IG Saud Saleh allegedly made the comments on television

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Professor Saud Saleh – from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt – reportedly said rape is allowed between times of “legitimate war” between Muslims and their enemies. In a television interview Saleh appears to try to discourage the purchase of slaves from Asian countries for sex, claiming Allah has given Muslim men a “legitimate” way to have sexual relations with slave women.

The controversial professor allegedly said slavery existed before Islam and anyone could trade “freeborn men and women” but that Islam put slavery “into order” by regulating when it was allowed. It is believed she claimed the only “legitimately owned slaves come from among prisoners from a war”.

Saleh allegedly said: “The female prisoners of wars are ‘those whom you own’. “In order to humiliate them, they become the property of the army commander, or of a Muslim, and he can have sex with them just like he has sex with his wives.”

ISIS fighters Fri, March 25, 2016 Iraq and Syrian jihadists, including the Paris and Brussels attacks suspects. Play slideshow PH 1 of 47 Belgian national Salah Abdeslam who masterminded the Paris attacks

Dr Andrew Holt, professor of history at Florida State College, said Saleh’s alleged comments are disheartening coming from a professor from “Sunni Islam’s most prestigious university” which is more than 1,000 years old. He is concerned the statements could be viewed as approval for the enslavement of Yazidi women by barbaric ISIS - also known as Daesh.

IG Savage ISIS militants have kidnapped Yazidi women and forced them into sex slavery

IG ISIS recently said pagan women should be enslaved in its propaganda magazine

According to ISIS, the practice of forcing the Yazidis and other religious minorities into sexual slavery is a sign that the Final Battle will soon occur Andrew Holt

Dr Holt explained how the fanatical death cult detailed that pagan women should be enslaved in its propaganda magazine Dabiq. He said: “According to ISIS, the practice of forcing the Yazidis and other religious minorities into sexual slavery is a way to prevent the sin of premarital sex or adultery, as well as a sign that the Final Battle will soon occur. “In the fourth issue of Dabiq, an article titled ‘The Revival of Slavery before the Hour’ explains that polytheist and pagan women can and should be enslaved.”