Salafis Warn Muslims: Don't Eat Tomatoes Because They're Christian!

Or, why Saladin stuck to a tomato-free salad.

These people, or people who agree with these people, will soon govern Egypt.

This makes perfect sense… because it makes no sense.

A Salafist group called the Popular Egyptian Islamic Association has come under fire after sending out a warning on Facebook urging its followers not to eat tomatoes because the vegetable (or fruit) is a Christian food.

The group posted a photo on its page of a tomato – which appears to reveal the shape of a cross after being cut in half – along with the message: “Eating tomatoes is forbidden because they are Christian. [The tomato] praises the cross instead of Allah and says that Allah is three (a reference to the Trinity).

But, if God put a cross in a tomato, isn’t He rejecting Islam? Here’s the convincing proof.

This sort of thing sounds crazy to non-Muslim ears, but I can’t say it surprises me. Years ago, when I was in college, I was in a speech class and among my fellow students were three young Muslims men, one from Jordan, one from Kuwait, and one from Saudi Arabia. They were nice enough guys, though the the Saudi was a major skirt chaser, constantly hitting on every female student in the class. One of the three, I think it was the Jordanian, used one of his class speeches to proselytize. He set out to “prove” that Islam is the correct godly faith, and as a Christian I was intrigued. His proof was the wrinkle lines in the human hand. Somehow they make the Arabic character for Allah or some such. It honestly made no sense at all, but I don’t know what grade he got for it.

So the idea that tomatoes are too Christian and might turn a pious Muslim into an infidel? Not much of a surprise.