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Thursday 19 March 2009

Where did you get that hat, where did you get that tile?*


It’s not the first of April yet, is it? I was looking over at the Muslims Against Sharia blog today, and noticed a story about Australia's most controversial sheik, Taj Din al-Hilali, who, it says, “has been caught on videotape kicking in a door at his own mosque before calling police to report an act of vandalism”.

The piece continues:

The head imam at the Lakemba mosque, who caused outrage in 2006 by comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, was shown on a CCTV security tape kicking open the door just minutes before reporting the incident.

The Nine Network’s A Current Affair last night broadcast the videotape from March 9, showing the incident, which Sheik Hilali initially denied. “There is a trick in this camera. There is a trick in this film,” he told ACA.

Well, whether or not there was a trick of the camera that snapped our image I can’t say. But can you see something written on his hat that means something in Western script that doesn’t, we assume, mean the same in the Arabic script?

You may need to squint a bit, but it hit me right away. In case that doesn’t happen for you, I’ve put a clue in the footnote.
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UPDATE: Well, it appears someone’s pulling our plonkers. After some exhaustive research, I found a picture of the man that was identical but for the script. So either it was there and it’s been Photoshopped out, or it wasn’t there and it’s been Photoshopped in. Whatever, how can we deny that religious fanatics are the equivalent of what is depicted on the hat, anyway?
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* Tile is an old slang word for hat. The headline is from an old music-hall song by James Rolmaz. In case it hasn’t hit you straightaway, think of someone of limited intelligence living in a rural community.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were so sure it is obvious that "Village Idiot" was Photoshopped on, we didn't think it would be an issue.

Andy Armitage said...

That was the point: it was obvious once you saw it, and it struck me right away, but I could see that might not be the case with everyone. I can imagine some people simply not paying much attention to the script: "Oh, it's an Arabic script, I don't understand it, so not much point in looking closely at it" type of thing. Good laugh, though.

Anonymous said...

That's funny. But yes, I suppose there are a lot of people who wouldn't have caught it! :)

Diesel B said...

Doh! Call me dim, but I didn't catch the message on his titfer straight away either. In an age where we are exhorted, bullied and berated into taking all this religious horse-shit seriously, it's refreshing to see someone poking fun at it in this way. Stand by for a po-faced response from dreary old Left-wing dullards tho' - LOL!!!