Wynter is from America and lives in Istanbul with her Kurdish boyfriend Akin to research religions in Turkey. For interviewing an Islamic leader of a Muslim community, Akin introduced her to the local imam of his hometown in east Turkey. Before Wynter headed to the mosque, Akin urges her to listen to him for some very important advice. At this point, she's expecting to hear the usual about covering her hair etc but this time it was something new. Akin said, “Whatever happens, just don't fart!”

The passing of gas is perceived as pollutant of spiritual clean spaces, hence disrespectful. This has nothing to do with physical cleanliness, in the same way as the ritual washings are not required to be thorough washings. That's what the hamam, the Turkish bathhouse, is for.

Here is another story:

When Akin was a student in the US, together with a group of fellow students, he would take a bus to a mosque for Friday prayers. Before the group would get on the bus, everyone would carry out the ritual washings of feet, hands and face. One time, a guy had been out the night before drinking beer, which caused a havoc on the bus. Interestingly enough, his fellow moslems weren't outraged about the consumption of alcohol at all since most of them liked to drink. That wasn't the problem. What caused everyone's anger at him were the consequences: his beer farts. Him passing gas on the bus defiled everyone else's spiritual cleanliness, so they all had to do the ritual washings again.