The latest in the long saga of outrageous fatwas handed down by so-called religious authorities -- in fact the only realm in which these imams of doom excel is intolerance, lack of common sense and foolhardiness -- comes from Sheikh Mohammed al-Munajid, a Saudi cleric who appears often on various television shows in the Arab world. Last month al-Munajid told viewers of a religious affairs program that mice were "agents of Satan." He said that "Sharia, or Islamic, law called for the extermination of all mice. That includes the common house mouse as well as "the famous cartoon mouse;" presumably, he meant Mickey Mouse.

"The mouse is one of Satan's soldiers and is steered by him," al-Munajid is reported to have said in a television interview, the English translation was made available by MEMRI, the Middle East Media Research Institute, a pro-Israeli media watchdog group.

Hmmm. Mickey Mouse an agent of Satan?

Al-Munajid was formerly attached to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, where he served in the Islamic Affairs Department, until he was cashiered and sent back to Saudi Arabia.

The problem is that he -- and others like him -- continues to make harebrained statements such as this one, or yet his earlier rant of Aug. 10 when he took on the Beijing Summer Olympics. The sheikh decried the world's major sporting event as the "Bikini Olympics" and lashed out at the "immodest dress" worn by female athletes.

He is reported to have issued a fatwa banning women competing in the Olympics; an event he also labeled "satanic."

It would be safe to deduce that the only devil here is to be found in the deranged minds of such retarded thinking.

According to Religious Intelligence, a London-based research group specializing in religion news, this is not the first time that Sheik al-Munajid issues inane edicts, shooting from the hip. Three years ago he called for a ban on soccer, the most popular sport on the planet, because he objected to the shorts worn by the athletes, saying they "reveal nakedness."

In the interest of keeping his inter-faith dialogue initiative alive, King Abdullah should seriously consider issuing his own edict, call it a fatwa if you will, putting a halt to self-proclaimed high priests of ignorance that only offer fodder to the critics of Islam and to those who tend to throw the good, the bad and the ugly into one basket.