"May Allah have mercy on the Ansaar, their shyness did not prevent them from learning the religion." The women of Madina did not restrict themselves from asking the Prophet ﷺ questions about intimacy.These are key notes from session 1 of the 'Like A Garment' course with shaykh Yasir Qadhi (AlMaghrib tutor, Muslim Matters writer, practical imam). The purpose of these is to educate Muslim women and men on the Islamic, and therefore, correct stance on sexuality, modesty and Muslim expressions of love as inspired by Allah subhanahu wa ta`la. While we find there are no 'right and wrong' cultural practices in the love department, Islam has clear guidelines and rules (fiqh) of halal intimacy, that is, the acts of love that occur within a Muslim marriage.
~ 'Aisha's hadith رضي الله عنها (may Allah be pleased with her).
This course was aimed at newly weds, mature folk, married couples and those stupidly in love (!) You know what's it like, you can't eat, you're constantly excited, you think about "that" person more than normal, life is in ultra colour and amplified, and then sh. Yasir Qadhi comes along and shakes you out of it..! No he doesn't really, he encourages it (rational love) but explains the Shari`ah perspective of how Muslims should prepare themselves for a realistic marriage - not one based on chick flicks, and understand how their husband/wife THINKS to improve the relationship - instead of throwing around macho-feminist-vibes.
Due to the nature of the material I will only share simple rules and maxims. The information from outside of the Shari`ah is not set in stone nor applicable to every person and every marriage; it is generic and general `ilm (knowledge) for everyone, without exceptions. For this reason I kindly ask for etiquette should you wish to comment or rebut statements; these are not my ideas or thoughts, rulings or pieces of advice. Also, Yasir Qadhi did the wisest thing by including varying scholarly opinions, perspectives from the main schools of thought (madhabs) and their evidences, biological education, contextual events from the Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ noble era and contemporary reports for further reading.
Right, I've heaps of notes, let's get crackin'. Note: a PDF e-book of the series with brief notes and FAQs is available for download which I'll link love later.
Bismillahi'Rahmani'Raheem. In the name of God, entirely Compassionate, especially Merciful.
Qur'an and intimacy
The Qur'an often references to sexuality, at least 24 times, therefore Allah does not shy away from intimacy. Allah uses very poetic terminology, it's lofty: never vulgar and never crude, never defeating but frank. One clear reference to intimacy is where Allah says,