In the U.S., if you don’t believe that Islam is a Religion of Peace and jihad is solely a benign spiritual struggle, you’re a greasy Islamophobe, a bigot, a racist, an enemy of all that is good. But somehow Muslims the world over keep misunderstanding Islam’s core teachings of peace and spiritual self-improvement, and keep getting the crazy idea that jihad has something to do with violence. Sunni-Shi’ite Jihad Update: “Suicide bomb blast at a Shiite mosque in Iraq kills 42,” from Agence France-Presse, January 23:
Samarra: A suicide bomb at a funeral in a Shiite mosque in north Iraq killed at least 42 people on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of deadly violence amid a political crisis engulfing the country.
The attack, which also left 75 people wounded, struck at the Sayid al-Shuhada mosque in Tuz Khurmatu, 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, and targeted the funeral of a relative of a politician who was killed a day earlier.
No group claimed responsibility, but Sunni militants often launch attacks in a bid to destabilise the government and push Iraq back towards the sectarian violence that blighted it from 2005 to 2008.
Niyazi Moamer Oghlu, the secretary general of the provincial council of Salaheddin, which surrounds Tuz Khurmatu, put the toll from the attack at 42 dead and 75 wounded.
“Corpses are on the ground of the Husseiniyah (Shiite mosque),” said Shallal Abdul, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, which lies 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad. “The suicide bomber managed to enter and blow himself up in the middle of the mourners.”
Among the wounded were officials and tribal leaders, including Ali Hashem Mukhtar, the deputy chief of the Iraqi Turkman Front and a provincial councillor in Salaheddin, which surrounds Tuz Khurmatu.
The funeral had been for Mukhtar’s brother-in-law, who was shot dead in Tuz on Tuesday afternoon….