Sunni Muslims

I think Geyelin has some basic misconceptions about Jews. Although Jesus was Jewish there is no reason to assume that all Jews are as tolerant and forgiving of personal and collective abuse as he was. As far as I know, Jews are human beings just like everyone else, and when they are threatened, as is the almost continual case by their fellow Semites, the Arabs, they get angry. Yes, they eventually hate. Arabs don't apologize for hating Jews certainly! Why does it seem that Jews and the Israeli government in particular are required to be better Christians than the rest of the world?

Shiite and Sunni Muslims battled each other Friday with rockets and gunfire in northwestern Pakistan, raising the death toll from two days of sectarian violence to at least 36, a town official said. The violence began Thursday when a suicide bomber struck a procession of Shiites observing Ashura, their most important religious holiday.

A Sunni Arab politician who brokered secret talks between insurgents and American officials said Wednesday that he had formed a group to give political voice to Iraqi fighters and demanded a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal. Former Cabinet member Ayham Sameraei, who holds Iraqi and U.S. citizenship, is thought to have strong tribal links throughout Iraq's so-called Sunni Triangle region.

Shia Muslim gunmen roamed the streets of West Beirut on Friday, trying to force shopkeepers to ignore a general strike called by rival Sunni Muslims to protest against lawlessness in the area. The strike, observed by many store owners, came after Sunni militants attacked a series of Shia targets, heightening tensions between West Beirut's two main Muslim communities.

Unidentified gunmen killed two prominent Sunni Muslim clerics Saturday in an attack on their vehicle in this southern port city, police said. The killings of Mufti Jamil and Nazir Ahmed Taunsvi came amid escalating sectarian violence in Pakistan as two bombings against rival religious targets this month killed more than 70 people. Both Jamil and Taunsvi were close associates of another Sunni cleric, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai, who was shot dead in May in Karachi, sparking riots by his followers.

U.S. forces have intercepted correspondence believed to have been written by a terrorist operative seeking Al Qaeda's help in inciting violence between Shiite and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, the U.S. military confirmed Monday. The letter, believed to have been written in Iraq, outlines a plan for "provoking ethnic sectarian warfare ... in the hope of tearing this country apart," said Dan Senor, a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority.

The Islamic call to prayer sounded over a grassy stretch of the USC campus early Wednesday as more than 1,500 Muslims arrived to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the monthlong daytime fast. Organizers said the service, which marks the start of Eid el-Fitr, the feast day following Ramadan, was the first ever involving a cross-section of Los Angeles Muslims. Besides Muslims of Middle Eastern or North African heritage, American blacks who have also embraced orthodox Islam also attended.

A few Shiite Muslim members of Iraq's National Assembly were miffed and may have suspected betrayal Thursday as Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani delivered his presidential inaugural address. The ceremonial president, whose most important job is naming a prime minister, forgot to announce the choice: Ibrahim Jafari, head of Iraq's oldest Shiite party. After the assembly session had adjourned and TV cameras had left the room, Talabani rushed back to the stage to hastily make his announcement.

A mob of 500 Sunni Muslim militants, angered over a bombing that killed their leader, set fire to an Iranian cultural center Sunday and accused Tehran of inciting Pakistan's Shiite Muslims to violence. The fire gutted the colonial-style building in this eastern provincial capital, witnesses said. There were no injuries. The Sunnis demanded that Pakistan sever ties with neighboring Iran and expel all Iranian diplomats.