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Does Discharging Sexual Fluid Involuntarily Nullify Fasting?

15 April, 2022
Q As-Salamu alaykum. My husband and I have been separated due to visa/paperwork reasons. All doors for us to meet are shut and completely locked. He is stuck in a country he cannot get out of and I cannot come into. We are working very hard to be together and we love each other to death. It has been 1 year now. I try my very best not to think about our sexuality but every now and then I cannot stop the urge. I have built a technique for when this happens to stop myself by falling asleep. But the last time I tried to force myself to sleep I am still aroused without even touching myself or using anything to touch myself, simply by tightening my muscles for a brief second. I tried my absolute best for this not to happen and now I feel it is completely impossible because my body is starting to do this on its own. I know allowing myself to arouse is haram but what if I've reached my end point and there is no solution at this time other than waiting, will God forgive me? Please note this happened while I was fasting and my arousal occurs more when I fast!! Also, when I fall asleep I usually see a dream of having intercourse with someone because I fall asleep thinking about it.....and this helps me release stress.....is this also haram?

Answer

The Fatwa Center at Islamweb
15 April, 2022

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

  1. If what you experienced – i.e. sexual arousal and discharge of sexual fluid – was involuntary, which means that this did not happen by your own free will, you bear no sin for that.
  2. If the sexual fluid was discharged from you involuntarily, your fast was not invalidated by that.

Answering your question, The Fatwa Center at Islamweb, states:

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We implore Allah to alleviate your hardship, relieve your distress, preserve you religiosity and honor, and unite you with your husband.

Verily, Allah is near and answers people’s supplications. We advise you to adhere to patience and to supplicate Allah. Indeed, He answers the supplications of the distressed and relieves hardship. Allah says:

{Is He [not best] who responds to the desperate one when he calls upon Him and removes evil and makes you inheritors of the earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Little do you remember.} (An-Naml 27:62)

If what you experienced – i.e. sexual arousal and discharge of sexual fluid – was involuntary, which means that this did not happen by your own free will, you bear no sin for that. Allah says: {And there is no blame upon you for that in which you have erred but [only for] what your hearts intended. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.} (Al-Ahzab 33:5)

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) related that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Verily, Allah has pardoned my nation for what they do by mistake, out of forgetfulness, and what they do under coercion.” (Ibn Majah)

If the sexual fluid was discharged from you involuntarily, your fast was not invalidated by that.

As for seeing a wet dream, one bears no sin for that and his fasting is not invalidated because the deeds of a person while sleeping are not recorded (i.e. he will not be held accountable before Allah for what he does or says during sleep).

Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “The pen has been lifted (i.e. the actions are not recorded) for three: the sleeping person until he awakens, a child until he reaches puberty, and an insane person until he regains sanity or comes to his senses.” (Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah)

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.