Muslims are up in arms over a photograph that singer and actress Selena Gomez posted — and shortly after removed — on her Instagram account of herself inside a mosque in Abu Dhabi, showing off her bare ankle.

The photo was taken of Ms. Gomez and a male inside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. In it, she is shown wearing a black abaya, with the hem slightly lifted to show several inches of her leg, Mediaite reported.

The female display of legs inside Muslims places of worship are strictly forbidden, mosque officials said, Mediaite reported.

A second photograph shows Ms. Gomez and a group other fellow celebrities laughing and posing in silly manners — another taboo, mosque officials said.

The display was “disrespectful” and flies in the face of mosque rules that ban “displays of interpersonal affection” and “exposing skin and openly laughing,” Gossip Cop reported.

Mosque visitors are prohibited from expressing all forms of “intimate behavior,” the blog reported.

Ms. Gomez was not ordered from the site, but she shortly after removed the controversial photos from her social media account, Mediaite reported.

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