POLICE: 2 VANDALIZED MOSQUE - TOP
Two teens were arrested in last week's vandalism of an Islamic school in West Kendall. They allegedly planned the attack for months.
David Smiley, Miami Herald, 7/4/09

Miami-Dade police have charged two teens in the latest vandalism of a West Kendall mosque and school that has been targeted twice this year.

Michael Derek Lobo and Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Vaca, both 17, were arrested Thursday night at Killian Senior High School, according to a police affidavit.

The two are accused of walking onto the property of the Islamic School of Miami, 11699 SW 147th Ave., on the night of June 26 and smashing two windows on the school's west wall with an iron rod. They covered their faces while on the property and also slashed two tires of a 2003 Dodge van, according to their arrest reports.

Gonzalez-Vaca told police that the vandalism had been planned for months. He said “all Muslims are terrorists,” according to the report.

Police say the teens would have spray painted an expletive toward Muslims on the wall of the school, but the spray paint can they bought was missing a nozzle. Police say the teens threw the can onto the roof of an adjacent building, where it was later recovered…

Six months ago, the mosque was sprayed with 51 bullets that left broken windows and holes in the building's golden dome. In June 2005, unknown assailants used a large rock to shatter the door of the Islamic center, which draws 500 Muslims for Friday prayers and has a 250-student religious school.

The year before, the center's sign near Southwest 147th Avenue was defaced with a Nazi swastika and profanity. No arrests have been made in the prior vandalisms. (More)

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QUINN: ISLAM IS A "NEANDERTHAL RELIGION" THAT "ENSLAVE[S] BLACK PEOPLE" - TOP
Media Matters, 7/2/09

From the July 2 edition of Clear Channel's The War Room with Quinn and Rose:

Click here to hear the audio.

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CAIR-MN: MUSLIM GROUP URGES FIREWORKS RETAILERS TO PULL ANTI-ARAB PRODUCT FROM SHELVES - TOP
Group cites 'derogatory imagery'
Elizabeth Mohr, Pioneer Press, 7/3/09

"Run Hadji Run" fireworks are drawing the ire of a local Muslim advocacy group who say the pyrotechnic products are spreading racist images.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Friday made a public plea for retailers to pull the products off their shelves because of "derogatory imagery," according to Jessica Zikri, a spokeswoman for the council's St. Paul office.

On one side, the package contains cartoon depictions of men in Middle Eastern-style clothing riding camels, with a stealth bomber flying overhead. On another side is an image of Uncle Sam pulling the beard of a graying man in a turban.

"It looks like something that could have come out 50 or 60 years ago, but not today," Zikri said. "I guess it's just a signal that these anti-Arab sentiments are still out there. And we don't think they should be for sale." (More)

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CAIR-MN: RACIALLY OFFENSIVE FIREWORKS OFF WISCONSIN SHELVES - TOP
A Wisconsin retailer agreed to stop selling a line of fireworks after Minnesota Muslims protested that it's racist.
Jeff Strickler, Star Tribune, 7/4/09

Fireworks called Run Hadji Run were pulled off the shelves of a Wisconsin store after Minnesota Muslims complained that they were racist.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) said that the name and the packaging are demeaning. One side of the package has a drawing of Uncle Sam yanking the long beard of a man in traditional Muslim attire, while the other shows a Stealth bomber flying over a group of Arabs riding camels. In addition, "Hadji" is an honorific for those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca.

"I've seen other fireworks that I thought were pushing the line on being offensive, but this clearly went too far," Jessica Zikri, the communications director of CAIR-MN, said Saturday. "Hopefully, this will help keep other groups from being targeted this way." (More)

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MN: 'RUN HADJI RUN' FIREWORKS AT WIS. STORE NOT SO PATRIOTIC AFTER ALL - TOP
Emily Kaiser, City Pages, 7/6/09

A Wisconsin fireworks store got a different kind of explosion this Fourth of July weekend. While the state is used to Minnesotans flocking over the border to get fireworks illegal in their own state, the store was bombarded with angry customers and Muslim groups who said their "Run Hadji Run" fireworks were flat-out racist.

The $30 fireworks package features men in traditional Muslim attire riding camels as a fighter plane flies overhead. On the back of the package, Uncle Sam is yanking the beard of another man dressed in traditional Muslim attire. Apparently this company's idea of a real patriotic fireworks celebration is pretty offensive to everyone else with some common sense. The Wisconsin store under fire has since pulled the product from their store.

The product is manufactured by Red Rhino Fireworks, which still displays the product on their site. KSTP reports that they contacted the company, which claimed they hadn't sold the product in years.

Fireworks City, the Baldwin, Wis. store selling "Run Hadji Run" fireworks has since taken them off the shelf.

The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) welcomed the quick response from the business after they contacted them about the offensive product.

"We appreciate the quick response of the retailer to Muslim concerns and hope that everyone can enjoy the July 4th holiday in an inclusive environment," said CAIR-MN Communications Director Jessica Zikri in a statement. (More)

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GERMAN KILLING OF HEADSCARVED WOMAN AT COURT RAISES FEARS IN EUROPE -TOP
The killing of the Muslim woman raises many questions regarding inter-racial relationships and co-existence in Europe.
World Bulletin, 7/6/09

European Muslims faced another hate crime with killing of a headscarved woman by a German man in a court room on on July 1st, German and Egyptian media reported.

