A Islamic preacher in Turkey has told men that they must grow beards – because clean-shaven guys may provoke “impure thoughts” in the minds of other men.

Preacher Murat Bayaral made the claim on Turkish radio station Fatih Medreseleri over the weekend.

He said that it was imperative that men maintain their beards so they can be distinguished from women.

Bayaral explained: “Men should grow beards. One of the two body parts that separate men from women is the beard.

“For example, if you see a man with long hair from afar you may think he is a woman if he does not have a beard.”

According to Turkish newspaper Hürriyet Daily News, he added that men without beards can lead to confusion “because nowadays women and men dress similarly”.

The preacher added: “God forbid! You could be possessed by indecent thoughts”.

Some may question what exactly it is about clean-shaven men that provokes such rampant impure thoughts in the minds of Bayaral and his comrades – but we’re not ones to speculate.

But he’s not alone in the theory.

A Russian Orthodox religious leader recently said that shaving makes you gay.

Metropolitan Kornily, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, said men should stop shaving to “protect themselves from homosexuality”.

The leader, whose denomination broke off from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1666, continued to explain that beards can prevent gay sex.

Kornily said men who had beards were less likely to be “corrupted” and engage in same-sex relationships.

“God set down certain rules. The Lord created everyone with a beard,” he said.

“No man can resist his creator.

“It’s made a monstrous thing to see men’s clothing and hairstyles changing,” Kornily added.

The religious leader, pictured meeting the clean-shaven Vladimir Putin, also decried the fact that the beard’s special status had “completely disappeared from the Catholic West.”

However, the two religious leaders may have gotten the wrong end of the proverbial stick.

A recent study found that gay men were more likely to be attracted to a guy with a beard.

The Journal of Evolution and Human Behavior published a piece on the phenomena.

In a survey of 1,577 men and women from Brazil and the Czech Republic, gay men had stronger preferences for men with more facial hair.

The study found that men who have sex with men are more likely to rate people with “thicker facial hair” as more attractive.

But when the study was repeated for women, the findings were not the same.

The second study found that men with a full beard were the less sexually attractive to women.

But if you can’t grow a full beard, then don’t worry: apparently guys are most commonly attracted to guys with similar levels of beard to themselves.

“When beardedness becomes too common, it is less attractive than when it is rare,” Dr Barnaby Dixson, from the University of Queensland, wrote.

“This may explain why fashions and trends in beardedness fluctuate over time.”

It is illegal to be gay in Turkey.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) recently called on Turkey to revoke a blanket ban on LGBT events.

The Turkish capital city last weekend banned all LGBT events, citing “public sensitivity”.

Earlier this year Pride events in the country were forcibly cancelled, as Turkish police used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse protesters.

Rubber bullets were fired at a group of an estimated 40 people who rallied for the LGBT Pride march.

A water cannon was sent to the area but it was not used on activists.

It was the second year in a row that authorities cancelled the event, but activists still attempted to attend.

It is believed that a number of lawyers working in conjunction with the organisers of the march were temporarily detained.

Pride rallies have been organised for the last 13 years in Istanbul.

The last successful march was held in 2014 with an estimated 100,000 people turning out for one of the largest LGBT celebrations in a Muslim majority country.

In 2015 the march was cancelled citing a “flagrant violation of the constitution and the law” but a number of marchers defied authorities and gathered anyway. However, they were dispersed by police using tear gas and rubber bullets.

2016’s Pride event was also cancelled, citing a Government ban and security concerns.

They claimed that the concerns stemmed from the Orlando massacre which left 49 people dead.

Defiant activists once again took to the streets but over 300 riot officers and a water cannon were deployed to break up the event.