ANTI-ROBBERY POLICY MAY BE ILLEGAL - TOPCredit Union Journal, 2/9/09
An Islamic civic rights group has asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Navy FCU violated a Muslim woman's civil rights when it denied her service because she was wearing a religiously-mandated head scarf, or hijab.The woman claims she was denied service at a Navy Fed's branch, despite telling CU officials that she wears her head scarf for religious reasons, according to CAIR, an Islamic civil rights advocacy group. "The woman has been banking there for four years and she's never had a problem," CAIR Spokesman Edgar Hopida, spokesman said.He said they sent a letter to the CU on the member's behalf and have filed a civil rights complaint with the local office of the FBI. "Under this bizarre and discriminatory policy, no Muslim woman wearing a head scarf, no Sikh man wearing a turban, no Jewish man wearing a yarmulke, no Catholic nun wearing a habit, no cancer survivor wearing a scarf, no Amish woman wearing a bonnet, and no blind person wearing sunglasses may enter a Navy Federal Credit Union branch nationwide," said Hopida.Navy Fed said in a statement, "In the interest of security and safety for our members and employees - hats, hoods and sunglasses must be removed when entering the branch office. Special consideration for cultural and religious garments is under the discretion of the branch management. Navy Federal is making inquiries into the recent incident."
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CA: MUSLIM INVESTORS PROFIT BY ADHERING TO FAITH - TOPMatthai Kuruvila, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/9/09
As credit markets have imploded, triggering a global economic crisis, Islamically correct investors have seen a change of fortune: The conservative principles this small group of devout Muslims clung to during the economic heyday has insulated them from the worst of the past year's suffering.
Their renunciation of the interest-based economy kept them away from investments in financial services companies, whose stocks have collapsed, and out of traditional mortgages.
"There was a time two or three years ago that Islamic finance was considered simply too conservative," said Professor Ibrahim Warde, author of "Islamic Finance in the Global Economy" and an adjunct professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "Right now, many people are recognizing that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing."
Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes, which represent benchmarks for Islamically correct investment categories, have been outperforming their non-Islamically compliant counterparts by 3 to 4 percent in key indexes. The two Amana Income and Growth funds, the largest Islamic mutual funds in the country with $1.2 billion in combined assets, have been outperforming the S&P 500 in the past year by 13 and 7 percent, respectively. (Both Amana funds also outperform the S&P index on 5- and 10-year comparisons.)
Bay Area residents who bought homes through an Islamically compliant lender in San Jose, the Ameen Housing Cooperative, don't have to worry whether their lender will work with them if they lose their jobs. Islamic lenders are required to work in good faith with distressed borrowers to figure out ways to make payments manageable - and co-op leaders say they will. (MORE)
-----OTTAWA RADIO STATION CHASTISED FOR COMMENTS ON MUSLIMS - TOPChris Cobb, Ottawa Citizen, 2/6/09A veteran open-line radio host in Ottawa contravened Canadian broadcasting standards when he made “abusive and discriminatory” remarks against Muslims, the national broadcast watchdog ruled Friday.
According to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, Lowell Green launched an “uninformed and unfair” attack when he told his CFRA audience in early December that the majority of Muslims are fanatics, and extremist behaviour is symptomatic of the religion, not just a radical minority. (MORE)
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GA: SCHOLAR SURVEYS ISLAM IN ATLANTA, FINDS DIVERSITY - TOPTrevor Williams, Global Atlanta, 2/6/09
The diverse Muslim community in Atlanta reflects the spirit embodied by President Obama, that a new page of inclusiveness has been turned in American history, an Islamic scholar said during a recent GlobalAtlanta interview.
The Georgia capital was the 50th out of 60 cities Akbar Ahmed is visiting as part of his “Journey Into America,” a yearlong trip to study attitudes about Islam throughout the U.S.
He and a team of assistants are conducting research, interviews and films to assess how Muslims feel about their life in the U.S. and how America’s lofty ideals of pluralism and cultural acceptance are holding up in the post-9/11 era.
Dr. Ahmed, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom, is on sabbatical from his position as Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic Studies at American University. The findings from his study will be compiled in a book and documentary film. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:UT: JEWISH AND MUSLIM CHILDREN JOIN IN SONG - TOPInterfaith music event unites hundredsJulia Lyon, Salt Lake Tribune, 2/8/09
Upset by killings in Mumbai last year and aware that innocent people were dying on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Alan Bachman set out to write a song about similarities.
He wanted to express how two groups that have a long history of conflict are descended from the same ancestor.