A 28-year old German man stabbed Egyptian national Marwa Sherbini 18 times in Dresden courthouse before she gives evidence against court appeal. (More)

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ANTI-ISLAMIC PARTY GAINS POPULARITY IN NETHERLANDS - TOP
Eric Westervelt, NPR, 7/6/09

Morning Edition, July 6, 2009 · The global economic crisis is fueling another surge in support for far-right candidates in some European countries. Parties running campaigns against immigrants and other ethnic groups made gains in recent European Parliamentary elections. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islamic, nationalist Freedom Party did better than expected.

Click here to listen to the story.

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ISLAMIC CHARITY FIRE 'DELIBERATE' - TOP
BBC, 7/6/09

The Glasgow branch of Islamic Relief has been badly damaged by a fire which police say was started deliberately.

Emergency services were called to the shop in Albert Drive, Pollokshields at about 0525 BST on Thursday.

Police are looking for two white males, aged between 18 and 25, in connection with the incident.

Representatives from Scotland's Muslim community have described the attack as "despicable" and have spoken of "the growing threat of Islamophobia". (More)

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MARVELS OF MUSLIM SCIENTISTS ON DISPLAY - TOP
Display shows contributions to astronomy, math and science
Shahzada Irfan, Houston Chronicle, 7/5/09

In the annals of aviation history, names such as the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh or Chuck Yeager come to mind. But what about Abbas Ibn Firnas?

Very few people know that this Muslim scholar tied himself to a feathered glider in Cordoba, Spain, in the ninth century and took the first piloted flight in history.

John H. Lienhard, a professor at the department of mechanical engineering and history at The University of Houston, acknowledges this flight in his award-winning work The Engines of Our Ingenuity.

A model of this flying machine is on display among many other artifacts at the exhibition Sultans of Science: 1,000 Years of Knowledge Rediscovered, at the Islamic Da’wah Center in Houston through Sept. 7.

The exhibit, which debuted last week, honors contributions of Muslim scientists from the eighth century to the 18th century, known as the Golden Era of the Islamic World. (More)

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NY: MUSLIM HOLIDAYS WORK WAY TO FOREFRONT IN SCHOOL SYSTEMS - TOP
Jonathan Monfiletto and Rebecca Croniser, Observer-Dispatch, 7/3/09

Utican Ashraf Elazzazi said while his three children learn about other religious and cultural traditions in their social studies classes, they rarely learn about Muslim customs.

They also must play a balancing act between academic and religious obligations during their holidays, when they still must attend school. Now, many Muslim communities, including New York City, are lobbying to add holy days to the school calendar.

“Our traditions aren't even mentioned or recognized,” said Elazzazi, secretary of the local Muslim Community Association. “I think it's our obligation to take a look at this and put it on their (school calendars),” he said.

The two holidays many Muslim communities are looking to add to the school calendar are:

* Eid al-Fitr, or the Festival of Breaking the Fast, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan.

* Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, which commemorates the prophet Ibrahim's faith in being willing to sacrifice his son. (More)

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140 SLAIN AS CHINESE RIOT POLICE, MUSLIMS CLASH IN NORTHWESTERN CITY - TOP
Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, 7/6/09

Reporting from Beijing -- China's worst ethnic violence in years broke out Sunday in the northwestern city of Urumqi, leaving 140 people dead and more than 800 injured, the state news agency Xinhua reported.

The unrest pitted Uighurs, a long-aggrieved Muslim minority, against the Han Chinese, who increasingly dominate the far-flung Xinjiang region. With the death toll climbing over the course of the day, the violence appeared to be far deadlier than that last year in the Tibetan region. (More)

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WHAT IF THE UIGHURS WERE CHRISTIAN RATHER THAN MUSLIM? - TOP
Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, 7/6/09

According to The New York Times this morning, violent clashes between Chinese government forces and Muslim Uighurs -- that country's long-oppressed minority -- have left at least 140 people dead and close to 1,000 injured. This incident in Western China highlights an important fact about America's "War on Terror."

Just imagine if the Uighurs were a Christian -- rather than Muslim -- minority, battling against the tyrannical Communist regime in Beijing, resisting various types of persecution, and demanding religious freedom. They would be lionized by America's Right, as similar Christian minorities, oppressed by tyrannical regimes, automatically are. Episodes like these -- where a declared Tyranny like China violently acts against citizens with whom we empathize -- are ones about which, in general, the American political class loves to sermonize. (More)

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MCKINNEY RELEASED, RETURNING TO UNITED STATES - TOP
Rhonda Cook, Larry Hartstein, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 7/6/09

Cynthia McKinney’s mom said she’s learned that her daughter is on the way home.

Leola McKinney said a friend who contacted the U.S. Embassy in Israel reported that the former congresswoman was released from Israeli custody and taken to Ben Gurion International Airport. (More)