Hands
(IN PHOTO) The hands of a Muslim boy are pictured as he offers prayers during the month-long fasting in the holy month of Ramadan in Kathmandu July 11, 2013. Reuters

An Islamic TV preacher is receiving flak in Twitter for issuing a fatwa against masturbation. Mucahid Cihad Han, a preacher from Turkey, had warned male Islamic followers from pleasuring themselves manually or risk having pregnant hands in afterlife.

The unscientific basis of his warning harvested flak in the microblogging site where Han has about 12,000 followers, reports News.com.au. The warning was in response to a question from a married Muslim man who said he still practices onanism, which Han said was not in accordance with the teachings of the Islamic faith.

The viewer said he still kept masturbating while taking part in the pilgrimage to Mecca. Han’s response, made during a May 24 show over TV station 2000 TV, was questioned by some people, pointing out that the Quran, the Islamic holy book, “does not make a clear reference to masturbation,” reports The Hurriyet Daily News.

Han said the warning is a hadith which states “that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights.” To address the situation, he recommended that single men get married instead.

Even among Christians, the question of the morality of masturbation is debated. According to Merriam Webster, Onan, cited in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, the Christian holy book, was ordered by his father to impregnate his dead brother’s widow. But Onan withdrew his organ and ejaculated outside the widow’s body, causing him to be punished by God. Oxford as well as other dictionaries defines onanism, named after Onan, as both coitus interruptus and masturbation.

His warning comes after a Harvard Medical School study found a link between orgasm and keeping prostate cancer out. Having sex with a partner is one way to achieve orgasm, but for males with no partners, the alternative is to masturbate.

In response to Han’s warning, AshwinSarcasticFerns tweeted, “We all know what #Popeye has been upto!” He was referring to cartoon character Popeye, a sailor, known for his huge arms strengthened whenever he eats spinach.

Meesha asked, “And what about women who masturbate?” JK5_UK noted that given Han’s “extraordinary intellect there’s little chance of rational debate with preachers.”

The preacher’s fatwa adds to the old wives' tale that masturbation leads to hairy hands, blindness or stunted growth.

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com