June 19th, 20180As the Arab and Muslim worlds were ending a month of blessed fasting, observing the most holy month in Islam and getting ready to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, there isn’t much to celebrate there— a region engulfed in bloodshed and complicated conflicts among brothers and neighbors.
In Gaza, a real massacre engulfing the besieged Strip...
June 15th, 20181The author of the Declaration of Independence had sought to protect not just Christians, but Americans of all faiths.
After last year’s deliberate break with tradition, President Trump has resumed the iftar dinner—the sundown meal during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. An estimated 3.3 million American Muslims celebrate...
June 14th, 20180GAZA ― Israel’s killing of at least 125 Palestinians during protests at the Gaza border is casting a shadow in the enclave on its celebration of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Economic hardship arising from years of blockades, conflict and internal political rivalries has also...
June 10th, 20180
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — The run-up to Amazon Prime Day, the e-commerce giant’s big July sales promotion, overlaps with Ramadan, 30 sacred days during which many observant Muslims fast and seek time off.
That’s creating tension in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region, where activists say Amazon.com Inc. employs more than...
June 9th, 20180DEARBORN – Local officials in Wayne County hosted several iftars for area Muslims.
Wayne County Executive Warren Evans hosted his annual iftar for county Muslim leaders at the Grapevine Restaurant in Canton.
Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly held two iftar dinners at Habib’s Cuisine, one for heads of local Arab and Muslim...
June 9th, 20180FLINT, Michigan — U.S Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint), along with his congressional staff in Washington, D.C., fasted Wednesday June 6 in solidarity with Muslims in Michigan and around the world in observance of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month of fasting during which Muslims may not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.
This will be the...
June 8th, 20181WASHINGTON, D.C. — After declining to mark Ramadan last year with a traditional iftar dinner, which breaks the daily fast during the Islamic holy month, the White House held one Wednesday night with a few dozen guests, many of them ambassadors from Muslim nations.
Meanwhile, some Islamic groups that were not invited, led by the...
June 5th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Dan Kildee (D-Flint), along with his congressional staff in Washington, D.C., will fast in solidarity Wednesday with Muslims in Michigan and around the world in observance of Ramadan. Ramadan is a holy month of fasting during which Muslims may not eat or drink from sunrise to sunset.
This will be the...
June 2nd, 20180The Pew Research Center has found that 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say they observe Ramadan by fasting during daylight hours. More of the U.S.’s 2.15 million Muslim adults say they do this than say that they pray five times a day (42 percent) or attend mosque weekly (43 percent). More Muslim women say they observe Ramadan in this way...
June 1st, 20180DEARBORN — Farah, a 9-year-old girl flaunting a colorful dress, proudly hands a drawing she made to a woman who’d just gifted her a toy doll.
Farah, whose name translates to “joy” in Arabic, said she loves drawing and would someday day like to teach art. Mohammed, her 6-year-old brother, sports a black bandana. He’s...
May 25th, 20180Party City said it's become the first national retailer to offer a dedicated line of decorations for Ramadan, after numerous requests from customers.
Ramadan began on May 16 and ends at on June 14, kicking off the start of the day-long Eid al-Fitr celebration.
The chain, which has more than 900 stores in the United States and...
May 25th, 20182The United States’ first iftar took place at the home of the third president.
In 1805, the month of Ramadan fell in December. Far from his friends, family and home, one Tunisian man was attempting to observe it in Washington, D.C. This was the statesman Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, who was spending six months in the United States, on...
May 25th, 20180By Sarah Kominek
DEARBORN— During the holy month of Ramadan, merchants and community organizations in Dearborn are motivated to be charitable, but they also help the less fortunate throughout the year.
Local merchants deal with the infrequent occurrence of begging, which happens year round, not just during Ramadan.
Danya Saed,...
May 18th, 20180By Farah Harb
The Arab American News
KUWAIT — With Islam being the country’s official religion, Kuwait’s traditions and religious affairs are intertwined, and that especially shows during the month of Ramadan.
Because Kuwait’s weather in the summer can go as high as 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 Celsius), the...
May 18th, 20180DEARBORN — Celebrating Ramadan in the U.S. doesn’t come as naturally as it does in Muslim-majority countries. From fasting during long summer days to lackluster holiday cheer and enduring anti-Muslim sentiments, Muslim Americans have to try just a little harder throughout Islam’s holiest month.
Samar Baydoun Bazzi, a 29-year-old...
May 11th, 20180DETROIT — On Thursday, May 10, the Wayne County Commission approved a resolution introduced by Commission Chairman Gary Woronchak (D-Dearborn) recognizing the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins May 16.
Woronchak continued a tradition he established several years ago of commemorating the start of Ramadan each year with a...
October 27th, 20170DEARBORN – In the Southend of Dearborn, across the street from the first mosque constructed in Michigan, a restaurant hangs a United States flag above a red, white and green flag. Although it may surprise some, the flag is not Lebanese, Jordanian or Palestinian.
It’s Italian.
“Our cultures aren’t very different,” Robert...
July 7th, 20170By Afaf Humayun
DETROIT — Since 2013, the Detroit-based company LaunchGood has been providing the international Muslim community with a unique way to reclaim its narrative through charitable online giving.
"There is so much misinformation about Muslims and Arabs out there that it's a way for us to take things into our own hands,"...
June 30th, 20170LANSING — On election night last November, Dearbornites celebrated a triumph. Abdullah Hammoud, 27, became the first Arab Muslim male to represent the city in the state legislature.
He told The AANews he felt relieved to win the race, but knew that struggle still lay ahead because "Trump might win Michigan."
Donald Trump not only...
June 19th, 20170
LONDON ― A van plowed into worshipers near a London mosque in the early hours of Monday, injuring 10 people, two of them seriously, in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a sickening, terrorist attack on Muslims.
The vehicle swerved into a group of mainly North and West African people shortly after midnight as they left...
June 19th, 20171HERNDON, VA-A body found Sunday afternoon in a pond in the 21500 block of Ridgetop Circle in Sterling, Virginia, is 17-year-old girl Nabra Hussein from Reston, Virginia, who was reported missing in the area hours earlier.
Police discovered a female body in the pond about 3 p.m. The pond is 2 to 3 miles away from the original...
June 18th, 20170DETROIT — Each Ramadan, many non-Muslims admire their friends, neighbors and co-workers' willingness to fast.
The communal effect fasting has on Muslim populations is another dimension of Ramadan to which many have become attuned.
Even Hyundai CEO Mong Hyun Yoon, amazed at his Muslim workers' ability to abstain from food and...
June 18th, 20170DEARBORN — The practice of fasting may differ across the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but these faiths share a bond at their spiritual core— their efforts to grow closer to God.
A few months before the holy month of Ramadan started this year, Christians of various denominations observed their own season...
June 11th, 20171In 2015, British Muslim stand-up comedian Bilal Zafar wrote an article for The Independent called “Six things you shouldn’t say to someone fasting for Ramadan.”
“I have been fasting during the month of Ramadan every year since I was about 8-years-old and the experience has been changing for me in many ways, teaching me a lot...
June 2nd, 20170DEARBORN — With more than 17 hours until sunset each day during Ramadan, it may seem impossible for children to complete their fast, but that's not the case.
Many children have chosen to observe the holy month, which began on May 27 this year, with their parents and teenage siblings. Some adults, on the other hand, struggle to...
May 28th, 20170 WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has declined a request to host an event to mark Islam's holy month of Ramadan, two U.S. officials said, apparently breaking with a bipartisan tradition in place with few exceptions for nearly 20 years.
Since 1999, Republican and Democratic secretaries of state have nearly always hosted...