This excerpt is taken from the book “500 Questions and Answers for Women” based on the Fatwas of the Scholars of the Haramain, translated by Hafiz Abdullah Saleem.
❀ Question:
What is the ruling regarding the practice of masturbation? Is there any evidence from the Qur’an and Sunnah that prohibits it?
❀ Answer:
The practice of masturbation is prohibited (ḥarām), as it is harmful to health and entails numerous adverse consequences.
Scholars have cited as evidence the following verse from Sūrah al-Mu’minūn, where Allah ﷻ says:
«فمن ابتغي ور اء ذلك فأولئك هم العادونه»
«فَمَنِ ابْتَغَىٰ وَرَاءَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْعَادُونَ» [23-المؤمنون: 7]
“Then whoever seeks beyond that (i.e., beyond one’s spouse or what the right hand possesses), it is they who are transgressors.”
— [Al-Mu’minūn: 7]
That is, whoever seeks any means of sexual satisfaction other than with a wife or slave woman is among those who exceed the limits. Shaykh Muḥammad al-Amīn al-Shinqīṭī, in his tafsir Aḍwā’ al-Bayān, also derived the prohibition of masturbation from this very verse.
In some reports, the following words are attributed to Jubayr ibn Saʿīd, a Tābiʿī:
«إن قوما يأتون و أيديهم حبالي كانوا يعبثون بمذاكيرهم»
“A group will be presented (on the Day of Judgment) with fetters in their hands — the very hands with which they used to engage in masturbation.”
— See: Tafsīr al-Baghawī, 1/410
However, some scholars have allowed it in exceptional cases—for instance, when a young person fears falling into the grave sin of fornication (zinā). They argue that this practice may help reduce intense sexual urges. Nevertheless, what is primarily obligatory upon such a person is to seek chastity through marriage. If he is unable to marry, then he should adopt fasting, as it helps to diminish sexual desire.
و الله أعلم
(And Allah knows best)
— ʿAbdullah bin ʿAbdur-Raḥmān al-Jabr
