CAIRO — Earlier this month, a 17th-century baroque statue depicting the rape of Persephone by Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, created an ongoing major controversy among Egyptian intellectuals and sheikhs over whether naked statues are reconcilable with Islamic teachings.

It began when doctor and journalist Khaled Montaser shared photos of “The Rape of Proserpina,” by the Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, on his personal Facebook page Nov. 2. The marble sculpture features two naked figures, Hades and Proserpina, better known as Persephone in Greek mythology. Persephone is in distress, with tears running down her cheeks, as she struggles to free herself from Hades' clutches. Alongside the photos, Montaser wrote in Arabic, "Any issue can be expressed by art – [Here] even the unpleasant issue of rape was converted into an exquisite sculpture."

On the day Montaser posted the image, Khaled El Gundy, a preacher at Al-Azhar, accused him of publishing sexually obscene material under the pretext of it being art. Gundy made his accusation on “May They Understand,” a television show on religion that he hosts on the DMC satellite channel.

The next day, Gundy called in to “Another Word,” a show on Dream TV hosted by Rasha Nabil, and said that Montaser had committed a dishonorable act and that the Persephone image was disgraceful and offensive to the public. He called on prosecutors and lawyers to take action against Montaser.