The first Muslim college in America

Zaytuna College is the first Muslim college in the US; the college is currently seeking accreditation from accrediting bodies in the United States, as well as recognition from major educational institutions in the Muslim world, such as Egypt’s al-Azhar University. Its very existence in America repudiates notions of Islam as an exclusively Eastern ideology, and…

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Abraham’s progeny, and their texts

The sweep of the new exhibition at the New York Public Library — “Three Faiths: Judaism, Christianity, Islam” — is stunning. It stretches from a Bible found in a monastery in coastal Brittany that was sacked by the Vikings in the year 917, to a 1904 lithograph showing the original Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue….

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D.C. Metro terror suspect faces hearing

Federal authorities arrested Farooque Ahmed, a 34-year-old Pakistani American, this week for an alleged plot to bomb Metrorail stations in Northern Virginia. In court papers, they say Ahmed became a willing participant in the bombing plot. He conducted surveillance and reconnaissance and suggested ways to generate the most casualties, the papers say. FBI agents were…

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Islamophobia and Homophobia

Playing the homophobia card is costlier than playing the Islamophobia card. Or at least, the costs are more evenly spread across the political spectrum. Suppose Williams had said something hurtful to gay people instead of to Muslims. Suppose he had said gay men give him the creeps because he fears they’ll make sexual advances. NPR…

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Saudi’s Prince Alwaleed urges moving planned NYC mosque to respect 9/11 memory

In interview excerpts published by the Dubai-based Arabian Business magazine, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal was quoted as saying that moving the planned mosque, health club and cultural center would respect the memory of those killed in the 2001 attacks and allow American Muslims to choose a more suitable location. The comments are reportedly the prince’s…

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