so, what do people really want to know about Muslims?

A couple of years ago when I started this website, I had a hunch and over the years the website counter has proved me right.

I had the feeling that people (non-Muslims) are naturally curious about Muslims and would like to know more about their customs, culture and yes, their faith and beliefs...they just don't want answers to their straightforward questions served up with huge dollops of incomprehensible religious arcana.

I feel quite vindicated in my belief when I see the top referral links to this website:

Why do Muslims dislike dogs?
Why can't Muslims keep dogs as pets?
Muslims and dogs
even Muslims are dogs :P

I'd like to carry over this spirit -- of providing honest, unambiguous information -- when we start printing, in shaa Allaah. I'm even thinking of having a regular Q & A column by and for non-Muslims. If we believe that Islam has all the answers, there is no such thing as an inconvenient /uncomfortable question.

A Muslim guy saving a Jewish man from a hate crime: that's a miracle?

Jewish man saved from attack by Muslim
NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (UPI) --
A Jewish man who allegedly was the victim of a hate crime in New York last week was saved from serious injury by a Muslim bystander, a report said.
The New York Post reported Wednesday that while Walter Adler was being attacked by several assailants on board a Q train, Bangladesh native Hassan Askari entered the fray and held off the attackers until police could board the train.
"A random Muslim guy jumped in and helped a Jewish guy on Hanukkah -- that's a miracle," Adler said of his rescuer during last Friday's attack.
Adler told police that a group of passengers allegedly attacked and insulted him and his friends after they responded to a Christmas greeting by wishing them a happy Hanukkah.
After police arrived, 10 people were arrested and six were charged with assault.
The Daily News said the individuals also face hate crime charges for their alleged actions, accusations at least one of the suspects has strongly opposed.

***

I found it funny that this is being touted as a ''miracle''...imho, that's a very Muslim thing to do.

Does good news about Muslims often get buried under a barrage of bad news?

Muslim cab drivers offer free rides to the blind accompanied by dogs as goodwill gesture

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, with hundreds of waiting taxi drivers behind a nearby SuperAmerica station, has become a focal point of the angst. Nearly 75 percent of the 900 licensed cabbies are Muslim, mostly Somali. And six prayer-leading imams are suing airport management after being pulled from a plane in November.
Airport commissioners have expressed concern about cabbies refusing to pick up fares because of Islamic prohibitions against carrying alcohol. They also worry that Islamic rules about dogs might prompt drivers to decline rides when 300 visitors with guide dogs attend the American Council of the Blind convention in Minneapolis this summer.
Abdinoor Ahmed Dolal, a Muslim cab driver from Kenya, was stunned by the commissioners' concerns. The Qur'an places high value on assisting the disabled, he said. So Dolal says Muslim cabbies have offered to give blind conventioneers free rides to Minneapolis, forgoing the $30 fares as a sign of good will.
"The issues we have are so simple and have nothing to do with extremism or fanaticism," Dolal said. "We are Muslims and we are Minnesotans and if we sit down and listen to each other, we can work things out."