Question:
Salams,
Just wanted to know if it is permissible for me to sell adult sex toys such as vibrators, dildos etc online. Also how about womens lingerie displaying model photos without showing there faces.
Thanks
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
Allah Most High said in Surat Muhammad (s) verse 36,
إِنَّمَا الحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَإِن تُؤْمِنُوا وَتَتَّقُوا يُؤْتِكُمْ أُجُورَكُمْ وَلَا يَسْأَلْكُمْ أَمْوَالَكُمْ
“The life of this world is nothing but play and distraction but as long as you believe and beware, He will give you your rewards and He will not ask you for your wealth.”
The Prophet (s) described sexual play with one’s spouse as a permissible kind of play and distraction in the following hadith:
كُلُّ شَيْءٍ يَلْهُو بِهِ الرَّجُلُ بَاطِلٌ إِلاَّ رَمْىَ الرَّجُلِ بِقَوْسِهِ, وَتَأْدِيبَهُ فَرَسَهُ, وَمُلَاعَبَتَهُ أَهْلَهُ فَإِنَّهُنَّ مِنَ الْحَقِّ.
“Everything that distracts one is falsehood except a man’s practice of archery, his training his horse, and his amusement of his wife, for truly these are part of truth.” Narrated from `Uqba b. `Amir in the Sunan and Musnad.
Another, similar but weak narration from Abu Hurayra in Ibn `Adi’s al-Kamil states:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَيَتَعَجَّبُ مِنْ مُدَاعَبَةِ الرَّجُلِ زَوْجَتَهُ فَيَكْتُبُ لَهُمَا بِذَلِكَ الأَجْرَ وَيَجْعَلُ لَهُمَا بِهِ رِزْقاً حَلَالاً
“Allah truly wonders at the playfulness of a man with his wife and He records rewards for them both thereby, and gives them both a lawful provision.”
Marital sexual play is therefore part of permissible and blessed activity whether such play involves sexual aides and lingerie or not, (i) as long as it does not involve any harm to either spouse, (ii) with moderation, (iii) and in conformity with the boundaries that apply at all times such as the prohibition of anal intercourse and that of penetration at the time of menses. Selling such articles online as specified in the question is therefore equally permissible.
By harm is meant the infliction of pain, and by moderation is meant detachment and freedom from the necessity of such stimulants and from obsession with them.
Sexual gratification is not the goal of our existence but rather a means of protection and spiritual progress. “A spouse in reality is a provision and an avenue of purifying one’s heart” (Ihya’ `Ulum al-Din, Book of Nikah). Thus a believer must beware of the immoderate pursuit and build-up of sexual appetites to the point that “man subjects his mind to the service of his pleasure” (Ihya‘, Book of Curbing the Two Lusts) and “no reason nor religion stand in the way of such urges” (Ihya’, Book of Nikah).
Al-Ghazali in the same two sections cites the saying of Fayyad b. Najih, “When a man’s organ stands erect, two thirds of his mind leave him.” The honor of a human being is to retain the sultan (authority) of the mind even in the midst of pleasures. This is why the Prophet (s) taught men to make duas of protection against their own genitals as follows:
Hajj Gibril
