Making love to the machine – is cyber love making allowed in Islam?
Chastity and morality are one of the major bases of Islamic religion which aims at building and maintaining a solid society that venerates modesty, purity, good manners and morals. Thus Muslims are expected to live under austere and strict code of conduct regarding relationships between the two different sexes. No relation of any kind between those who are not married is allowed especially those that make them experience any form of sexual sensations. This is so seriously observed that any one guilty of the offence is liable for a death punishment. Many young people in the modern western world find cyber sex a safe physical way of experimenting with sexual fantasies and desires, without the danger or risk of STIs and AIDS. For the Muslim world, it is totally different and is held as illicit sexual intercourse that is Zina. Those who engage in it have to hide their identities so as to satisfy their sexual desires without being caught.
They risk the wrath of the relatives of the female partner if caught. These relatives would certainly even kill the two cyber love making partners if that is what it takes to defend the girl’s family honor. For married chat room sex participants it is even worst as the act amounts to adultery, in the eye of Islamic faith. Virtually all Islamic scholars agree unanimously that cyber lovemaking is zina in fullness and some people have divorced their partners on the same account, by accusing them of infidelity on this account. According to Shari’ah zina is any form of illicit sexual intercourse ranging from pre-marital sex, phone sex, homosexuality and extra marital sex. They are viewed as ‘Kabirah’ that is, a major sin and is totally not tolerated in Islamic faith.
Anything that may lead to zina is forbidden even if it is not the actually illicit sexual intercourse. To sum it all, ‘The hands commit zina, the eyes commit zina , the genitals commit zina and the feet also commit zina’ .Muslims should therefore, at all cost shun avenues of zina as Allah in the Quran Prohibits all forms of zina and even coming close to zina. Allah Subhana Wa Tallah says in Al-Isra’:32 ‘Do not even come close to zina. It is a shameful deed and an evil way.’
Many innocent girls have had lost their respect, confidence and in extreme cases their lives in result of being caught on webcam and their live recordings on numerous sites and uploaded videos at YouTube by ill minded so called lovers of them. Later it revealed these so called virtual lovers had all the sick intentions to blackmail the innocent girls and then lead them towards taking off their clothes and do shameful acts in front of the cam in the name of online or cyber love. It starts with a very harmless chat and ends in a very bad manner but can leave deep scars on the souls of victims.
