This cleric said women shouldn't post photos of themselves on social media

A video of a Lebanese cleric is going viral on social media ... for all the wrong reasons. 

Posted to Sheikh Sami Khadra's Facebook page on July 8, the video sees him calling on women to refrain from sharing profile pictures on social media because apparently, it's "unvirtuous."

Instead, he suggests that they post photos of verses from the holy Quran, trees, babies ... anything, literally anything, other than their faces. 

The video has garnered over ninety thousand views at the time of writing since it was posted to Facebook. 

While many commented on Khadra's video saying there's nothing wrong with what he said, others completely disagreed.  

A few were outraged by the fact that the cleric excluded men from his "advice," making no mention of them in his address. 

Others pointed out the fact that Khadra often shares profile pictures of himself on his social media pages. 

And the majority made tongue-in-cheek statements by changing their profile pictures to images of trees. 

"First, why shouldn't a woman share photos of herself when a man can? Second, who said anyone can like or comment on a photo posted to social media ... there's something called 'privacy settings.' Third, enough of this bullying that's only directed at women, with the excuse that they're trying to attract men. Enough is enough." 

"May God bless you Shiekh."  

Following days of backlash on social media, Sheikh Khadra posted a response in the comment section under his video late on Sunday.  

In it, he suggested that people who were "triggered by anti-Islam biases and who are against the religion's teachings" had misinterpreted the meaning of his words.  

In Islam, women are encouraged to dress modestly and not attract attention to themselves. 

However, there are no specific guidelines when it comes to posting pictures on social media, and while many scholars might share Khadra's opinion, there are also others who don't. 

Speaking to Annahar, Muslim scholar, Jaafar Mohammed Hussein Fadl Allah explained that because a Muslim woman isn't obliged to cover her face, posting a profile photo on Facebook (which is considered a public space) doesn't necessarily mean she's going against Islamic teachings.