The Saudi Arabian “Grand Mufti” may sound like a delicious pastry with powdered sugar on top and a creamy custard filling inside, but it’s actually not. According to Wikipedia, it’s the most senior and most influential Wahhabi Muslim religious and legal authority in the oil-rich Arab kingdom. He’s head of a committee that does research in the name of Islam, and issues fatwas (not Salmon Rushdie — that was Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).

He’s appointed by the king of Saudi Arabia, and citizens of the nation have to take him seriously.

No matter what.

Even when he makes outrageous statements like the one he breathed out recently.

That — get this! — ISIS (Islamic State, IS, ISIL, Daesh) militants are actually … Israeli soldiers. And the new Saudi-led band of Arab nations will defeat them.

Somehow, this radical and ridiculous realization by the religious crackpot stemmed from the head of ISIS speaking out recently.

This from The Express Tribune:

The statement came after Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the secretive leader of the terror group, called for an uprising in Saudi Arabia and pledged to attack Israel, in an audio recording released Saturday and attributed to him, AFP reported.

Terming the extremist group’s threat to attack Israel a ‘lie’, Aziz alleged that IS is a part of the Israeli army.

“This threat against Israel is simply a lie. Actually, Daesh is part of the Israeli soldiers,” said the grand mufti, who is also a chairman of Senior Scholars’ Commission and Ifta Council, during a telephonic interview with Saudi Gazette.

Criticising the militant group, he said the members of the terror outfit were causing a deal of harm to Islam and Muslims.

“They cannot be considered as followers of Islam. Rather, they are an extension of Kharijites, who rose in revolt against the Islamic caliphate for the first time by labeling Muslims as infidels and permitting their bloodletting.”

Okay then.