Don't celebrate New Year; but you can marry child girls!

Turkey?s leaders have the habit of chasing conspirators who they claim add fuel to Islamophobia in Europe. Those who ridicule the Islamic faith may not be the ones who conspire against Islam in faraway lands.

The final week of the year featured the usual scenes in Turkey: A man dressed as a janissary chasing another dressed as Santa Claus in order to give him a good beating? Provincial education directors warning pupils against ?Christmas and New Year celebrations?...

Meanwhile, an apparently more creative man, Muhittin Hamdi Y?ld?r?m, the chairman of an association of religious officials, called on Turks to celebrate the 1384th anniversary of the conquest of Mecca instead of celebrating New Year?s Eve.

He has an explanation for why Turks should not celebrate the New Year: ?[A verse in the sura] Maida tells Muslims not to make friends with Jews and Christians. This [commandment] also means that Muslims should not adopt their traditions.? The logic is simple: If a Muslim celebrates the New Year s/he will have adopted a Christian tradition and will have made friends with Christians and therefore have sinned. (Don?t tell President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an that the Turks still have Sunday as the week?s official holiday!)

All the same, despite their restless efforts, the Turks still lag far behind the Saudis in ridiculing Islam. As Raymond Ibrahim recently mentioned in the Middle East Forum, Saudi Arabia?s Grand Mufti, the country?s highest religious authority, said ?There is nothing wrong with girls below 15 getting married.? (?Saudi Clerics Fight for the Right to Marry Children,? Middle East Forum, Dec. 30, 2014)

In an earlier speech, the Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, had called for the destruction of all Christian...