continue reading ‘Outrage, calls for action over anti-Muslim materials in military training’
May 10, 2012
By Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman
The U.S. military taught its future leaders that a “total war” against the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims would be necessary to protect America from Islamic terrorists, according to documents obtained by Danger Room. Among the options considered for that conflict: using the lessons of “Hiroshima” to wipe out whole cities at once, targeting the “civilian population wherever necessary.”
Continue reading ‘U.S. Military Taught Officers: Use ‘Hiroshima’ Tactics for ‘Total War’ on Islam’
May 10, 2012
FORT LAUDERDALE —
Toddlers may be jokingly called terrors when they hit the “terrible twos,” but one little girl’s parents said their daughter was accused of being an actual terrorist.
Continue reading ’18-month-old baby on no-fly list ordered off plane’
May 8, 2012
Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid.
President, Islamic Leadership Council of Metropolitan New York
Muslims first arrived in this country while the United States was in its infancy. Thousands of Muslim slaves were brought here from Africa and worked on southern plantations. Today, there are as many as nine million Muslims in the United States, in all parts of the country. We are doctors, lawyers and police officers. We are active participants in cities, towns and villages, sitting on city councils and school boards, volunteering for civic groups and coaching Little League teams. We are of all races. Some of us were born here, others came in search of a better life for our children. We are Americans.
Continue reading ‘In Fighting Terrorism, NYPD Must Treat Muslim Americans Like Partners, Not Suspects’
Last Modified: 08 May 2012
In a show of solidarity for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, hundreds of people have taken to the streets in the West Bank.
Tuesday’s protests in Ramallah come as a hunger strike by almost 2,000 prisoners enters its fourth week.
Continue reading ‘Ramallah holds rally for jailed Palestinians’
Story By AZPM Staff
May 7, 2012
By Britain Eakin, Reporter Intern, Arizona Public Media
Some young Muslims in the U.S. feel afraid to be identified with their religion, says a psychologist who works with Muslim youth.
Continue reading ‘U.S. Muslim Teens Facing Identity Questions’
May 8, 2012
By Syndicated columns
By Arsalan Iftikhar
Watch for Mitt Romney to play the anti-Muslim card against President Obama.
During the primaries, several Republican candidates pandered to their nativist constituencies by mouthing anti-Muslim slurs.
Continue reading ‘Mitt Romney should avoid pandering to anti-Muslim sentiments in his criticisms of Barack Obama’
By Carey Gillam
KANSAS CITY, Missouri | Fri May 4, 2012
(Reuters) – A Kansas City woman who converted from Christianity to Islam has been awarded $5 million in punitive damages by a jury who found the telecommunications giant AT&T created a “hostile work environment” after her conversion, according to a judge’s order issued Friday.
Continue reading ‘Muslim woman wins $5 million verdict from AT&T for discrimination’
