Marriage obligatory on person who fears fornication

10-12-2017 | IslamWeb

Question:

A brother whom I know wants to make Hijrah (emigration) from the lands of disbelief to the lands of Islam, and he is saving up money for it and has a firm plan, but his only problem is regarding women; he cannot control himself if he is around women, and the ruling on him with regards to marriage is that it is obligatory because he fears falling into fornication at a high rate and actually falls into many sins because he is not married. Should he get married first (knowing that it will delay his Hijrah), or should he avoid marriage and just continue saving for it (knowing that he will fall into sins)?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

If the situation is as you mentioned, then marriage is an obligation for that man; please refer to fatwas 81853 and 84026. He must hasten to get married in order to shield himself from Fitnah (temptation) and whatever leads to it. Marriage is given precedence over Hajj to him, so it is given precedence with greater reason over a travel that is at best permissible.

He should try to minimize the cost of marriage so that he could save enough money to travel. Perhaps, if he is mindful of Allah and fears Him as due, Allah will facilitate his affairs and bless him with a way out of his distress. Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out. And will provide for him from where he does not expect.} [Quran 65:2-3]

He also says (what means): {And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him of his matter ease.} [Quran 65:4]

Allah knows best.