The Muslim Student Association @ UConn

U.S. officials are being advised in internal government documents to avoid referring publicly to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups as Islamic or Muslim, and not to use terms like jihad or mujahedin, which "unintentionally legitimize" terrorism.

The crater is two meters in length and 1.5 meters in width. (Al-Aqsa Online Photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A landslide at part of Al-Aqsa Mosque esplanade has sounded the alarm over the ongoing Israeli excavations near Islam's third holiest shrine.

Worshippers witnessed a crater at the esplanade as they were en route to the Friday prayer, Al-Aqsa Online reported Saturday, February 16.

The crater is two meters in length and 1.5 meters in width.

"I was cleaning the mosque's esplanade for the Friday prayers," said Ashraf Al-Sharyati, the driver of the mosque's cleaning vehicle.

"Suddenly, some bricks fell down at 10:00 a.m., creating a crater. We covered the big hole with wooden plans for worshippers' safety."

The landslide occurred near Al-Selsela (Chain) Gate and Qatibai Water Fountain at the mosque's western side.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the Muslims’ first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and it is the third holiest shrine after Al Ka`bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C., 01/21/08) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to urge their elected officials to immediately intervene to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

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GENEVA (AFP) - Israel's targeting of a Hamas government office which caused serious casualties at a nearby wedding party was a "war crime" and those responsible should be punished, a United Nations official said Saturday.

BARGUNA, Bangladesh (AP *) -- Survivors of a powerful cyclone that devastated Bangladesh and killed more than 2,400 people grieved and buried their loved ones Monday as they waited for aid to arrive.

In Galachipa, a fishing village along the coast in Patuakhali district, Dhalan Mridha and his family had ignored the high cyclone alert issued by authorities.

"Nothing is going to happen. That was our first thought and we went to bed. Just before midnight the winds came like hundreds of demons. Our small hut was swept away like a piece of paper, and we all ran for shelter," said Mridha, a 45-year-old farm worker, weeping.

On the way to a shelter, Mridha was separated from his wife, mother and two children. The next morning he found their

Bloodied victims were dragged from the wreckage of the multi-storey structure. (Reuters)

GAZA CITY — At least six Palestinians were killed and scores others injured on Thursday, May 17, in a barrage of Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, drawing threats of reprisal inside Israel.

Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a car in the Sufa area, one of the crossing points between Israel and the southern Gaza Strip, killing three people inside, a Palestinian security official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The latest air strike, the fourth, brought to six the number of Palestinian killed by Israel Thursday.

The first raid destroyed a Hamas-run Executive Force compound in the heart of Gaza, killing one Palestinian.

As bloodied victims were dragged from the wreckage of the multi-storey structure, medical officials said at least 45 people, including two women, were wounded.

Shortly after, another strike targeted a car carrying Hamas activists, killing a senior commander.

A house was hit in later strikes also killing on Hamas resistance fighter.

"We are going to hit all those who are implicated in the firings and the production of rockets," Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told the army radio shortly before the air strikes began.

On Wednesday, May 16, Israeli air strikes on Hamas facilities in Gaza killed five people.

Meanwhile, about 15 Israeli tanks advanced into the Gaza Strip Thursday and deployed a battery of 155mm artillery along the strip border.

"Israeli tanks advanced between one and two kilometers inside the Gaza Strip in the area of the former settlement of Dugit," a Palestinian security official said.

Muslims are encouraged to cut the middle man and consider running their own farms. (IOL photo)

NEW YORK — American Muslims, like Muslim minorities in the West, concern themselves with eating halal meat, which usually focused on slaughtering animals according to Shari`ah.

Discovering more about what animals are being fed before being shipped to slaughterhouses, whether Islamic or not, many Muslims are wondering what the term halal meat really implicates.

"I don’t think artificial means should be used to fatten up animals," Amina Khan, an alarmed 30-year-old housewife, told IslamOnline.net.

"It is unnatural."

In the United States, it is common to feed chickens, turkeys, pigs and cows the blood, bone and unwanted flesh of farm animals mixed into their regular animal feed.

Most animals today are injected with hormones for them to grow large in short periods of time and are being intensively raised in small pens, cages and feedlots.

"It was terrible and filthy," said Zeenat Sultana, a 40 year-old school teacher, after watching a news segment showing chickens living in cramped conditions in dirty cages on an American factory farm.

Assalamu Alaikum Brothers and Sisters,

The MSA would like to invite you and everyone to the "Creation of the Universe" event. The event provides a scientific argument supporting the truth of the creation and refuting the theories of unguided evolution.

By Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press - Source: StarTribune.com

DETROIT — Speaking in Dearborn, Mich., late Sunday night, the first Muslim elected to Congress told a cheering crowd of Muslims they should remain steadfast in their faith and push for justice.

"You can't back down, you can't chicken out, you can't be afraid, you got to have faith in Allah, and you got to stand up and be a real Muslim," Detroit native Keith Ellison said to loud applause.

"Allahu akbar" — God is great — was the reply of many in the crowd.

Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat elected to the U.S. House, has been the center of a national debate in recent weeks over Islam and its role in politics. Ellison has said he would take his oath of office on the Quran, the Muslim holy book, igniting a storm of criticism from some commentators. And Rep. Virgil Goode, a Republican from Virginia, said in a letter to constituents this month that the election of Ellison and other Muslims poses a danger to the country.

Presidential appointee says Quran oath 'undermines American civilization'

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/4/06) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for the removal of a presidential appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council because of his intolerant views toward Islam in American society.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged that talk show host and columnist Dennis Prager be removed from the taxpayer-supported museum's council because of a recent syndicated column in which he wrote that Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, should be prevented from taking his oath of office using the Quran.