Muslims

In the secluded courtyard of a weathered condominium complex, at the dead end of a graffiti-marred Santa Ana street, the Cham are busy preparing a summer feast. Banana trees grow tall here, shadowing crowded stalks of lemon grass and green onion. Severed bits of a cow slaughtered in conformity with Islamic law fill bright blue plastic tubs. Nearby, women sit cross-legged, chatting and laughing; their strong hands grind fresh ginger in stone mortars.

Tall and lean, with a wispy mustache and shy smile, 17-year-old Burhan Hassan chalked up A's last fall as a senior at Roosevelt High School, vowing to become a doctor or lawyer. After school and on weekends, he studied Islam at the nearby Abubakar As-Saddique mosque. He joined its youth group. "He wanted to go to Harvard," said his uncle Osman Ahmed. "That was his dream." Instead Hassan has gone to Somalia, the anarchic East African nation that his family fled when he was a toddler.

A major Islamic group based in Orange County has questioned U. S. customs officials about the recent deportation of an Australian family that was detained at Los Angeles International Airport and prevented from attending a reunion with a seriously ill relative in La Habra.

In a bid to get more Muslim Americans working in the Obama administration, a book with the resumes of 45 of the nation's most qualified -- Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted -- has been submitted to the White House. The effort, driven by community leaders and others, including Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), was bumped up two weeks ahead of schedule because White House officials heard about the venture, said J.

President Obama will deliver his promised address to Muslims worldwide from Egypt, a nation the White House considers key to improving relations in the Middle East. Obama had said he would make the speech from a Muslim capital, but the country was not disclosed until Friday. "This is a continuing effort of the president to engage the Muslim world," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. "The president has high hopes for a stronger relationship."

In a quiet event during an otherwise well-publicized visit to Los Angeles this week, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr. reached out to local Muslim American youths, calling on them to work with the government to fight violent extremism and pledging that the Justice Department would reinvigorate enforcement of civil rights and work to advance religious freedom.

Southern California has long been on the front lines of religious and cultural diversity and the challenges and promises that brings. Like the Iberian Peninsula in medieval times, where Muslims, Jews and Christians enjoyed periods of peaceful coexistence punctuated by war and intolerance, the record in Southern California has been mixed. After the Sept.

A punchy jingle kicks off the promotional video of a French firm that sells Islamic women's swimwear. Models wearing brightly colored, full-body tunic, pant and hijab combos frolic at the sea's edge swinging their arms in free-spirited step with the music. The water-resistant burkinis , outfits that cover everything except a woman's face, hands and feet, are designed for Muslim women in search of "a little more modesty" so they can "have more freedom to play sports," according to the manufacturer.

In June, the calls to Dennis Jensen's Riverside County date farm began to pick up. By July, he said, the calls took on a more urgent nature: "Send me some dates; save me!" Wholesalers and grocers were rushing to put their orders in for Ramadan, the Muslim holy month that begins Saturday. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, followed by evening meals that commence with at least one date, a practice believed followed by the prophet Muhammad. Preferences for the fleshy fruit run from the drier deglet noor to the sweet Medina to the hard, yellow barhi . But the most sought-after dates -- especially among Middle Easterners -- are the soft, plump medjool . Nearly all medjools in the United States come from the Coachella or Imperial valleys in Southern California.

Thousands of Muslims, prostrating themselves in prayer, gathered just feet from the Capitol on Friday for "A Day of Islamic Unity," an event intended to showcase what organizers called the "peace, beauty and solidarity" of Islam. Hassen Abdellah, a lawyer and president of the Dar-ul-Islam Mosque in Elizabeth, N.J., said he was inspired to organize the event by President Obama's attempt to reach out to Muslims in his inaugural address. "We should also extend our hand," Abdellah said.