Egyptian cleric claims Sharia law allows a man to marry his own daughter if she is an illegitimate child

A prominent Egyptian Salafist cleric has sparked outrage after he suggested it is permissible for men to have sex with their illegitimate daughters and marry them.

Mazen Al-Sersawi claims prominent Muslim scholar Imam Al-Shafi said Islam allows the relationship between a father and an illegitimate daughter because children who are born out of wedlock are not legally recognised as the man's off-spring.

Al-Sersawi, who teaches at the prestigious Egypt's Al-Azhar University, claims Al-Shafi'I says a girl born in an adulterous relationship is 'not really his daughter'.

Because an illegitimate daughter does not carry her father's name, 'she is not his daughter according to Sharia. She is not officially attributed to him'.

The shocking claims were made by Al-Sersawi in a video which was made in 2012, but has recently gone viral as the public express their revulsion and condemnation at the suggestion that an incestuous relationship could be deemed acceptable in any culture.

Earlier this year, another Egyptian cleric Muftah Mohammad Maarouf, caused outrage when he said even new-born babies could be married off as in Islamic Sharia there is no set age for marriage for girls.

In the televised speech he insisted that as long as 'no harm' is done to the child, there is no problem 'preventing her from getting married'.