By Alan Strathern
Oxford University Of all the moral precepts instilled in Buddhist monks the promise not to kill comes first, and the principle of non-violence is arguably more central to Buddhism than any other major religion. So why have monks been using hate speech against Muslims and joining mobs that have left dozens dead?
This is happening in two countries separated by well over 1,000 miles of Indian Ocean - Burma and Sri Lanka. It is puzzling because neither country is facing an Islamist militant threat. Muslims in both places are a generally peaceable and small minority.
Activist, 15
By Chelsea Clinton April 18, 2013
 People whose courage has been met by violence populate history. Few, though, are as young as Malala was when, at 15, a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus in northwestern Pakistan and shot her and two other girls, attempting to both kill Malala and, as the Taliban later said, teach a “lesson” to anyone who had the courage to stand up for education, freedom and self-determination, particularly for girls and women. Or as young as 11, when Malala began blogging for the BBC’s Urdu site, writing about her ambition to become a doctor, her fears of the Taliban and her determination to not allow the Taliban — or her fear — to prevent her from getting the education she needed to realize her dreams.
Malala is now where she wants to be: back in school. The Taliban almost made Malala a martyr; they succeeded in making her a symbol. The memoir she is writing to raise awareness about the 61 million children around the world who are not in school indicates she accepts that unasked-for responsibility as a synonym for courage and a champion for girls everywhere. However Malala concludes her book, her story so far is only just beginning.
Clinton is a special correspondent for NBC
(Interactive Timeline: Malala Yousafzai’s Extraordinary Journey)
Religion News Service | By Tracy Simmons Posted: 01/15/2013 6:32 am EST
SPOKANE, Wash. (RNS) The Spokane Islamic Center wants something mosques all across the country are seeking and can't seem to find: an educated, bilingual, experienced imam who understands American culture.
According to the report "The American Mosque 2011" by University of Kentucky professor Ihsan Bagby, half of all mosques in the U.S. have no full-time staff, and only 44 percent of imams work as paid, full-time leaders.
In Spokane, the Muslim community has been seeking a leader for 18 months and counting.
by All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board
CIP
January 14, 2013 In a clear message to the Government of Saudi Arabia, a big section of Indian Muslims today in Delhi demanded that the Saudi regime must sign a treaty with all the governments of the world and assure in clear terms that no damage will be done to the cultural heritage of Muslims and sacred signs of Islam in the Saudi kingdom.
This was communicated in a memorandum to the Embassy of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after a peace march at Jantar Mantar which was addressed by Maulana Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kichowchhwi, General Secretary of the All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board, and others.
Saudi Wahhabis Continue Assault on Islamic Heritage Saudi plans indicate that commercial ambitions outweigh the protection of the spiritual and cultural history of Islam.  Wahhabi extremists and property developers affiliated with the Saudi authorities are furthering plans to demolish the oldest sections of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the location to which all the world's Muslims turn in prayer. They apparently intend to remove features of the site dating back many centuries, such as columns placed in the Grand Mosque during the eighth century CE. Also, porticos designed by the legendary Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (c. 1489/1490-1588 CE), whose achievements, and those of his personal disciples, are found at many places in the Islamic culture area, from Bosnia-Hercegovina to India, are slated for destruction. Public dismay about the proposed wrecking, to be done under the pretext of renovation and modernization, has been notable. In response, the Imam and Friday preacher of the Grand Mosque, Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, a prominent Wahhabi fanatic and hatemonger, has promised that the areas of the Grand Mosque originating in the Abbasid Arab caliphate (750-1258 CE) and the Ottoman period of rule in Mecca and Medina would not be touched.
 A recent appearance by Pamela Geller on Russell Brand’s “BrandX” television program is an interesting and humorous example of just how the Islamophobes work.
Geller appeared on the program and posted her version of what happened in a WND article Russell Brand’s ugly jihad. The article was subtitled “Pamela Geller shares horror of appearing as ‘guest’ on actor’s talk show”. In the course of Geller’s lament she says: “I was prepared for a snake pit. I was prepared for a circus. But I wasn’t prepared for the pure evil that I was confronted with.” Geller expressed surprise that Brand was “obscene and profane”. She insinuates that the program set up an audience member with a sign, and called that person “a Muslim” who she said she “half expected to pull out a knife and try to behead me.” About Charles Davis she says: I learned after the fact that Charles Davis is an employee of Code Pink and writes for Al-Jazeera. If I had known that going in, I would have been more circumspect. As to Geller’s reference to Russell Brand as a “jihadist”, I’ll have to add this to our list of ridiculous “jihad plots”, she and her fellow Islamophobes turn up daily.
By Julienne Gage Saturday, 24 November 2012
Washington
For most Muslims, what happens to the body of a deceased person is not quite as important as what happens to that person’s soul. Still, historians of all backgrounds are scrambling to locate the body and belongings of a Muslim buried in Washington, DC nearly 200 years ago, for it touches the soul of early American history.
The deceased, Yarrow Mamout, was among tens of thousands – if not millions - of Muslims brought to America during the slave trade, but one of few for which historians have much information.
At the same time, however, only 30 percent of the public supports a ground attack in Gaza.  IDF soldiers covered in a talit read pray iIDF soldiers covered in a talit read pray in a staging area near the Israel Gaza Strip Border, southern Israel, Nov. 19, 2012. Photo by AP
 The grave Sidi al-Suwayri, Libya. "Where are the protests from the media, from the United Nations and UNESCO, from the so-called human rights groups, from the historical preservation societies?"
 Medina - Saudi Arabia is about to start expansion of Medina’s holy mosque Masjid an-Nabawi soon which may raze holy sites, possibly including Prophet Mohammad’s grave. Fundamentalist Muslims usually don’t waste a minute in labeling people of other faiths blasphemers when a piece of paper with text reprinted from Koran is burnt. But when people of their faith destroy the sacred sites, which are respected for their value due to association with caliphs and the Prophet, there is a notable silence on all sides.
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