Masturbating to avoid Zina (fornication)

21-6-2025 | IslamWeb

Question:

Please elaborate ur statement Nevertheless, if a person is overwhelmed by his desires to an extent that he cannot curb them except by masturbation, or by committing fornication or adultery, then without any doubt committing the lesser of the two evils, which is masturbation, is less serious than committing the major sin, but this does not mean that masturbation is permissible. So masturbation will be sin if done to avoid Zina according to ur statement? I read that maliki considr it absolute sin

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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 is His slave and Messenger.

The basic ruling is that a person should protect himself from the sin of masturbation through lawful means such as fasting, increasing Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), and the like. However, if there is no alternative and a person would otherwise fall into committing Zina (fornication), then some scholars have permitted masturbation in such a case of necessity - and this is the view that we adopt on our website due to necessity. Nonetheless, the state of necessity should be dealt with in proportion to its measure, as is well known.

Allah knows best.