: With Friends Like These: Is Joerg Haider an Arab?

Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider claims descent from Arabic immigrants and is considering converting to Islam, according to Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi’s son Seif-al-Islam. “He’s Arabic, he’s of Arabic origin. His family came from Andalucia 400 years ago or more, and then they converted to Christianity. They’re Arabs. He told me the story,” the Libyan cultural envoy claimed to journalists in Paris on Wednesday. Why the Libyan leader’s son is privy to such information is still unclear (Oh, Seif? Will Smith is on line two), but it remains to be seen whether a possible conversion would support his right-wing views or repudiate them.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com.  He is based in London, England.