Prominent sheikh says other sheikhs suffer from mental disorders

Sheikh Ahmed Kubaisi, whose Friday sermons out of Dubai are watched by tens of millions of people, has stated that some of the more recent rulings of other sheikhs show that they have mental disorders.

He specified the Saudi cleric Yousef al-Ahmed, who called for the destruction of the Grand Mosque in Mecca because men and women are together.

He also mentioned Sheikh Mohammed al Areefi who said he would go to Jerusalem to broadcast his show before caving to pressure to cancel his plans.

Interestingly, he also said that the minaret ban in Switzerland was no big deal, as minarets are not obligatory under Islamic law.

In the same interview he also said that the "torment of the grave," an expression of Islamic hell or purgatory, is not literally taking place in the ground but rather in the afterlife.

Finally, he stated (if I am reading it correctly) that misyar marriages are not only permissible but admirable as they reduce spinsterhood.

Misyar marriages are marriages where the bride voluntarily gives up on some of her marriage rights. While it appears to be permissible under Islamic law, it has been abused in some places as de facto prostitution.