Pornography and Masturbation

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Pornography Addiction — Effects & Remedies

Shaykh Sa’ad Quadri

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Addiction Recovery Tips

Muftī Bilal al-Mahmudi

In the name of Allah, the Most Gra­cious, the Most Merciful.

In this era of high-tech pro­gres­sion, access­ing data and retriev­ing infor­ma­tion has become far eas­i­er than before. Numer­ous inven­tions have tak­en place in the last few decades which have served pos­i­tive­ly for the com­fort of peo­ple. Islām per­mits the util­i­sa­tion of such inven­tions with­in the con­fines of Sharī‘ah, and pro­hibits the usage of that which is detri­men­tal to ones’ phys­i­cal­i­ty and spirituality.

Just as tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments hold many advan­tages, sim­i­lar­ly, they have many dis­ad­van­tages and harms. One such harm is, sex­u­al exploita­tion in its var­i­ous forms. Many avenues have opened up which allow one to access the filth of pornog­ra­phy which in real­i­ty is ‘fake’ and ‘illu­sion­ary’. Porn is aimed to spring instant stim­u­la­tion to ones’ libido lead­ing one towards sat­is­fy­ing him­self, i.e. mas­tur­bat­ing which in return can cause dam­age to ones’ health and spir­i­tu­al­i­ty. The more pornog­ra­phy one views, the more severe the dam­age caused to ones’ brain. ¹

Those who have a habit of view­ing pornog­ra­phy, gen­er­al­ly do so at night. They spend the day work­ing and the night watch­ing filth. They are over­come with rest­less­ness and are deprived of sleep. Sleep depri­va­tion is a one-way tick­et to men­tal insta­bil­i­ty. If read­ing porno­graph­ic mag­a­zines, watch­ing filthy movies, being involved in some illic­it rela­tion­ship and indulging in oth­er sins does not result in any remorse or sor­row, (and instead we are express­ing hap­pi­ness over it) then where is our Īmān? ²

As for mas­tur­ba­tion, it also caus­es many harms. Fuqahā (Jurists) have clas­si­fied mas­tur­ba­tion as imper­mis­si­ble and a detest­ed act in Sharī‘ah. ³

Few excerpts of texts from the books of Fiqh on the pro­hi­bi­tion of Masturbation

Ibn ābidīn al-Ḥanafī: “Self-plea­sur­ing is not per­mis­si­ble due to the verse of the Qur’ān in Sūrah al-Mu’minūn – “And those who guard their pri­vate parts….” One may derive plea­sure through one’s wife…” (Radd al-Muḥtār. See end­note 3)

Ṣalāḥ Abu l‑Ḥāj al-Ḥanafī: “Know well, it is pro­hib­it­ed for one to mas­tur­bate. How­ev­er, if one is in a sit­u­a­tion where­in he is about to for­ni­cate, then only would it be per­mis­si­ble for him to mas­tur­bate to avert the desire of for­ni­ca­tion.” (Fatāwā Ṣalāḥ Abu l‑Ḥāj. See end­note 3)

Al-Imām al-Shāfi’ī: “Verse 5 in Sūrah al-Mu’minūn estab­lish­es that to derive plea­sure from anything/anyone besides ones’ wife is pro­hib­it­ed.” (Al-Umm. See end­note 3)

Abū Bakr ibn Muḥam­mad al-Husaynī al-Shāfi’ī: “The one who seeks plea­sure with his hand will be pun­ished because doing so is the same as com­mit­ting for­ni­ca­tion and adul­tery. It also dis­con­tin­ues pro­cre­ation, hence, it is pro­hib­it­ed.” ⁴

Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī al-Shāfi’ī: “Mas­tur­ba­tion is Ḥarām (pro­hib­it­ed) and it is pun­ish­able.” ⁵

“To ejac­u­late with­out sex­u­al inter­course (through halal means) is Ḥarām just as mas­tur­ba­tion (to ejac­u­late by using ones’ hand) is Ḥarām.” ⁶

‘Abd al-Ḥayy al-Lakhnawī al-Ḥanafī: “Mas­tur­ba­tion is pro­hib­it­ed and it is a filthy act. It inval­i­dates the fast of the one who observes fast­ing.” ⁷

Ibn Dhuwayyān al-Ḥan­balī: “Mas­tur­ba­tion is imper­mis­si­ble for men and women because of the verse of the Qur’ān in Sūrah al-Mu’minūn…” ⁸

