As 9/11 and the end of Ramadan approaches, American Muslims are taking a number of unique precautions, including boosting security at mosques, airing ads declaring their allegiance to the U.S. and seeking help from other faith leaders, the AP reports. They’re even going to the Minnesota State Fair, don’t yah know?
Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan warned on Tuesday that a Florida church’s plan to burn Qurans on 9/11 could endanger U.S. troops and civilians worldwide. To wit: thousands of Indonesians protested outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta to protest the burning. Pastor Terry Jones of The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, who planned the burning, said “We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it.”
Also seeking the spotlight is one Bill Keller, an Internet evangelist (also from Florida), who has begun holding services near Ground Zero to preach against Islam. In Tennessee, law enforcement is pretty sure the Murfreesboro mosque fire was arson, and the LA Times takes a long look into a small-town mosque attended by assimilated Muslims that is perplexed by new, local Islamophobia.
A broad coalition of faith leaders is meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder today to discuss steps the Justice Department can take to quell the recent wave of anti-Muslim hate crimes. Another coalition, convened by the Islamic Society of North America, is meeting today in Washington.
The imam behind the proposed Islamic center in lower Manhattan is back in the U.S. and will comment on the controversy later this week, his wife said.
Pope Benedict XVI doesn’t arrive in England until Sept. 16, but already the country, especially its media, is all atwitter about … nothing, really. The pope will probably meet with sex abuse victims, though, as he has during several previous excursions. A Church of England vicar was sentenced to four years in jail for overseeing hundreds of sham marriages.
A Malaysian television station scrapped a commercial tied to the biggest Muslim holiday of the year (Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan) because it was too Christmas-y. Israeli politicians are considering moving the country off daylight savings time between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur so as to hasten sundown and make fasting a little easier. More Americans are buying kosher food because they think it’s safer, NPR reports.
Officials at the University of California, Irvine upheld the suspension of a Muslim student group that protested a speech by Israel’s ambassador.