A Turkish televangelist has warned male Muslims away from masturbation - because it may leave their hands pregnant in the afterlife.
Mücahid Cihad Han supposedly made the claim in response to a call from a man who "kept masturbating, although he was married, and even during the Umrah," a pilgrimage similar to the Hajj.
Hearing the man's plight, Han stated that masturbation is forbidden in Islam and went on to say: "Moreover, one hadith states that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights."
The self-styled televangelist simply told the caller to "resist Satan's temptations"
Tweeters took the opportunity to mock Han, with one asking: "Are there any hand-gynaecologists in the afterlife? Is abortion allowed there?"
Masturbation is a controversial topic in Islam, as the Qur'an makes no mention of it, leaving Muslim scholars and clerics to make their own interpretations.
A limited number of rulings condemn the act as haram (forbidden), while many simply put it in the category of makruh, or "disliked." Some interpretations alsoallow masturbation under certain circumstances, with a 14th century scholar ruling: "If a man is turned between continued desire or releasing it, and if this man does not have a wife and he fears he will suffer because of this (someone like a prisoner, or a pauper), then it is permissible for him to masturbate."
Mücahid Cihad Han supposedly made the claim in response to a call from a man who "kept masturbating, although he was married, and even during the Umrah," a pilgrimage similar to the Hajj.
Hearing the man's plight, Han stated that masturbation is forbidden in Islam and went on to say: "Moreover, one hadith states that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights."
The self-styled televangelist simply told the caller to "resist Satan's temptations"
Tweeters took the opportunity to mock Han, with one asking: "Are there any hand-gynaecologists in the afterlife? Is abortion allowed there?"
Masturbation is a controversial topic in Islam, as the Qur'an makes no mention of it, leaving Muslim scholars and clerics to make their own interpretations.
A limited number of rulings condemn the act as haram (forbidden), while many simply put it in the category of makruh, or "disliked." Some interpretations alsoallow masturbation under certain circumstances, with a 14th century scholar ruling: "If a man is turned between continued desire or releasing it, and if this man does not have a wife and he fears he will suffer because of this (someone like a prisoner, or a pauper), then it is permissible for him to masturbate."
