Broadcast on Egypt’s Al-Rahma TV on February 6, 2009, Egyptian cleric Hazem Shuman launches into a deranged rant against Valentine’s Day. (Courtesy of MEMRI TV.)

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Hazem Shuman: In a few days something very important and dangerous will take place in the world of the youth – perhaps even more important than tonight’s Al-Ahli soccer match. People will follow this event everywhere. I am talking about the global Valentine’s Day, the global holiday of love.

In a few days time, planet Earth will turn red. We will become the reddest planet in the universe. Everything red will become more expensive. Red teddy bears, red candles, red pens – they will all become more expensive. Only one red thing will become cheaper: The blood of Muslims. All this is the result of the sins committed by Muslim youth.

In a few days time, a very dangerous virus will attack the body of the nation. What virus? Is it AIDS? No, something more dangerous. Something more dangerous than Ebola, which dissolves the human body, more dangerous than cholera, which killed half of Europe a few centuries ago. I am talking about the Valentine virus, people. I have come tonight to warn all boys and girls about an extremely dangerous virus, which is about to attack the hearts of the nation’s youth, and to destroy our relations with God. We must confront this Valentine virus?

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Imagine that the Prophet Muhammad is standing before you, and so are the Jews and the Christians. The more you celebrate Valentine’s Day, the more the Jews and Christians are happy, and the more the Prophet Muhammad is sad. The more you do this, the more the Jews and the Christians gloat at us, while tears flow from the Prophet’s eyes. Do you want to make the Prophet sad and the Jews and Christians happy?!

People, if Muhammad Ahmad Ibrahim holds a party, and George Mikhail whatever holds a different party, [Muhammad the Muslim] will wear the same clothes as [George the Christian], both will buy dresses for their wives from the same shop, both will sit their wives on the stage for all the people to see, both will book a hall in the same club, both will invite single men and women and have them intermingle, both will hire a band, musicians, and female singers and dancers, and both will have crowds intermingling outside the club. If you are invited to Muhammad’s party, how would you distinguish it from George’s party?

You can’t tell the difference between a Fatima and a Mary anymore. Fatima wears the same clothes as Mary, listens to the same songs, she loves the same singers, and she watches the same TV channels. For how long will we go on living this lie?