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Is anal sex, oral sex or masturbation permitted in Islam?

Anal sex is forbidden in Islam. The Holy Prophet sas said:

He who has intercourse with his wife through her anus is accursed.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Book 11, Hadith 2,157)

Oral sex goes contrary to the spirit of human dignity and cleanliness that Islam teaches. The Holy Prophet sas established a standard of specializing in the use of our hands for different tasks. He sas taught specialization of the left hand, saying:

Whenever anyone of you goes to a lavatory, he should neither touch his penis nor clean his private parts with his right hand.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 4, Hadith 19; Sahih Muslim, Book 2, Hadith 81)

He sas would only use his left hand to clean sexual discharge from himself.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 3, Hadith 44)

He sas taught specialization of the right hand, saying, “Eat with your right hand.”

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 70, Hadith 4; Sahih Muslim, Book 36, Hadith 143)

He sas would only rinse his mouth with his right hand.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 4, Hadith 30)

The Holy Prophet sas taught such a distance between the mouth and the private parts that he sas instructed that we use different hands when touching these respective parts of our body. Oral sex goes contrary to the philosophy of these teachings because it brings these two parts of the body together which the Holy Prophet sas taught to keep separate from even indirect contact. Also, the Holy Prophet sas established the dignity of women by teaching that paradise lies under the feet of our mothers (Sunan an-Nasa’i, vol. 1, Book 25, Hadith 3,106). To disrespect the face of the woman under whose feet lies the paradise of our children is an indignity. Masturbation is generally dependent on viewing pornography, which is forbidden in Islam;

Say to the believing men that they restrain their eyes and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Surely, Allah is well aware of what they do.

(Surah an-Nur, 24:31).

Even if a person abstains from viewing pornography, it is still inevitably dependent on pornographic fantasies, and this goes contrary to the philosophy of Islamic teachings on healthy sexuality. Instead, Islam has taught two preventative measures; one is that we lower our gaze and not look at that which can excite misdirected carnal desires (Surah an-Nur, 24:31). The second is that we observe fasting. The Holy Prophet sas said:

O young people! Whoever among you can marry, should marry, because it helps him lower his gaze and guard his modesty, and whoever is not able to marry, should fast, as fasting diminishes his sexual power.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 67, Hadith 4).

Islam trains man to manage his excess sex drive by prevention, whereas masturbation trains man to manage his excess sex drive by succumbing to it. Masturbation trains man to reward his misdirected sexual arousal and to feed his excess sex drive. When a person repeatedly succumbs to his sexual arousal and finds relief through masturbation, he becomes more and more conditioned to finding similar sources of arousal; this leads to addiction to pornography. Even if he abstains from viewing pornography, he inevitably succumbs to a need for pornographic fantasies. This goes contrary to the direction that Islam seeks to take man in. Islam trains man to prevent misdirected sexual arousal outside the healthy context of marriage.

Updated on December 21, 2018

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