A Portland student writes answers in Arabic during an exercise in language class. (Staff) MORE BY LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Readers respond: Focus on big issues, not foie grasMay. 6, 2026, 6:30 a.m.

Parents erupt over homework assignment asking students to write a phrase in Arabic saying "There is no God but Allah " Backlash over a homework assignment on Islam at a Virginia school led officials ...

A Virginia school district is defending a classroom assignment that required students to practice calligraphy by writing the Muslim statement of faith, “There is no god but Allah. Muhammad is the ...

A handful of parents forced schools in the state of Virginia to close for a day after pupils were asked to copy Islamic calligraphy as part of an assignment, in the latest sign of a backlash against ...

Schools and administrative offices in Augusta County, Virginia will be closed on Friday after a parent created an Islamophobic backlash by vehemently rejecting the legitimacy of an assignment that ...

After a teacher at a Virginia school handed out a standard homework assignment on Islam, such an angry backlash flooded in that it prompted officials to close every single county school as a safety ...

WASHINGTON — The Anti-Defamation League last week issued an unusual retraction and apology for suggesting that Islam’s declaration of faith, the Shahada, is an “expression of hate” that is “closely ...