(Note:  The American Muslim is not and never has been in any way affiliated with the Muslim American Society or their publication. Since 2001 they have gone by a remarkably similar title, however we are proud to be the original, published in print or online since 1989.)

RAMADAN

The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) have used a Shar’ia compliant method to determine the 2010 Ramadan and Eid calendars.  On behalf of FCNA and ECFR, ISNA announces the first day of Ramadan to begin on Wednesday August 11, 2010 and Eid ul-Fitr will be Friday September 10, 2010.

CAIR has released a TEACHABLE MOMENT COMMUNITY RESPONSE GUIDE - Guidance for Local Communities to Respond to Challenges & Opposition which offers guidance, tools and resources to help Muslim communities respond to specific current events such as the end of Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holiday occurring near September 11, the upcoming “Burn a Koran Day” by a church in Florida, the anti-Muslim bigotry generated by the smear campaign against a planned Islamic community center in Manhattan, and the ongoing tension and misunderstanding surrounding the building or expansion of mosques nationwide.

  -  There are many items listed in our ACTION section that allow individuals to take a stand on important issues.  Some of these issues of importance to the Muslim community have very surprisingly received little attention.  We update this with new action alerts regularly.

“Do not be people without minds of your own, saying that if others treat you well you will treat them well, and that if they do wrong you will do wrong to them. Instead, accustom yourselves to do good if people do good and not to do wrong (even) if they do evil.”
          —Muhammad, son of Abdullah, may peace and the blessings of God be upon him

We will make every effort to post news and articles of particular concern to Muslims in America and the West.  The most recent will be at the top of the page.

Previous news items are here

ISLAMOPHOBIA - RESPONSES TO ISLAMOPHOBIA AND EXTREMISM
NOTE:  We have had as part of our Muslim Voices against Terrorism and Extremism resources a section on responses to Islamophobia.  This was in five parts:  - Responses to Claims Made ABOUT Islam and Muslims in General - Responses to Claims Made ABOUT Qur’an Verses, Arabic Terms, Prophet Muhammad - Responses to False Claims ABOUT Muslim Individuals & Organizations & Incidents Involving Muslims - Responses to Actual Extremist Statements & Incidents of Extremism or violence BY Muslims - Responses to Claims Made BY Specific Individuals and Organizations About Muslims.  Because of a restriction in the possible length of articles, we were unable to organize these in a more user-friendly manner.  Our webmaster has now resolved this problem, and we have combined all these five sections into one section.  The entries are alphabetical, and it should now be much easier to locate a response to a particular issue, incident, or individual.  In order to keep load time down for our readers, this single resource will still be divided into two sections:  A to L, and M to Z.  A Control-F search for the name, subject, or incident should help you navigate this new section easily.  Every attempt has been made to cross reference as much as possible. Sheila Musaji 3/5/2010.

If you are on FACEBOOK you can now follow The American Musim networked blog by clicking HERE

ARTICLES BY SHEILA MUSAJI

BOOK REVIEWS ON TAM  -  If there is a book you feel strongly about and it is not listed here as already having a review written, please write a review and send it along to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) 

MUSLIMS DENOUNCE TERRORISM - Simply click on this logo on the homepage to go to a lengthy collection of Muslim denunciations of terrorism, extremism, and violence.  Also includes collections of responses to claims about Islam and Muslims, resources about Islamophobia, and general resources on many topics.  If you would like to place this icon on your website, please contact us and we will send you the artwork file.  We have had a quantity of these made up in “Euro-style” 4 X 6” oval bumper stickers.  We would like to have these seen on cars everywhere, and so are making them available at the best price possible.  Contact us to purchase these at $1 each. 

Articles from print issues of TAM going online.  You may have noticed that we have been able to get volunteers to help get all of the old articles from the print issues of TAM scanned, retyped, and edited, and are working hard to get these online a few at a time.  Wherever you see an * after an article that is one of the old issues from 1989 to 1995.  What is fascinating is how many are still relevant.

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THE GOLDEN RULE
— Brahmanism: This is the sum of duty: Do naught unto others which would cause you pain if done to you.: Mahabharata 5:1517
— Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful.: Udana Varga 5:18
— Christianity: All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.: Matthew 7:12
— Confucianism: Surely it is the maxim of loving-kindness: Do not unto others that you would not have them do unto you.: Analects 15:23
— Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother what which he desires for himself. Sunnah
— Judaism: What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowmen. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.: Talmud, Shabbat 31:a
— Taoism: Regard your neighbor’s gain as your own gain, and your neighbor’s loss as your own loss.: T’ai Shag Kan Ying P’ien
— Zoroastrianism: That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good: for itself. : Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5

FINANCIAL COST OF WARS IN IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN