Recently in Muslim Religious Tat Category

Iran

“There is no difference between a real and fake hymen,”

and

Last year, the Saudi scholar Anwar bin-Majid argued that God “knows that human minds cannot grasp the nature of the pleasures of Paradise, so He made it closer to their understanding by mentioning dark-eyed beauties, wine, milk, and fruit.” In fact, he went on, “in Paradise there are no sexual impulses. Therefore, people’s sexual organs will disappear in the afterlife.”

Well, thanks, but no thanks!

It would seem, see article, that the young people of Persia are using, not just the internet, but all the communications that implies. And that plenty of sexual practising is being perpetrated - shock, horror.
Looks like it might just be the mullahs turn to imitate the Irish RC church, if we are lucky.

In Iran, modernity takes on the cult of the virgin—Daily Telegraph, 14th February 2011.

Italian designer Eliana Lorena has put on a special exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of the Barbie doll. It features Barbies dressed in costumes from all over the world, including the Japanese kimono, Indian saris and various African outfits. The dolls will be sold in a charity auction after the exhibition. So, which get-up do you think the press is all in a tizzy about? Let the Daily Mail explain:

One of the world's most famous children's toys, Barbie, has been given a makeover - wearing a burkha.

Wearing the traditional Islamic dress, the iconic doll is going undercover for a charity auction in connection with Sotheby's for Save The Children.

The Mail is sensible compared to some fora, though. Indeed, Phyllis Chesler at Pajamas Media appears to have not read the press release and news articles and seems convinced that the artwork is some kind of commercial product. One of which she does not approve. And strangely, Chesler is a feminist, not some kind of fundie bampot, though the language is similar:

Save the Children? Surely, you must be jesting. I would like to save the children from this as well as from every other Barbie doll. (Yes, I know Barbie has diversified and now comes in every color and profession). But naked, even Doctor Barbie is still a pagan goddess or fertility figure but one with absolutely no relationship to female biology or reality....

These dolls were so retro--or so I always thought. Well, shut my mouth, those were the good old days of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. Now, Barbie is swathed, shrouded, in a burqa; now, she is even more hopelessly retro.

Strange, I've always thought of pagan fertility symbols looking more like:
than Barbie. There then follows a call to boycott the "product", and a quote from the National Organisation of Women, who have also failed to notice that the doll is an artwork, from which Mattel will not profit, and not a product:

Mattel should be ashamed. Making a profit by selling a doll that is clearly wearing a symbol of violence is not acceptable and there should be a public outcry to take this doll off the market.

It's Barbie in a burkha: World-famous doll gets a makeover to go under the hammer for 50th anniversary—Daily Mail, 21st November 2009; Boycott Burqa Barbie—Chesler Chronicles, 21st November 2009.

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about special religious models of phones, and I have to say that I sympathise with the rabbi who requested a phone suitable for Ultra-Orthodox Jews:

Cellphone companies, at the time, had started to load their products with entertainment features, and the rabbi wanted none of it. He was in search of a phone without Internet capabilities or text messaging. He didn't want cameras, music downloading, or anything else that could distract the pious. He was looking for a device that could make and receive calls. Period.

The article goes on to discuss Christian ringtones, and other tacky services aimed at Christians, then onto phones which include features useful to Muslims:

Dubai-based Ilkone Mobile Telecommunication in 2005 launched a phone in the Middle East with an internal compass that tells users the direction of Mecca, where Muslims face when they pray. Ilkone, which comes from the Arabic word for "universe," also equips its phones with a Hijri, the Gregorian calendar, and alerts users to prayer times with an alarm that features an actual muezzin's voice. It also has a complete version of the Quran, with an English translation.

Me, I want a phone which can be used anywhere in the world, is good at phoning and texting, with the ability to store lots of numbers, has no camera, no Microsoft and no other extraneous crap. Is this too much to ask? Oh yes, and a loop from which to hang Hello Kitty dangly things.

New Cellphone Services Put God on the Line—Wall Street Journal, March 26th 2006. (Thanks, Fluff the Plush Cthulhu)