Sexual Ethics During Prayers

As Muslims we all know about the importance of reading the Holy Qur'aan. If we were to give an exhaustive account of the benefits we would not be able to do justice to the topic. It is a contentious issue if one’s prayer may become void if they happen to glance at a verse of the Holy Qur'aan whilst praying Salah – but this is dependent on whether the individual praying salah merely glanced at the verse or intentionally reading it, thus breaking their Salah.

The fast of the eye is to prevent it from seeing forbidden things,  Zina (adultery, fornication) does not refer only to penetration, rather there is the Zina of the hand, which is touching that which is forbidden, and the zina of the eyes, which is looking at that which is forbidden, even though Zina that is committed with the private parts, is the Zina which is punishable with the hadd punishment. 

قُلْ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَغُضُّواْ مِنْ أَبْصَـرِهِمْ وَيَحْفَظُواْ فُرُوجَهُمْ ذلِكَ أَزْكَى لَهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا يَصْنَعُونَ

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be mindful of their chastity; this will be most conducive to their purity. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be mindful of their chastity, and not display their charms (in public) beyond what may (decently) be apparent thereof, hence let them draw their head-covering over their bosoms”. 

Holy Qur’aan {24:30-31}

وَلاَ تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولـئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْؤُول

“Verily, the hearing, and the sight, and the heart of each of those ones will be questioned" 

Holy Qur'aan {17:36} 

Al-Bukhari:

Narrated Ibn Abbas: I have not seen a thing resembling 'lamam' (minor sins) than what Aboo Huraira 'narrated from the Prophet who said "Allah has written for Adam's son his share of adultery which he commits inevitably. The adultery of the eyes is the sight (to gaze at a forbidden thing), the adultery of the tongue is the talk, and the inner self wishes and desires and the private parts testify all this or deny it."

Source: Saheeh Al-Bukhari. H. # 6243. Pg. # 1558.

Now let us evaluate the issue of reading the Holy Qur'aan during Salah and what is regarded as lawful.

Shihab al-Deen al-Hamawi:

Ibn Najim said: "If an individual (during Salah) looks at a copy of the Qur'aan and reads from it, then his Salah becomes void. But NOT if he looks at the vagina of a woman with lust."

Source: Sharh Kitab al-Ashbah wa al-Nadha'ir, Vol. 4, Pg. # 286.

No you read it correctly – according to the so called 'Sunnis’ reading the Holy Qur'aan during salah invalidates it, but looking at a woman’s genitalia with lustful intentions does not make one’s salah void. Let us examine this fatwa and try to make some sense of the reasoning behind it.

Firstly, why would a woman be naked in front of the man who leads salah? What kind of dishonourable and despicable woman would do such a thing?

Is it could be logical that reading the Holy Qur'aan intentionally could invalidate salah but looking at a woman’s genitals with lust would be acceptable? Also notice that the Fatwa does not even specify that the woman has to be your lawful wife, how bizarre considering men are supposed to “lower their gaze” even when meeting clothed non mahram women – but it’s ok to have perverse thoughts in Salah? What next, will it be ok to see pole dancers in front of those men who lead salah?

Not surprisingly even those misguided people of the so called Ahlul Sunnah realised that this fatwa is insane and very disturbing, thus they decided to, amend the fatwa somewhat in an attempt to hide their embarrassment, as follows:

Distortion Of Fatwa

Ibn Najim al-Hanafi:

"If an individual (during Salah) looks at a copy of the Qur'aan and reads from it, then his Salah becomes void." [The remainig part of the fatwa is omitted from this edition]

Source: Al-Ashbah wa al-Nadha'ir, Pg. # 489.

They are that confident and proud of their own fatwas that they had to amend it, which tells us a lot about the “scholars” that issued them in the first place. What kind of bizarre school of thought would even issue such a disturbing fatwa in the first place? In what world would that fatwa even make sense? This makes a mockery of our pure faith, the filth contained in this fatwa is a disgrace. We challenge any of the so called 'Ahlul Sunnah' to explain this fatwa?