A prominent Egyptian Salafist cleric has claimed that Islam permitted men to marry their illegitimate daughters.

Mazen Al-Sersawi says that as illegitimate daughters are not officially attributed to their fathers, they can be married to them, Mail Online reported.

He makes the claims in a video which has gone viral and he has been widely criticised for the comments.

The video was made in 2012 but has recently resurfaced online.

Al-Sersawi, who teaches at the prestigious Egypt’s Al-Azhar University, says as an illegitimate daughter does not carry her father’s name, “she is not his daughter according to Sharia. She is not officially attributed to him”.

Many have expressed their revulsion about his claims with one man tweeting “what is this madness?” and a woman simply saying “ewww”.

Earlier this year, another Egyptian cleric, Muftah Mohammad Maarouf, said in televised debate the age for marrying should be low enough for new-born babies to be married off.

He said long as “no harm” is done to the child, there is no problem in “preventing her from getting married” adding that “in Islamic Sharia, there is no set age for marriage when it comes to females”.