New York City

Woman-led Muslim prayers held in NYC

Traditional Friday jum'ah prayers led by a woman at a mixed-gender service, hailed as an historic first for Islam, were held March 18 at the Synod House of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a progressive Episcopal institution in New York City. An angry crowd of protesters across street were restrained by helmeted police armed with automatic rifles. Al-Jazeera TV was on hand with cameras as Muslim scholar Amina Wadud lead the service for some 150 worshippers following a short sermon in which she said: "Men and women are both equally essential in creation, and therefore reciprocally responsible for our relationship with Allah." New York's Newsday pictured a protester outside the event with a sign reading "MAY ALLAH'S CURSE BE UPON AMEENA WADUD." Major Islamic organizations in New York were either silent on the event, or openly opposed to it. The city's most established Muslim women's organization, Women in Islam, came only as observers and did not participate in the prayer. But participants interviewed by Newsday were enthusiastic. Said Nasheet Zaman, 22, a college student who came down from Ithaca, NY, for the event: "I just want to be a part of history, I guess. I fully support the fact that Dr. Wadud, as a woman, in leading the prayer." (Newsday, March 19)

NYC: pro-woman Muslims face death threats

The planned March 18 woman-led traditional Friday prayers—hailed as an historic first for Islam—have been moved from a Soho art gallery to an undisclosed location where they will be open to an invitation-only list following a slate of death threats. One anonymous message to the gallery threatened to "blow you up." The prayers are to be led by Amina Wadud, author of Qur'an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman's Perspective, who remains defiant: "If there really exists a threat to my life, if my intentions and my heart remain focused on Allah, then I couldn't die in a better state. Life and death are not mine to determine."

Deportation for a dime bag

Linden Corrica, an immigrant father and husband from Guyana living in Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood, pleaded guilty to selling ten dollars worth of marijuana in exchange for a 20-day sentence in September 2003. But after serving his time at NYC's Rikers Island prison, he was transfered to an out-of-state federal detention facility to await deportation. Having exhausted all his appeals, he is now about to be deported—despite a psychiatric evaluation of the emotional problems his seven-year-old daughter has suffered since his detention.

Copwatch activists arrested in Bed-Stuy

Three members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement were arrested in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn while engaged in the legal monitoring of police activities. They have been falsely charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, assault on a police officer and obstructing governmental operations. (Our Time Press, reprinted by the NY Independent Press Association, Feb.

Yemeni sheikh convicted in NYC

Yemeni cleric Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, 56, faces up to 75 years behind bars after a Brooklyn federal jury found him guilty of five charges stemming from a conspiracy to support al-Qaeda and Hamas. ¨Today's convictions mark another important step in our war on terrorism,¨ U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said. (NY Post, March 11)

Manhattan's Soho stages historic breakthrough for Islam

In an event organized by the progressive Islamic organization Muslim Wake Up!, the traditional Friday prayers will be led March 18 by a woman, Amina Wadud, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

FBI harasses NYC activist

The anarchist scare that has hit New York since the January vandalism at two army recuiting stations has just escalated with the visit of two FBI agents to the home of a Brooklyn activist.

Fear in Grand Central Station

The NYPD has confirmed that an admittedly crude drawing of New York's Grand Central Station was found on a computer disk in the home of a suspect in the March 11, 2004 Madrid train station bombing. Authorities were quick to downplay the significance of the find, even as the media had a field day with it. Mouhannad Almallah, a Syrian arrested in Madrid March 24, was later released, but is still considered a suspect.

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