Another ludicrous parliamentary row has broken out in Kuwait - this time over a decision to include music in the core curriculum of schools.

Mohammad Hayef al-Mutairi, a tribal-Salafist MP, is seeking to grillthe prime minister (a move that can lead to impeachment) and threatening to introduce a bill that would ban music from schools altogether.

He is supported by the Kuwaiti Society of the Constituents of Human Rights which says that “requiring students to study music or to produce the biographies of singers and composers is a blatant violation of human rights".

Music has been taught in Kuwait for the last 45 years but from the start of the current school year it counts towards students' overall results.

Salafists believe music is forbidden in Islam but some MPs accuse Mutairi and other Islamists of wasting parliamentary time on trivial issues. The music protest also signals their disapproval of education minister Moudhi al-Humoud, who is a woman. Mutairi is one of seven MPs who walked out during her swearing-in ceremony last year because she was not wearing a headscarf.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 9 November 2009.