Arab has wonderful memories of reading Mein Kampf on way to Hajj - and Protocols on return

Writing in Al Riyadh, Fahd Amir Ahmadi fondly recalls his trip to Mecca as a child to perform Hajj.

During the long bus trip he needed reading material and he chose to read Mein Kampf, with Hitlers photo and the swastika on the cover, causing an Indian Muslim colleague of his father on the bus to smile.

Not that Ahmadi is unaware of the racism in the book. In fact, he points out that it is ironic how popular the book is among many in Third world countries, even though they had no place in Hitler's worldview as non-Aryans. But, he insists, it is still an important book to read to understand Nazi poitical philosophy, just as the works of Karl Marx and Mao Zedong and Adam Smith are important.

Clearly, this liberal Saudi is against censorship. Although I don't know how he would feel about allowing children to watch Exodus: Gods and Kings or Noah, two of the movies censored this year in the Arab world. 

As a humorous postscript, Ahmadi adds that he read The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on the return trip. He doesn't have anything negative to say about that book.