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

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 R?za 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...