(Image source: Weasel Zippers)

BY ERICA COGHILL

Bananas, cucumbers, zucchini...  Ladies, get your minds out of the gutter!  An unnamed Islamic cleric in Europe is allegedly advising Muslim women to stay away from these supposedly sexually suggestive foods.

Atlanta’s WAGA has the scoop...

“A published interview, in this interview, an unidentified cleric warned Muslim women to not get too close to bananas, cucumbers and other produce to quote, avoid having sexual thoughts.  The cleric also said if Muslim women want to eat those fruits, or foods, a third party such as their father or husband should cut them into small pieces.”   

The declaration was met with ridicule. One Lebanese journalist tweets...

“So if Muslim women should stay away from cucumbers and bananas, should men stay away from melons?”

The media got word of the story when the Egyptian newspaper Bikya Masr quoted the website El-Senousa, which allegedly reported the controversial story.

But, as Straight.com reports, that original website is nowhere to be found.

“...a Google search for ‘el-Senousa news’ only points back—many times over—to the article in bikyamasr.com. Between that and the somewhat intangible location and identity of the ‘unnamed sheikh’ in the article, the tale of the vegetable-fearing Mullah is starting to look a little short on authenticity.”

Still, even though no one can verify the story-- it’s making its rounds in the media. A writer for Al Arabiya discusses why this is problematic.

“It’s easy to believe it but irresponsible to re-tweet, forward on and so forth as fact when that is not necessarily the case. The only thing it leads to, and rightly so, is incredulity and also defensive reactions from Muslims arguing that this paints Islam in a bad light and not all Muslim clerics are obsessed with sex.”