Being asked to shake hands with women is sexual harassment, Muslim cleric says

Many conservative Muslims often struggle to avoid shaking hands with members of the opposite gender, which at many times leads to awkward encounters. 

But, for one Muslim preacher in Australia, the matter is as serious as sexual harassment. 

A Muslim-convert preacher from the Australian state of Queensland, who goes by the name Sheikh Zainadine Islam Johnson, recently described the act - when women insist on shaking hands with him - as a form of sexual harassment.

The preacher's comments were made on Tuesday, in a post that appears to have been deleted, but the Daily Mail has included some screenshots in a recent article.

According to the British tabloid, the post was shared by the Islamic Council of Queensland's spokesman, Ali Kadri, in which the latter pointed out that religiously-conservative Muslims are not necessarily extremists. 

In the post, Johnson wrote that he does not shake hands with women, as he believes that the act is haram ("sinful"). 

This is based on a common Islamic tradition that dictates that Muslims should not have physical contact with members of the opposite gender to whom they are not directly related. The Islamic custom stems from the belief that even minimal physical contact may provoke temptation.

He went on to criticize women who insist on shaking hands with him, saying, "Isn't that sexual harassment? I mean, really, I feel sexually harassed when they try to force me."

When a Facebook user accused the preacher of "turning shaking hands - an interaction of friendliness and trust - into something perverse," he explained that he was addressing the cases where he is "forced" to shake hands. 

"It's my body and I should have the right to decide who can touch [it] and who can't," he added. 

He went on to say that the perception of invasive behavior is subjective: "You see it as innocent, [however], there are many men who feel a whack on the bum is innocent. And that is classed as sexual harassment ."

Ali Kadri then came to Johnson's defense, saying, "I am not a bad Muslim for shaking hands on occasion and neither are you an extremist for not shaking hands."

He added that making physical contact is not the only way to display respect: "Putting your hand on the chest is much more respectful."

According to Sunshine Coast Daily, Johnson is the first white-Australian to ever take on a full-time role as an imam.

The 44-year-old former rock-band guitarist, who studied Islamic Sharia at Al Eman Islamic University in Yemen, now works as a preacher at the Islamic HUDA TV.