Hayrettin Karaman, one of the most prominent voices of Islamic conservatism in Turkey, probably did not expect to ignite a nationwide controversy with an article on women smoking in public. But his recent piece in the pro-Islamic and pro-government daily Yeni Safak, headlined “Smoking with headscarf,” sparked a conflagration.

Reiterating views that Muslims should not smoke, the Islamic scholar asserted Aug. 3 that cigarettes were much worse for women than men, as smoking sends signals about their morals. Karaman wrote, “When I see a woman who wears a headscarf but also smokes in public, I get the impression that she's saying: ‘Don’t mind the fact that I am covering my head. Don’t give up on me, I have a lot more to share with you.'”

To Turkish speakers, his phrasing can be taken as a message of sexual availability, although Karaman denied intending that meaning in his next column. “It never occurred to me that the expression would be interpreted in a way that alluded to loose morality,” he wrote.

But by the time Karaman published the clarification, many women — and men as well — were fuming. Karaman’s first column trended on Twitter in Turkey, and hundreds of social media users condemned him for passing judgment on women and depicting women who smoke as morally loose or promiscuous. The backlash was strongest among the very headscarf-wearing women he "mansplained."