Is masturbation lawful in Islam?
Continued from last week Secondly, in the above verse of the Quran, the Almighty has made chastity obligatory on those who are unable to enter into lawful marriage. Since the Almighty has not made an allowance for masturbation, indulgence in the practice therefore means an indulgence in something not sanctioned by the Creator of the […]
Continued from last week
Secondly, in the above verse of the Quran, the Almighty has made chastity obligatory on those who are unable to enter into lawful marriage. Since the Almighty has not made an allowance for masturbation, indulgence in the practice therefore means an indulgence in something not sanctioned by the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Imam al-Qurtubi, one of the revered scholars of Quranic exegesis has posited that since the Almighty has not provided a third alternative to marriage and abstinence then, any other sexual act is unlawful. The same position is held by Imam al-Qurtubi has been upheld by Imam Baighawi.
The traditions of the Prophet of Islam compel the conclusion that abstinence from masturbation is better than an indulgence in it. In an hadith reported by Abdullah b. Masuud, the Prophet is reported to have once said: “O group of youth!
Whoever can marry among you should do so because it keeps the gaze low and protects the private parts. And he who cannot marry should make it compulsory upon himself to fast because fasting attenuates sexual desires’. Here again, the Prophet has not given an alternative different from the one the Almighty has offered in the Quran. Rather, what we see is an encouragement from the Prophet to the youth to marry, to avoid fornication and other illicit sexual acts including masturbation and homosexualism. Perhaps in order to emphasize the prohibition and make it as complete as possible, the Prophet says again: ‘Seven are those people that the Almighty will not look at on the day of resurrection nor will He purify them nor will He include them among those He will favour. They will enter hellfire first except those who repent. These include someone who masturbates, someone who performs the act of sodomy or homosexuality or lesbianism; a person upon whom the act of sodomy, homosexuality or lesbianism is willfully performed; a perpetual drunkard; the person who hits his parents so much that they appeal for help; the person who harms his neighbours so much so that they curse him and the person who commits adultery with his neighbour’s wife. (Ibn Katheer vol. 5 p. 458).
Yet in another tradition, the Prophet is reported of have said in a tradition reported by Anas ibn Malik: ‘The person who performs Nikah (sexual act) with his hands (i.e. masturbates) is cursed”. Thus dear reader, in creating humanity male and female, the Almighty, may His name be exalted, had plans not only for each and every one of us but equally for every organ in our body. The mouth is designed for speech and for consumption of food and drinks. Our genitals are made in such a way that they equally perform dual functions: means for the evacuation of our internal extremities and infirmities and for sexual pleasure and procreation. In order words, the creation of the phallus for men in the manner of a rod is not happenstance. Just as the insertion of the pen in water would render the former invalid the subjection of our organs to purposes or means that they were not naturally meant for would lead to earthly tribulations and eternal damnation.
As for your question whether masturbation is a grievous sin, I guess it should be clear from the above that this is better avoided as it is not sanctioned in Islam. All sexual conducts which do not comply with or are contrary to the intendment of the Creator are infractions of the Will of the Almighty. In a lecture the other day, I asked my audience to imagine how it would feel if an iron rod which has spent hours in a burning oven and has become red by it is now inserted in someone’s private part. Boys and girls in the hall could only imagine how painful and tortuous it would be for whoever has to suffer such interdiction. I then told them that is the similitude of the punishment that would result from engagement in sexual practices which run afoul of the Will of the Almighty. While you may or may not experience the interdictions and punishments for such infractions here on earth, it is certain that immediately your soul departs your body, you shall be brought face to face with the consequences of the evil life you led while on earth. On that day, the Quran tells us, there shall be no Senior Advocates of Truth (SAT) or Senior Advocates of Corruption (SAC). The Almighty says: On that day we shall set a seal on their mouths; their hands will then speak to us, and their feet shall bear witness, to all that they did (Quran 36:65) If writing is all about making oneself and the other happy, then the worst form of love is self-love; if writing, just like loving is about establishing contact and connection with the other; self-loving, which is all there is to masturbation, is all about self-pleasure: it is narcissism of the worst form.