While President Barack Obama (D) was busy praising Islam as a religion of peace worthy of "mutual interest and mutual respect" to foster engagement at a dinner in honor of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan Tuesday night, mainstream Muslims clerics in Iran and Egypt were demonstrating what he meant. Israel National News has the story from various sources.

Opponents of waterboarding at Guantanamo please note these statements by a Shia religious leader close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

Asked if a confession obtained "by applying psychological, emotional and physical pressure" was "valid and considered credible according to Islam," Mesbah-Yazdi replied: "Getting a confession from any person who is against the Velayat-e Faqih ("Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists", or the regime of Iran's mullahs) is permissible under any condition." The ayatollah gave the identical answer when asked about confessions obtained through drugging the prisoner with opiates or addictive substances.

"Can an interrogator rape the prisoner in order to obtain a confession?" was the follow-up question posed to the Islamic cleric.

Mesbah-Yazdi answered: "The necessary precaution is for the interrogator to perform a ritual washing first and say prayers while raping the prisoner. If the prisoner is female, it is permissible to rape through the vagina or anus. It is better not to have a witness present. If it is a male prisoner, then it's acceptable for someone else to watch while the rape is committed."

This reply, and reports of the rape of teen male prisoners in Iranian jails, may have prompted the following question: "Is the rape of men and young boys considered sodomy?"

Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi: "No, because it is not consensual. Of course, if the prisoner is aroused and enjoys the rape, then caution must be taken not to repeat the rape."

Meanwhile back in Egypt, which hosted Obama a few months ago,  a country with a small Christian, mostly Copt, minority:

The Egyptian Muslim Council has shocked Christians with a new religious edict (Fatwa) stating, "A Muslim who leaves a will for building a Church is committing a sin against God, just as if he left his inheritance for building a nightclub, a gambling casino, or building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs."

(snip)

The Fatwa against building a church explained that Christianity deviates from Monotheism because Jesus "is a slave of Allah...and Allah is one."

To the victims of these and other edicts, tales of torture at Guantanamo must seem as Paradise.