A new American mosque; and Muslim singles looking for love

Tuesday's RNS report features two stories on Islam:

Frank Bentayou reports on America's largest mosque, the $14 million Islamic Center of America, that recently opened in Dearborn, Mich.: "It's our statement of peace and understanding to the world" from one of America's capitals of Muslim life, Ed Bedoun, a member of the mosque board, said.

Jeff Diamant's piece on Muslim dating looks at how young, unmarried Muslims have combined the modern "speed-dating"technique with old religious practices: Islam forbids unsupervised dating, so the recent gathering of young, unmarried Muslims in the banquet hall of an Edison, N.J., restaurant was billed not as a singles party but as a weightier Muslim Matrimonial Event...Chaperones would roam while the 100 unmarried "candidates" got to know each other through small group talks. The singles -- 56 women, 44 men -- would take notes to keep track of the candidates each would meet. And there would be little subtlety about the reason they were there.