Sexuality in Islam
A hadith attributed to Muhammad's wife Aisha states that the Ansar women in particular were not shy about asking questions regarding sexual matters as long as they are halal.
[20][better source needed] From as early as the 14th-century, entire manuscripts devoted to Islamic sexual education were being written in Arabic in Baghdad, which at that time was a great literary centre within the Muslim world.
According to Abdullah Nasih Ulvan, sex education is not recommended until the approach of puberty, and children are expected to be taught the signs of this as well as the characteristics which distinguish men from women.
[23] Bāligh or bulūgh (Arabic: بالغ or بُلوغ) refers to a person who has reached puberty or adulthood, and has full responsibility under Islamic law.
[29][30][31] In issues pertaining to marriage, baligh refers to the legal expression hatta tutiqa'l-rijal, which means a wedding may not take place until a girl is physically fit for sexual intercourse.
[35] Sexual intercourse is also prohibited during menstruation,[34] for forty days after childbirth (puerperium), during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan (i.e. while fasting) and on pilgrimage.
[54][60] Before the abolition of slavery, concubinage existed alongside marriage as a permitted relationship in Islamic law that allowed a man to have sexual intercourse with his female slaves.
However, the expression "Ma malakat aymanukum" (that which your right hands own), which occurs fifteen times in the sacred book, refers to slaves and therefore, though not necessarily, to concubines.
A man's ownership of his unmarried slave-girl gave him an exclusive right to have sex with her under the condition that he could not sell her to others (in order to prevent prostitution of slaves) and neither harm her.
[68] Although this passage is explicitly addressed to men, the regulations on sex in regard to fasting are universally taken to apply equally to both male and female Muslims.
The irreversible nature associated with both the male and female sterilizations contradicts one of the primary purposes of marriage which is to have children, as mentioned by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali in his Ihya’ Ulum al-Din.
[8] As early as 1980, authoritative fatwas issued from Egypt's famed Al-Azhar University suggested that in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and similar technologies are permissible In Islam as long as they do not involve any form of third-party donation (of sperm, eggs, embryos, or uteruses).
[77][76] There are varying scholarly views of masturbation (Arabic: استمناء, romanized: istimnā’) in Islam, largely because the Qur'an does not specifically mention the subject.
[96] Some Hanbali jurists meanwhile also excuse that those under the desire pressure from not being married, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal also said it is permissible for prisoners, travellers and for men and women who have difficulty in finding a lawful spouse.
[101][102] The modern Iranian jurist Ali al-Sistani has stated that masturbation, while emphasising that it is haram in all other circumstances, is permissible in case of medical necessity, provided there was no lawful means to achieve ejaculation.
Many Islamic thinkers recognize exceptions to this rule for certain circumstances; indeed, Azizah Y. al-Hibri notes that "the majority of Muslim scholars permit abortion, although they differ on the stage of fetal development beyond which it becomes prohibited.
"[113] Some Muslim scholars hold that the child of rape is a legitimate human being and therefore subject to the normal laws of abortion, that it is permitted only if the fetus is less than four months old, or if it endangers the life of its mother.
[114] Certain contemporary fatwas have also laid out the position that permit abortion if the newborn might suffer from a congenital condition that would make its care exceptionally difficult for the parents.
[76] According to the Iranian scholar Mehrdad Alipour, "in the premodern period, Muslim societies were aware of five manifestations of gender ambiguity: This can be seen through figures such as the khasi (eunuch), the hijra, the mukhannath, the mamsuh and the khuntha (hermaphrodite/intersex)."
It includes a report regarding mukhannathun, who were granted access to secluded women's quarters and engaged in other non-normative gendered behavior:[120] In hadiths attributed to Muhammad's wives, the mukhannath in question expressed his appreciation of a woman's body and described it for the benefit of another man.
Since Muhammad did not forbid the mukhannatun to enter woman's space at first, but only after this specific mukhannath abused his trust, these hadiths can be seen as validation of third-gender identities.
"[122] Similarly, scholars from Pakistan agreed that transsexual people, who took sexual reassignment surgery, would be allowed to marry and be buried according to Islamic funeral law.
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani stated that all mukhannathun must make an effort to cease their feminine behavior, but if this proved impossible, they were not worthy of punishment.
Jurists also recommend to abstain from acts inciting zina and to hold on taqwa (abstinence from Haram) so that a solution must be gotten from God in reward according to Quran.
[e][better source needed] According to Islamic laws made by exegesis of the Quran and the hadiths, all sexual relationships except with a spouse (or a man's concubine) are considered zinā (fornication).
[144] According to Professor Oliver Leaman, the required testimony of four male witnesses who eyewitnessed the actual penetration applies only to consensual illicit sexual relations (whether adultery or fornication), not to the non-consensual crime of rape.
[59] Incestuous relationships in Islam (zinā bi'l-mahārim) are those with any of a person's mahram, a definition of nuclear and extended family derived from the hadith.
[148] In contrast, according to Twelver Shia Muslim jurists, anal sex is considered makruh (strongly disliked) but is permissible with the consent of the wife.
"[156] Classical Islamic jurists did not deal with homosexuality as a sexual orientation, since the latter concept is modern and has no equivalent in traditional law, which dealt with it under the technical terms of liwat and zina.
"[162] This hadith is in the context of another, which encourages men who are unable to get married and struggle with chastity and desires to resort to fasting, as this helps with lowering libido.
