Sex education in Islam

At the time of the Prophet (pbuh), muslims men and women were never too shy to ask the prophet about all affairs, including such private affairs as sexual life, so as to know the teachings and rulings of their religion concerning them.

As Aisha ra, the wife of the Prophet testified, "Blessed are the women of the Ansar (the citizens of Madina). Shyness did not stand in their way seeking knowledge about their religion." (recorded by Muslim).

The way the ladies asked the prophet, either directly or through his wives is a proof that sexual matters were not a taboo but were fully acknowledged and respected. "Shyness is part of the faith" as the prophet taught, but he also taught "There is no shyness in matters of religion" even entailing the delicate aspects of sexual life.

It is our firm belief that facts about sex should be taught to children in a way commensurate with their age as they grow up both by the family and the school.

This should be done within the total context of Islamic ideology and Islamic teaching, so that the youth could learn and get the correct physiologic knowledge of human biological reproduction system. Children should be fully aware on the sanctity of the sexual relation in Islam and the grave sin of blemishing such sanctity whether under Islamic law or far more important in the sight of Allah SWT.

Provided the Islamic conscience is developed, there's no reason to shun away from sex education. Unfortunately, some ignorant Muslim deliberately rejected sex education thinking that it's from secular sources, hence not Islamic. Most oppositions to sex education in this country are based on the assumption that sexual knowledge is harmful.

Ignorant parents thought that if we were to tell the kids about sex, they'll go and do it. If you tell them about VD, they'll go out and get it. But research in this area reveals that ignorance and unresolved curiosity without proper knowledge, are the cause of true harmfulness in this area.

Our failure to teach and tell children what they should know about sexual matter is the main reason why we have the highest rates of out-of-wedlock teens pregnancy, abortion and venereal diseases.

It is essential to give the youth the correct teaching about sex and human reproduction system rather than to leave it to chances and exposing them to incorrect sources which could lead them to vices.
Sex education should have its presence in the curricula of schools, given within the Islamic perspective.

Sex is an important area of marital life, and when people are in trouble they have only the doctor to resort to: and unless the doctor has had some basic teaching of sex, he or she will be quite helpless to help out. Sexual problems may manifest as strained family relations, psychosomatic symptoms or infertility.

Medical treatment may affect sex such as some antihypertensive or antidepressant drugs. Sexual counsel is often a neglected aspect of managing such varied diseases as coronary thrombosis, diabetes, incipient heart failure etc. The role of lack of sexual education in some cases of infertility is well known.

Surgery may influence sexual relationship in men and women. A carelessly repaired episiotomy, or colporrhaphy may have a devastating effect on marital happiness. The psychological pre math and after-math of the operation of hysterectomy is only too well known to cause early menopause and pain during sexual intercourse.

On top of all of this, muslim women patients would also wish to know the religious ruling on the multitude of gynaecological and obstetric situations relating to worship and matters pertaining to family planning in the religious context.

It is therefore a religious dictate that early education preparing the youth on sex education is compulsory, because they are the leaders of the muslim communities of the future. Muslim should equip their children with the proper knowledge to safeguard themselves and to answer to this need.


Wallahu'alam