This week, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on what they are calling the radicalization of American Muslims. The hearing, hosted by chairman of the committee, Representative Peter King (D-NY), is tasked with investigating the threat posed by homegrown Muslim terrorists. "At this stage in our history, there is an effort to radicalize elements within the Muslim community," Rep. King said on CNN's "State of the Union" this weekend. There has been an outcry by Muslim Americans criticizing the congressional committee for signaling out the Muslim community as posing a threat to the country. Is it a worthwhile exploration of the issues or a witch hunt?

Female Muslims in America have achieved levels of success and prestige unmatched elsewhere in the world, according to a story by our partner, The New York Times, on the growing presence of Muslim women in America. Muslim women's roles have become more and more prominent since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Will America's political environment allow for Muslim women to be leaders for their faith?

Reverend Terry Jones, leader of the Dove World Outreach Center, a tiny Pentecostal church in Gainesville, has backed down from his plan to burn the Quran. Reverend Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of September 11^th lit an international firestorm. Now Reverend Jones says he will not burn any Qurans – and he doesn’t think anyone else should, either.

Of all the commemorations of September 11th planned for this weekend, Pastor Terry Jones' "Burn A Quran Day" is almost certainly proving the most inflammatory. Jones has announced that with others, he will host a Koran-burning at the "Dove World Outreach Center" in Gainesville, Fla. this weekend. Jones has made international news with his planned action, drawing the ire of everyone from Muslims to Gen. David Petraeus, who says the Pastor's event will endanger U.S. troops abroad. The event has also brought out critics from within his own Evangelical Christian faith.

This summer, city-backed plans to build an interfaith community center and mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero sparked an international debate.  Although there are nuances to the arguments, one side clearly feels that building a mosque near the site of the September 11th attacks is an affront to the victims; on the other hand, supporters say that there is no reason to block the plans, beyond simple “Islamophobia.” 

In the months after 9/11, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly reached out to the city's Muslim population. WNYC reporter Bob Hennelly explains how that strategy has worked and what those relationships have meant during the current controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero.