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RAMALLAH, West Bank: Thousands of Arab Palestinians took to the streets in Israel to protest a mosque bill that will ban muezzins from using loudspeakers to call the faithful to prayers. Sami Abu Shihadeh, the Arab member of Yaffa (Jaffa) municipal council, said the residents held the protests in his city and Umm Al-Fahem, Shafa’amr, Baqah Al-Gharbiyeh, Tarsheeha, Al-Taybeh, Nazareth, Negev and Al-Teireh against the bill, proposed by Knesset member Anastasia Michaeli of rightist Yisrael Beiteinu party. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to bring the bill to a vote by his Cabinet on Sunday after he failed to muster enough...

Today, Rush Limbaugh mentioned Barack Obama's recitation of the Muslim call to prayer. Here is my article which first appeared on February 27, 2009 -- at the Grand Old Partisan blog, on the actual two-year anniversary of Obama's interview with Nicholas Kristof at The New York Times. On this day [February 27] in 2007, Barack Obama said the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth." In an interview with The New York Times, Senator Obama recited, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent," the opening lines of this prayer:

How do you think the Muslim call to prayer will go over when it’s BLARING OVER A PA SYSTEM at Ground Zero 5 times a day?

A small group of West African men who came to the Rockies in search of economic opportunity are embroiled in a dispute with Wal-Mart, accusing it of a raft of discriminatory actions. Most say they were dismissed because supervisors wanted to give their jobs to local people in need of work.

A row has broken out after a Christian group organised a day of prayer in Oxford about Muslims during Ramadan. The Muslim Education Centre of Oxford (Meco) accused Witney-based Open Doors UK of preaching "evangelical propaganda", after the Christian group held a Call to Prayer day in Oxford yesterday. But Open Doors UK, which held the event at St Aldate's Church, insisted it had been taken out of context, although it "regretted" any offence that had been caused. A spokesman denied the meeting targeted Muslims, and said its aim was to reduce fear of Islam. Meco chairman Dr Taj Hargey...

OXFORD, England (AFP) - Famous for its university and quintessentially English "dreaming spires," the city of Oxford has been plunged into controversy over the sound of Muslim call to prayer from a local mosque. Those church spires have been joined by a minaret, with a loudspeaker on top which has triggered protests from locals concerned about the influx of a foreign culture. "I don't have any problem with Islam but don't force it on people," said Oxford University historian Allan Chapman, whose typically English house has a view of both the minaret and the nearby Church of Saint Mary and...

I mentioned last week that a local St. Louis radio station reported that a minaret (Islamic prayer tower) was being built — but that I was awaiting confirmation. Well now we have it from reader Zachary B., who has taken photos of it for us, as it’s fewer than six blocks from his house...

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A battle of faiths is being waged in the ancient English city of Oxford, where some people are bitterly opposed to Muslim plans to broadcast the call to prayer over the fabled dreaming spires. Local residents, clergy and now the head of the Church of England have been drawn into a debate over a proposal from the Central Oxford Mosque to broadcast a recording of the call to prayer, or Adhan, from its minaret over loud speakers. Residents who live near the mosque claim the call will annoy their mainly non-Muslim community and won't even be...

I just got a call from my sister. My nephew, Travis, shot himself and is on life-support. He's not expected to live. Details are sketchy at this point. I'm calling on all FR prayer warriors to send their prayers Heavenward.

Knak had previously requested prayer for her beloved husband. He has liver cancer, and his kidneys have failed. She learned this morning that this failure is permanent and that he will be coming home to spend his last days with his family. She has asked for prayer that he will peacefully be ushered into the Presence of the Lord, and for wisdom in telling their 9-year-old son.

Hamtramck vote a victory for those in favor of allowing mosques to broadcast Islamic call to prayer By SARAH KARUSH The Associated Press 7/20/2004, 11:33 p.m. ET HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (AP) — Residents agreed Tuesday to include the Islamic call to prayer in the city's noise ordinance, a victory for those in favor of allowing mosques to issue the call to prayer over loudspeakers. Those in favor of allowing the broadcasts won the vote 1,462 to 1,200, or 55 percent to 45 percent, with all precincts reporting and all absentee ballots counted. Opponents and backers of the measure acknowledged that the...

The City Council of Hamtramck, Michigan approved an amendment to the city's noise ordinance to allow the Muslim call to prayer over loudspeakers 5 times daily, from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. The new ordinance takes effect May 26. Nonie Darwish writes the following:

I have located several churches in hamtramck mi. I will be calling shortly to find out what is Being done and what we can do to stop this call to prayer. It will go in to affect May 26 . Christians we need to do everything we can to stop this. # Corinthian Baptist Church 1725 Caniff 868-7664 # Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church 2311 Pulaski 365-5191 # Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church 3150 Commor 893-1710 # Macedonia Baptist Church 5080 Belmont 874-1759 # New St. John Baptist Church 3901 Miller 922-0353 # Our Lady Queen of Apostles 3850...

<p>As the area's premier community of immigrants, Hamtramck surely should be tolerant of different cultures. But in this city where church bells regularly ring, some residents are up in arms over a request that the city's five Muslim mosques be able to broadcast daily calls to prayer.</p>

Call to prayer revived by troops By Sarah Oliver In southern Iraq It is a sound which has echoed down the centuries but which has not been heard here for 15 years - the wailing call to prayer. On Friday however, at 0430 (0130 GMT), in the minutes before the desert dawn, the voice of the Imam rang out. What Saddam's Baath party had forbidden, the British Army had restored. The townspeople, whose mosque was destroyed years ago, prayed in the privacy of their own homes. But instead of their worship being a secret and dangerous thing, it was...