Abu l- ‘Abbās Aḥmad ibn Aḥmad Zarrūq al-Mālikī: “The Mad­hhab of Imām al-Shāfi’ī and Imām Mālik is that mas­tur­ba­tion is not per­mis­si­ble….” ⁹

After read­ing the state­ments of the Fuqahā, one can eas­i­ly con­clude that the act of mas­tur­ba­tion is con­sid­ered to be unlaw­ful in Sharī‘ah. How­ev­er, there may be instances when one is in a sit­u­a­tion to choose between immi­nent zinā or mas­tur­ba­tion. In such cas­es, the jurists have stat­ed that if one opts for mas­tur­ba­tion then it is hoped, Allāh Ta‘ālā may not pun­ish him. ¹⁰

Some prac­ti­cal ways to refrain from pornog­ra­phy and masturbation

1. First­ly, one should seek assis­tance from Allāh Ta‘ālā. Willpow­er with­out Allah’s pow­er and His sup­port is of no use. One should make a habit of sit­ting in a seclud­ed area dai­ly and sup­pli­cat­ing to Allāh.

2. Murāqabah – to reflect over ones’ actions, sins and deeds while pon­der­ing how this sin of mas­tur­ba­tion could even­tu­al­ly lead to a mis­er­able life full of lone­li­ness and dis­plea­sure of Allāh Ta‘ālā. One should also con­tem­plate over death and think, what would hap­pen if I die whilst indulging in view­ing pornog­ra­phy and masturbation.

3. Con­sult a senior schol­ar who is involved in mak­ing Iṣlāh (spir­i­tu­al ref­or­ma­tion) and inform him of one’s evil habits. The Mashāyikh pre­scribe dos­es of ‘spir­i­tu­al med­i­cine’ from the Qur’ān and rec­om­mend var­i­ous Adhkār which remove the dirt from the heart and instils the love of Allāh, his mes­sen­ger (Ṣal­lal­lāhu ‘alay­hi wa sal­lam) and an earnest desire to fol­low the dīn properly.

4. Min­imise usage of the inter­net. It is extreme­ly impor­tant that one cuts down on using the inter­net and unnec­es­sary brows­ing when unoc­cu­pied. One should fill his day with fruit­ful activ­i­ties that occu­py his time in a pos­i­tive way. Remem­ber, “An idle mind is a dev­ils’ workshop”.

5. It is also pos­si­ble to change the inter­net set­tings to pre­vent access to such web­sites. One should also down­load software/apps such as Net nan­ny or K9 inter­net watch, which are specif­i­cal­ly designed for con­trol­ling web con­tent for safe browsing.

6. At the same time, down­load plu­g­ins for one’s brows­er which removes adverts as well as dis­ables pic­tures. Once one has real­ized that these ele­ments are cat­a­lyst for one’s sex­u­al prob­lem, it only makes sense that one quar­an­tines him­self. Such mea­sures are akin to any oth­er med­ical restric­tion to safe­guard one’s Īmān.

7. Read Islāmic lit­er­a­ture and sit with the schol­ars. Many Masājid hold week­ly pro­grammes for the gen­er­al people.

8. Take assis­tance from the words of Allāh, i.e. Qur’ān. Recita­tion of Qur’ān as a dai­ly prac­tice, or even lis­ten­ing to it on a reg­u­lar basis curbs the height­ened desires of the heart.

9. Reg­u­late one’s food. Many foods which have heat in them height­en sex­u­al libido. Reduce such foods like dates, red meat, almonds, seafood and many cit­rus fruits.

10. Fast reg­u­lar­ly. Fast­ing assists in con­trol­ling one’s sex­u­al desire as pre­scribed by our Beloved Mes­sen­ger (Ṣal­lal­lāhu ‘alay­hi wa sallam).

Many of these tips have proven to be effec­tive in occu­py­ing one’s mind and remov­ing the urge to indulge in this vice. Last­ly, remem­ber, “Suc­cess comes in cans, not in cannot’s.”

May Allāh ‘azza wa jal pro­tect us from all vices which earn his dis­plea­sure and wrath and may Allāh pro­tect us from the snares of Shayṭān, āmīn.

Muftī Bilal al-Mahmudi

Checked by,
Mufti Faisal al-Mahmudi

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