Muslim haj can confuse first-timers
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MECCA, Saudi Arabia  - As the annual pilgrimage opens in the Muslim holy city of Mecca on Monday, few first-time pilgrims say they are entirely free of anxiety and confusion about the rituals they must perform.
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For days I have tried my best to perform the rituals of the annual Muslim hajj that are supposed to bring me close to God.
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Sharia law is understood and applied in such varied ways across the Muslim world that it is difficult to say exactly what it is and how it could fit into a western legal context, according to experts on Islam.
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JEDDAH, 23 December 2004 - A final warning has been issued to Umrah overstayers to leave the country before the advent of Haj next month.
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MENA, Saudi Arabia  - Haj pilgrims pelted stones  at symbols of the devil on Friday, and many said they were  targeting President Bush and other world leaders seen as  oppressing Muslims.
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Among the things Malaysia's first astronaut will be worrying about next month: How does an observant Muslim pray toward Mecca while soaring hundreds of miles above the Earth?
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MENA, Saudi Arabia  - More than two million Muslim  pilgrims arrived in the tented city of Mena Tuesday, the first  day of a haj pilgrimage marked by grief over the Asian tsunami  disaster and security fears.
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WASHINGTON - When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
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It was called Holy City, but it was not exactly a model of Christian piety. It was, rather, a commune and tourist trap created in the 1920s by a white-supremacist huckster.
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The millions of pilgrims in Mecca this week for the Hajj, an annual gathering of Muslims, can stay connected thanks to a temporary Wi-Fi mesh network covering a large part of the city.Hajjis, as the pilgrims are called, come to the city in Saudi Arabia from around the world for several days of religious rituals. More than 2 million gather each year. A network of about 70 meshed routers from Tropos Networks has been set up to provide free Internet connectivity, according to Denise Barton, director of marketing at Tropos. Users only have to register before using it. Barton believes it is the first public Wi-Fi network set up for the Hajj.Mesh networks are well-suited to temporary deployments because they need fewer fixed-line connections than do traditional Wi-Fi systems. Packets can hop from one router to another until they reach one that&#39;s connected to a landline. The technology has also been used for permanent municipal Wi-Fi networks, including the one Google had built with Tropos equipment in its hometown of Mountain View, California.Saudi Arabia&#39;s Communications and Information Technology Commission appointed an Internet service provider, Bayanat Al-Oula, to provide the temporary network. It was rolled out in less than 60 days with no help from Tropos personnel, Barton said. Aptilo Networks, a wireless-management software and services company based in Stockholm, is running the network as a managed service from its offices in Malaysia. This also helped Bayanat get the infrastructure up and running quickly, said Per Knutsson, Aptilo&#39;s co-founder and director of product development. Aptilo is handling user authentication, security, customer-support calls and other features, as well as setting up the portal visitors use to register for the network.Aptilo and Tropos are no strangers to temporary Wi-Fi networks. Aptilo has managed systems for large sporting events, and in 2004 Tropos built a network in downtown Redwood City, California, for a high-profile murder case. The trial of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife and their unborn child, drew massive public and media attention. The county court where the trial took place set up a temporary network with five surveillance cameras and five meshed routers for its own security needs and for reporters who descended on the area for several months.The Mecca network is made up of Tropos 5210 mesh routers, which use IEEE 802.11a for mesh connections and can support users with 802.11a, b and g devices, Barton said. Such networks typically require between 20 and 40 routers per square mile, she said.
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- After months of whipping his followers into a frenzy of anti government sentiment, the head cleric at a radical mosque was caught yesterday trying to leave his besieged compound clad in a head-to-toe veil known as a burqa, police said.
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Attending what Muslim American activists say is the highest-level meeting ever between Muslim American youths and U.S. officials, Mohamed Sabur couldn't help but notice a frustrating paradox.
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Kastriot Sadiku has a confession: Like a good Muslim, he was near a mosque when Kosovo declared independence. But like a good Kosovar, he was just around the corner, sipping suds at his favorite pub.
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His take on Islam, however clumsy, raises tough truths about reason and religion
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MECCA, Saudi Arabia  - Saudi Arabia says it is  ready to host more than two million pilgrims at this year's haj  after tightening security and safety to ensure the annual  Muslim rite passes without incident.
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The heady show of African art at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art is a joy to the eye. But more important, it introduces us to an Africa and an Islam we don't know.
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The UK's first stand-alone Islamic High Street bank,  aimed at the UK's 1.8 million Muslims opens in London on Wednesday.