Months later, dozens of Muslim and Jewish children stood just feet from each other Sunday in the LDS Church Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and sang the same melody.
After the crowd applauded, Bachman spoke about his hope.
"You won't see that in too many cities," he said during the annual Interfaith music concert. "What happened in Utah must leave Utah and spread around the world."
The song, "Children of Abraham," has already begun to have an impact. For many of these children, singing together was the first time they had met a child of the opposite faith. They had learned of their common heritage and how stereotypes should not be believed. (MORE)-----

WHY THE MUSLIM WORLD CAN’T HEAR OBAMA - TOPAlaa Al Aswany, New York Times, 2/8/09
President Obama is clearly trying to reach out to the Muslim world. I watched his Inaugural Address on television, and was most struck by the line: “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers.” He gave his first televised interview from the White House to Al Arabiya, an Arabic-language television channel.
But have these efforts reached the streets of Cairo?
One would have expected them to. Mr. Obama had substantial support among Egyptians — more than any other American presidential candidate that I can remember. I traveled to America several days before the election. The Egyptians I met in the United States told me — without exception — that they backed Mr. Obama. Many Egyptians I know went to his Web site and signed up as campaign supporters.
In Cairo, which is seven hours ahead of Washington, some people I know stayed up practically all night waiting for the election results. When Mr. Obama won, newspapers here described Nubians — southerners whose dark skin stands out in Cairo — dancing in victory.
Our admiration for Mr. Obama is grounded in what he represents: fairness. He is the product of a just, democratic system that respects equal opportunity for education and work. This system allowed a black man, after centuries of racial discrimination, to become president. . .
We saw Mr. Obama as a symbol of this justice. We welcomed him with almost total enthusiasm until he underwent his first real test: Gaza. Even before he officially took office, we expected him to take a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza. We still hope that he will condemn, if only with simple words, this massacre that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians. (I don’t know what you call it in other languages, but in Egypt we call this a massacre.) We expected him to address the reports that the Israeli military illegally used white phosphorus against the people of Gaza. We also wanted Mr. Obama, who studied law and political science at the greatest American universities, to recognize what we see as a simple, essential truth: the right of people in an occupied territory to resist military occupation.
But Mr. Obama has been silent. So his brilliantly written Inaugural Speech did not leave a big impression on Egyptians. We had already begun to tune out. We were beginning to recognize how far the distance is between the great American values that Mr. Obama embodies, and what can actually be accomplished in a country where support for Israel seems to transcend human rights and international law. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:THE 44TH PRESIDENT MUSLIMS 'STILL WAITING' FOR RESULTS - TOP
Students, profs hope Obama will improve attitudes toward MuslimsCalum Davey, Daily Pennsylvanian, 2/9/09
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, "there has been a sense of fear about being a Muslim" in America, said Fariha Khan, associate director of the Asian American Studies program who teaches a class on Muslim identity in the United States.
For the last eight years under President George W. Bush, the USA PATRIOT Act - which carried the threat of wiretapping, random questioning and searches at airports - made life "a nightmare."
Obama's election and his first few weeks in office have offered many promises for America's Muslim community - promises that have raised expectations and leave many waiting to see how they will unfold.
The waiting started early. During the campaign, Khan said, she was disappointed with his response to being called a Muslim.
"I waited anxiously for him to say something," she said. And she is also "still waiting" for Obama to comment on the situation in Gaza. (MORE)
-----SOUTH FLORIDA PALESTINIANS SPEAK OUT FOR PEACE - TOPJaweed Kaleem, Miami Herald, 2/9/09
As shoppers lined up last month at Al Salam, a Jordanian-owned grocery and restaurant in Plantation, they locked eyes on the latest broadcasts from Al Jazeera of a nascent Gazan recovery. Markets were reopening with basic goods. Classes were resuming half-empty.
Across the street at the Palestinian-owned Middle East Fashion, a sense of distress pierced the air. Gazan rockets and Israeli airstrikes had broken a fragile cease-fire. The recent conflict, lasting 22 days, left a reported 1,300 Palestinians dead, half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died, including three civilians.
In this Little Arabia at University Drive and Sunrise Boulevard, a half-dozen Middle Eastern businesses have become the focal point for South Florida's growing population of 1,200 Palestinians and 28,000 Arabs, according to 2005-07 Census data.
Demographers say hundreds more Palestinians may list themselves as Jordanian or Syrian as many lived in neighboring Arab states before emigrating here. For them, Gaza, Palestine and Israel are not lines on a map, but real places that shape life from afar. (MORE)