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Tensions and violence between Sunni and Shiite Muslims are often in the news in countries like Iraq, Pakistan and Bahrain, but why are they at daggers drawn? swissinfo.ch: How did it come about that a Sunni minority should rule over a Shiite majority, as for example in Bahrain, where there are currently popular protests? Arnold Hottinger: This is a matter of power which has historical roots. Bahrain has a Sunni government but the majority of the population – 70 per cent - is Shiite. The example of Iraq, which also has a Shiite majority, can be easily explained in the...

Roger Stockham ... The California man accused of plotting to blow up a Detroit-area mosque rejected his court-appointed counsel Friday, upset that the attorney is a Shiite Muslim and a "patron" of the Islamic center where he was arrested. There are two main sects within Islam, Shiite and Sunni. The schism between Sunni and Shiite stems from the early days of Islam and arguments over the Prophet Muhammad's successors as the faith's spiritual leader.

The silence continues to be deafening with no Democrat in Congress, to my knowledge, crying out against President Obama for continuing to try to diminish the U.S.’ closeness to Israel. The president is apparently attempting to placate the Sunni Muslim countries in order to establish a coalition opposed to the increasing power of the Shiite Muslim state of Iran that towers in the region like a colossus. The president fails to realize, however, that sacrificing the U.S.-Israel relationship is both unnecessary and dangerous. The Sunni Arab countries are petrified of Iran’s growing power and are actually aligned with Israel in...

A woman from Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to receive 300 lashes and 18 months in prison over complaints against court officials. Sawsan Salim, who was taken to court last month in a court in Rass, in Qassim province, was sentenced after a judge decided that a petition she filed had contained 118 spurious complaints against officials, including the judges themselves, and she had appeared before him without a male guardian. Salim also claimed officials had chided her for not being accompanied by a male guardian, as required under Islamic law, during her visits to their offices.

(AgapePress) - "For Christ and Humanity." That's the motto of Olivet College in Michigan, where a Christian student says he was punished by one of his professors for making a reference to God in the classroom. Olivet College freshman Jeremiah Bannister, an aspiring journalist, claims he was recently the target of anti-Christian bigotry and grade retaliation in his "Writing and Rhetoric" class. Bannister says Professor Austin Jackson, a Sunni Muslim, took exception to an essay he and another student had written opposing affirmative action and slavery reparations. The freshman shares that when he was asked by the professor to voice...

A leading Sunni Muslim political party pulled out of Iraq's US-backed interim government today in protest at the onslaught by American forces on the rebel-held city of Falluja. "The Iraqi Islamic Party has decided to withdraw from the government in protest against the attack on Falluja that is harming the people," said Mohsen Abdul Hamid, senior party official and member of Iraq's provisional National Assembly. US forces pushed deeper into Falluja today in an assault to root out foreign Islamic militants and Saddam Hussein loyalists they say are entrenched in the Sunni Muslim city. The party's decision to quit the...

TORONTO - An anti-terrorism probe that led to the arrest of 19 Pakistani men, including one who took commercial flight training over a nuclear power plant, highlights security holes that should have been plugged after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, Ontario officials said. The Public Security and Anti-Terrorism Unit, a federal national security task force, quietly arrested the group of mostly young men last week. The men appear to have used fraudulent student visas to enter Canada or to maintain their residency here. Federal authorities documented a pattern of suspicious behaviour that shows an interest in Ontario's nuclear generators...

TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's Sunni Muslim imams have a message for U.S. troops -- don't call us Osama. As the U.S. curries support with Iraq's religious leaders, some soldiers are undermining the battle to win Muslim hearts and minds by accusing local clerics of links to al Qaeda, imams in Iraq's Sunni Muslim heartland said on Monday. "Some of the coalition forces describe us as an Osama Bin Laden group because of the beard," said Abaas Zedaan, an official at the Committee of Religious Advocation, the official body which represents the clergy in the region of Tikrit. "Osama doesn't...

Police flee as Saddam loyalists fuel city revolt By Patrick Cockburn in Baiji 06 October 2003 Iraqis shouting pro-Saddam Hussein slogans have staged an uprising in the important oil refining city of Baiji, burning down the mayor's office, fighting with American troops and forcing local police to flee. About a thousand people, some holding pictures of Saddam Hussein, were in a stand-off with American troops last night, with tanks surrounding the police station in the city, 160 miles north of Baghdad. Loyalty to the ousted president, who is still being sought by Allied troops, is strong in the Sunni Muslim...

GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT INTELLIGENCE BRIEF Saudis looking to go nuclear? Intel analysts say royal family wants to keep up with Tehran Posted: June 19, 2003 5:00 p.m. Eastern Editor's note: WorldNetDaily brings readers exclusive, up-to-the-minute global intelligence news and analysis from Geostrategy-Direct, a new online newsletter edited by veteran journalist Robert Morton and featuring the "Backgrounder" column compiled by Bill Gertz. Geostrategy-Direct is a subscription-based service produced by the publishers of WorldTribune.com, a free news service frequently linked by the editors of WorldNetDaily. © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com For those with a benign view of Iran's nuclear program, consider this: Saudi Arabia is already...

SubHead: Jihad need not imply a war of religions. Gihan Shahine reports on the state of the debate Signalling what may be a change in official discourse, a recent statement by the scholars of Al-Azhar has urged Muslims worldwide to declare jihad against the US invasion of Iraq. Al-Azhar is considered to be one of the foremost seats of Sunni Muslim scholarship and as such the call has sparked heated debate all over the world. Al-Azhar's Islamic Research Academy (IRA) issued a statement on 10 March ruling that, "according to Islamic law, if the enemy steps on Muslims' land, jihad...

<p>Thousands of Iraqi civilians rose up yesterday against forces loyal to Saddam Hussein in Basra - the second-largest city in Iraq - and the revolt was swiftly supported by Britain's famed Desert Rats.</p> <p>Civilians rampaged through the streets in the first large-scale uprising of Gulf War II, but the unexpected rebellion provoked a brutal backlash from Saddam loyalists who opened fire with mortars and "horrific" artillery fire, observers said.</p>

CAIRO, Egypt -- An estimated 100,000 chanting protesters crammed Cairo's main stadium Thursday in Egypt's largest demonstration against the U.S. threats of war against Iraq. "We came here because we cannot watch our sisters and brothers being killed in Palestine and about to be killed in Iraq and remain silent," said Safeya Mohamed a 20-year-old student from the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. Rally protesters began arriving at the stadium early Thursday from across the country, yelling chants such as "down with America," waving Iraqi and Palestinian flags and kicking effigies of President Bush.