Muslim televangelist defends oral sex, slams colleague for declaring it haram

ISTANBUL

A popular Muslim televangelist in Turkey has opposed a recent statement by a colleague, who had declared “advanced oral sex” to be forbidden by Islam.“Do not invent a lie on behalf of Allah,” said Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü, popularly known as “Cübbeli Ahmet Hoca” (Robed Ahmet Hoca) among his followers, during his latest televised sermon.Ünlü’s remarks were in response to Ali Rıza Demircan, a well-known expert on Islam, who claimed on Turkey’s state-run broadcaster TRT on July 10 that what he described as “ advanced oral sex” was “haram” (forbidden) in Islam Contradicting Demircan, Ünlü said the Quran does not stipulate such a ban. “Brothers, let’s speak frankly: [Islam’s] Shafi’i sect allows this act, as it considers human semen a clean substance. On the other hand, the Hanafi sect considers semen as dirty, but adds that a dress can be cleaned by simply rubbing the semen off when it dries.”The Hanafi school is one of the four Islamic schools of jurisprudence with the largest followers among Sunni Muslims, predominantly in the countries that were once part of the former Ottoman Empire and Central Asia. The Shafi’i school is more popular in Africa, Southeast Asia and a number of pockets in the Middle East, including among most Kurdish Sunnis.“We have Shafi’i Muslims, too, as we have Hanafi ones,” Ünlü said, while noting that “even clerics see oral sex as normal in Indonesia and Malaysia."“No Islamic jurisprudence calls it a haram act, but some find it inappropriate. So, how can [Demircan] say that it is haram? What is your source?” Ünlü said.The debate on venereal issues, in which the term “advanced oral sex” remained unexplained, came days before the end of Ramadan, the holy Islamic month of fasting.Ünlü, who is known for his humorous TV sermons, most recently hit the headlines when the Turkish government appointed a security detail to protect him after he was threatened by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).Beside ISIL, Ünlü also slammed the European Space Agency (ESA) for sending the Philae probe to a comet in November 2015, calling the mission “maniacal” and a “waste of money.” Previously, his strict interpretation of Islam had even inspired sarcastic memes.Ünlü touches upon sexual issues in his sermons from time to time, but the most controversial TV sermon in the recent past came from a rising young competitor of his.Self-styled televangelist Mücahid Cihad Han became an international media phenomenon in May when he claimed that a man would meet his masturbating hand pregnant in the afterlife and “asking for its rights.”