Can I Remain a Virgin Throughout My Life?

Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Assalamu alaykum, I want to ask if I am sinful for not having sexual relations throughout my life. Also, I don’t have any desire to do that, nor do I fall into fitna. I lower my gaze without any fitna and don’t get attracted to the opposite gender.

Will I be sinful for not having sexual relations, provided my man is also satisfied with this? And can I do IVF for offspring?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

If you are single and you can live a life of celibacy without falling into sin, as you mention, then it will not be sinful to remain so. If you are married and your husband is absolutely fine not to have any penetrative sexual relationship, then it is fine also. However, this is rare but possible in some cases, like when one’s husband is impotent, etc, and you are both happy to get married for all the other benefits, like mutual company, care, and financial security.

Marriage and IVF

Again, if you get married, and your husband is satisfied to be sexually inactive but agrees to have a child through IVF, then it would be permissible. However, given the nature of this kind of marriage and the intention to have a child through IVF in this way, it would be better to consult a reliable local scholar and discuss the issue in detail so that no short-term or long-term family issues may arise.

Pray Istikhara

Pray istikhara for guidance on this issue and ask Allah Most High to destine what is good (khayr) for you, either to remain single or to send you someone pious if you start to incline towards marriage.

I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction in sha Allah.

Related

• Is It Permissible for Me to Stay Single Since I Have Absolutely No Lust at All? (seekersguidance.org)
• Can I Stay Single and Live in Solitude? – SeekersGuidance
• Harms of Aloneness: The Prophet’s Firm Discouragement of Living or Travelling Alone – SeekersGuidance
• How to Deal with a Broken Heart in Islam (youtube.com)

Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersAcademy (seekersguidance.org), like from the Islamic Studies Curriculum (seekersguidance.org), building your way up doing each course?

I pray this helps answer your question.

[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan and Turkey.

He started his early education in UK. He went onto complete hifz of Qur’an in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and Alimiyyah sciences. He then travelled to Karachi, Pakistan.

He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Qur’an, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences.

He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.