Question:
As-salaam-mu ‘alaykum
Can I a married man or women be naked to have sex with their spouse or do they need to have clothes on to have sex?
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
Yes, they may be naked. The Prophet (upon him blessings and peace) was asked a similar question and said, “Cover your nakedness except from your spouse” (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi – he rated it hasan, Ibn Majah and Ahmad), and our mother `A’isha (may Allah be well-pleased with her) was asked a similar question and she replied, “the Messenger of Allah and I would wash ourselves from the same container between us as we were both junub (in a state of major ritual impurity) and he would overtake me so I would say to him ‘Leave some for me!'” (Bukhari and Muslim), both of which are proofs of permissibility of the spouses’ looking at each other’s nakedness, let alone being naked when together, for sex or for other than that. In the Minhaj, Imam al-Nawawi states: “The husband may look at her entire body” without reservation. Al-Shirbini comments: “and vice-versa.” This is the position of the vast majority of the jurists.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
