Mukhtasar Muslim

Sayyiduna Alqamah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: I used to go with Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) in Mina when Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) met Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him), and they stood and began talking. Then Sayyiduna Uthman (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: O Abu Abdur Rahman! Should we not arrange your marriage with a young girl so that she may remind you of some of your past days? So Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him: If you say this, then the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to us: O group of young men! Whoever among you has the means to marry should marry, for it lowers the gaze and protects the private parts (from adultery and the like), and whoever is not able to do so should fast, for it will be a protection for him, as if castrating himself.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) that some companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked the wives of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with them) about the secret worship of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) (i.e., the worship he performed at home). Then one of them said, "I will never marry women." Another said, "I will never eat meat." Another said, "I will never sleep on a bed." (When the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, was informed of this,) the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) praised and glorified Allah and said, "What is the matter with people who say such and such things? (As for me, during the night) I pray and I sleep, I fast and I break my fast, and I marry women. So whoever turns away from my way is not from my Ummah."

The conqueror of Persia, Sayyiduna Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When 'Uthman bin Maz'un (may Allah be pleased with him) intended to abstain from women, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade him. And if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had permitted him, then we (all) would have become eunuchs.