The Alan Jackson of Islam



A familiar story: young dude lives the high life and encounters enormous obstacles (a flat tire on his Porsche) that puts in jeopardy his job and love life. Allah intervenes and the next thing you know he's kicking butt at work and marrying the woman who loves him.

The big fat Rolex is a celestial bonus.

"Malak Ghair Allah” (You Only Have God to Count On) sung by Mohammed Al-Haddad is notable for being a spiffy video filmed entirely in Saudi Arabia with a Saudi crew. They even have a cool Ali G. guy playing the lead.

I have no idea if it's a big hit or not. I just like seeing Jedda and thinking that's what Falluja will look like someday.

Via Virginia Heffernan's Screens blog, the best thing in The New York Times these days.(Sounds backhanded but it's actually quite good).

Don’t Ever Beat Your Wife (Unless I Say So)

Man, I guess I totally misunderstood The Prophet™.

I thought he said a man can beat his wife. But what he really said was that a wife can be beaten by her husband.

It’s a nuance that Islamophobes exploit to put Salafist Islam in an unattractive light.

Well, at least that’s all cleared up now.

Religion of Peace (and anthropomorphic animals)

Egyptian television pre-empted its regularly scheduled broadcast of SpongeBob to tell kids a charming story about Muhammad, the Jewess and an unusually rare lamb chop.



The Prophet was wise. He took the sheep’s word for it.