Burhan Wazir in Gaza finds that Sheikh Yassin, the group's spiritual leader, is unrepentant

Special report: Israel and the Middle East

In Gaza's deepest summer, an old man wearing modest white robes sits in a wheelchair at home and slowly turns his head towards his friends in the room.

He cracks a 'joke' that has his followers giggling - the punch line lost in its translation. 'The use of suicide bombers is the democratic right of Palestinians everywhere,' he says with a knowing smile. 'And it is the only kind of democracy understood by Israel.'

LAHORE, Sept 23: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, a leading Islamic scholar and Chairman of Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), a leading political party in Pakistan, has advised President Pervez Musharraf to launch a peace initiative to avert US military strikes on Afghanistan.

At a news conference here on Sunday, the PAT chief said the president should send delegations, comprising important political figures and ministers, to various Islamic countries to prepare them to play their due role in resolving the crisis.

Discrimination incidents likely to rise if Muslims do not take action

(Ottawa, Canada - 9/13/2001) - The Canadian office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR CAN) is calling on Canadian Muslim Imams, activists and community members to take a unified pro-active media approach to Tuesday’s vicious and cowardly terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

As media reporting now shifts to assign blame for the attacks, it is important for Canadian Muslims to use the following TALKING POINTS in every media forum:

* The terrorist attacks were un-Islamic, vicious, and cowardly.

* No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.

Media tips for dealing with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

In the face of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States, Muslims need to be informed, aware and pro-active when dealing with the American media, which, in the past, has linked all Muslims to terrorism when similar incidents have taken place.

Below is a list of tips Muslims can use when dealing with the media in these critical next few weeks.

1. Form a media group in your local community

HAMZA YUSUF MEETS PRESIDENT BUSH

Thursday night, when President Bush told Muslims, ``We respect your faith,'' television cameras panned to a face in the gallery of the Capitol.

It was Hamza Yusuf, an East Bay Islamic scholar who met with Bush on Thursday and attended the president's address to a joint session of Congress.

Bush even borrowed Yusuf's ideas and words when he said, ``The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.''

Kamal Hyder is a stringer for CNN who is covering the story of the Afghan Buddhas.

Why did the Taleban think it was important to destroy all the Buddhas?

Hyder: First, people must understand that most of Afghanistan's architectural heritage had been plundered during the anarchy that plagued Afghanistan after the withdrawal of Russian forces in 1989.

After the Taleban had performed repairs on the country's museums and reopened them, the Afghani culture minister and the vice and virtue minister discussed what to do about the country's remaining archeological heritage. Both these ministries concluded that all of Afghanistan's historical heritage must be preserved except for idols that were deemed un-Islamic.

LONDON, Sept 27 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that Islam was not the target of an anti-terrorism war by the United States and its allies, and announced a package of humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan.

The devastating attacks in the United States on September 11 were "not the work of Islamic terrorists ... not the work of Muslim terrorists.

"It was the work of terrorists pure and simple," Blair told a press conference after a meeting with British Muslim leaders.

"Our fight is not with Islam or with the people of Afghanistan. Our fight is with those who planned these terrible atrocities and those who harbour them.

They call my people

blood thirsty terrorists

blowing up buildings and planes

with dynamite tied to their chests

killing civilians by the thousands

but am I a terrorist?

True, some of my people

of names similar to mine

do act violently in despair

when their human rights are stolen

when their suffering and plights are ignored

in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatala.

or the concentration camps of Bosnia

but am I a terrorist?

By Hashem Said The Daily - Washington State University, Feb. 25, 2002

I am Israel - I came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Those people who happened to be here, had no right to be here, and my people showed them they had to leave or die, razing 480 Palestinian villages to the ground, erasing their history.

YUSUF ISLAM

Media speculation since the horrific terrorist attacks on America has pointed the finger at Muslims and the Arab world, and that has meant ordinary citizens of the US and other Western countries becoming easy prey for anti-faith hooligans. Shame.

Sadly, the latest horror to hit the US looks to have been caused by people of Middle Eastern origin, bearing Muslim names.

Again, shame.

This fuels more hatred for a religion and a people who have nothing to do with these events. This is why I want to explain some basic facts about this noble way we call Islam, before, God forbid, another disaster occurs - next time probably aimed at Muslims.