Current Affairs

Good Will to All, With a Side of Soft-Serve – NYTimes.com

Good Will to All, With a Side of Soft-Serve – NYTimes.com. Inside, though, this Dairy Queen seems different from the 5,000 others lighting up the country’s summer nights. It has the standard freezer filled with Dilly Bars, and the black-and-white photographs evoking a past that includes the first Dairy Queen, in prison-centric Joliet, Ill., in 1940. But plaques and letters and children’s handwritten notes cover nearly every inch of available wall, all praising someone clearly without Pennsylvania Dutch roots; someone named Hamid.

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Inter-faith

9/11 Walks | A Simple Act of Hope and Courage

9/11 Walks | A Simple Act of Hope and Courage. Honor the countless victims of 9/11 and its aftermath with a simple act of hope and courage: Walk and talk kindly with neighbors and strangers, in celebration of our common humanity and in defiance of fear, misunderstanding and hatred.  Wouldn’t it be great if 9/11 became a day to reach over boundaries to connect with ‘the other’, the way Martin Luther King Day has become a day for community service?  It only takes a few people from one group or congregation to join a few from another to create a…

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Politics

NY Neighbors 9/11 – Calendar of Events

NY Neighbors 9/11. As the tenth anniversary of September 11th approaches, New Yorkers are looking for meaningful ways to commemorate the day. Across the City, groups are organizing events that reflect efforts to mourn their losses, honor sacrifices and continue to build a stronger city. As you browse this site, notice that the events are as diverse, vibrant and representative of the myriad backgrounds and perspectives as New York itself.

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Intra-faith

A Lifetime Between One Adhaan and One Salaat – City of Brass

Beliefnet Voices – Aziz Poonawalla – City of Brass. “When we are born adhaan is given but no salat. When we pass away salat is prayed but no adhaan. The adhaan given at the time of our birth is the adhaan for the salat prayed at the time of our death. That’s how short life is, the time between adhaan and salat. So hate none, love all, pray sincerely, forgive genuinely and pray your salats’ before the salat is prayed for you.”

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Intra-faith

Young Muslim-American Leaders on the Rise | USA | English

Young Muslim-American Leaders on the Rise | USA | English. This year marks the tenth anniversary of September 11, and as the tragic date draws closer, some surveys show Americans still remain conflicted over their views on the Muslim world.  The Arab Spring uprisings have raised a positive image of Muslims striving for democratic values, yet events like the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy and the contentious Peter King hearings only reiterate the fact that a negative spotlight still shines on the followers of the Islamic faith.  But these perceptions have not stopped Muslim Americans, specifically the youth, from taking the…

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Inter-faith

David Campbell and Robert Putnam: Islam and American Tolerance – WSJ.com

David Campbell and Robert Putnam: Islam and American Tolerance – WSJ.com. Consider the experience of two groups that are perceived positively by Americans today: Jews and Catholics. Americans rate Jews and Catholics more warmly than they do mainline Protestants, historically America’s religious establishment, and evangelical Protestants, the single largest religious group in the country. At the end of the scale opposite Jews and Catholics are Muslims, Mormons and Buddhists.

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Current Affairs

Isaac Osei, Taxi Driver in New York and Chief in Ghana – NYTimes.com

Just a great NYC story. Isaac Osei, Taxi Driver in New York and Chief in Ghana – NYTimes.com. By 7:30, Ms. Osei had taken her place in her thronelike office chair — she is the president of Napasei Taxi Management Corporation, after all — while Mr. Osei, who is vice president, took a more modest seat nearby. Then they prepared for the next 12 hours of fighting parking tickets, getting taxis inspected and helping drivers who came in to pick up their cash.  But the Oseis call this grueling schedule a vacation compared with the real holiday they have ahead.…

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Intra-faith

BBC – The Mourides of Senegal

BBC – BBC World Service Programmes – Heart And Soul, The Mourides of Senegal. Many of the African street sellers in cities like Paris or Rome are Mourides – members of a Senegalese Muslim brotherhood. It is a very organised and supportive movement that stresses the importance of work and wields great political and economic power in Senegal.

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