I don't watch TV at all, because I think the overall quality of programming here in the UK is dreadful and caters to the lowest common denominator. Were I to have a TV in Saudi Arabia, however, I would have taken it out into the street, half buried it and stoned it to smithereens.

The following video shows an interview on Saudi state TV with Muhammad Al-Munajid , a radical cleric that has claimed;

“There cannot be harmony between Jews – who are usurpers and aggressors, who have oppressed and persecuted others, and who are known for their treachery and corruption throughout the world, historically and in the present age... As the Muslims and Jews are enemies residing in opposing religious and doctrinal camps, it is not possible for them to be brought together unless one is made to submit to the other by force.”

Highly divisive stuff, I am sure you will agree, but I fear his TV celebrity may have gone to his head a little.

Over at Free-thought Blogs, Maryam Namazie claims that Al-Munijid is quite serious in called for the extermination of Disney mice. I am not convinced.

It is all too easy to take people out of context - and whilst I think his reasoning is inherently flawed - I don't think he was calling for the actual assassination of the evil Mickey Mouse. I feel he was trying to draw a comparison between Islamic law regarding real mice, and Western children's adoration of that which is considered un-Islamic from his religion's perspective.

It is hardly a rational perspective, but it is at least consistent with Islamic thought, as I understand it.

Neither do I agree with her on the comparison to the Egyptian accused of mocking Islam by tweeting the picture to the left.

Yes, we in the West chortle heartily at such childish sensibilities, but the fact remains that Coptic Christian and telecoms mogul,

Naguib Sawiris did mock Islam with his tweet. Al-Munajid - I suspect - was actually trying to highlight the very sentiment that his Egyptian counterparts faced, idiotic as it may seem to us.



I enjoy Maryam Namazie posts very much, and I certainly had a good giggle at the video myself, but it is only fair to point out when something is awry. I am not in the business of kicking dogs (I am unsure whether Al-Munajid would support kicking dogs

) when they are down.

That said, as Maryam pointed out, I would have loved to have heard his opinions on the three little pigs!