Women's revealing clothes and promiscuous behaviour are responsible for earthquakes. Says who? An Iranian Islamic cleric.

The cleric's interesting explanation of the earth's trembling is not in the wake of the volcanic eruptions that have disrupted air navigation but in reaction to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinijad's prediction that an earthquake is about to hit capital Tehran and that a large number of city's resident should be relocated.

Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, the leader for Friday prayers, said: "Many women who do not dress modestly...lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases earthquakes."

The Iranian cleric's preachings to a crowd gathered for Friday namaz (prayers) reminds me of a sermon that I had heard blaring from a horn in hoarse but well trained voice of an Islamic cleric in Patna: "Women who paint their nails with nail polish, their nails will be extracted on the day of qayamat (doomsday). Those who wear lipstick, their lips will be skinned. Those who do not cover their heads will have their hair uprooted by the satan."

It was a very long sermon about how women who do not adhere to Islamic codes for dressing and behaviour will be punished by the satan. If all what the cleric was saying were true, there would be not a strand of flesh left on the skeleton of modern women on the day of qayamat.

[Guardian via @flyyoufools]