Intercourse with wife during days of Ramadan, using Condom – Islamic Perspective:

Intercourse with wife during days of Ramadan, using Condom – Islamic Perspective:

Imam Nurudeen Mukhtar Isalekoto

QUESTION:
What is the ruling on one who had intercourse with his wife during the day in Ramadan, using a condom, and his wife obeyed him, on the basis of a fatwa that both the husband and wife heard from a seeker of knowledge to the effect that the condom prevents one circumcised part from touching the other, so it is not regarded as intercourse?

ANSWERED BY: Imam Nurudeen Mukhtar Isalekoto

Subuhanallah!!! Subuhanallah!!! Subuhanallah!!!

FIRSTLY:
It is haram for the fasting person to have intercourse with his wife during the day in Ramadan, either with condom or not, because Allah says in Surah Al-Baqara, Verse 187:

أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ لَيْلَةَ الصِّيَامِ الرَّفَثُ إِلَىٰ نِسَائِكُمْ هُنَّ لِبَاسٌ لَّكُمْ وَأَنتُمْ لِبَاسٌ لَّهُنَّ عَلِمَ اللَّهُ أَنَّكُمْ كُنتُمْ تَخْتَانُونَ أَنفُسَكُمْ فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ فَالْآنَ بَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَابْتَغُوا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ ثُمَّ أَتِمُّوا الصِّيَامَ إِلَى اللَّيْلِ وَلَا تُبَاشِرُوهُنَّ وَأَنتُمْ عَاكِفُونَ فِي الْمَسَاجِدِ تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ فَلَا تَقْرَبُوهَا كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ

“It is made lawful to you to go into your wives on the night of the fast; they are an apparel for you and you are an apparel for them; Allah knew that you acted unfaithfully to yourselves, so He has turned to you (mercifully) and removed from you (this burden); so now be in contact with them and seek what Allah has ordained for you, and eat and drink until the whiteness of the day becomes distinct from the blackness of the night at dawn, then complete the fast till night, and have not contact with them while you keep to the mosques; these are the limits of Allah, so do not go near them. Thus does Allah make clear His communications for men that they may guard (against evil).” [al-Baqarah 2:187].

And Allah said in a hadith qudsi:
“He gives up his food, his drink and his desire for My sake. The fast is for Me and I shall reward for it, and a good deed brings a tenfold reward.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1894).

Whoever has intercourse using a condom undoubtedly fulfils his desire.

If intercourse takes place using a condom, then all the related shar‘ia rulings are applicable, namely that ghusl becomes obligatory, the fast is broken and ihram is nullified, if that happens before the first stage of exiting ihram; it is also haram to have intercourse with a menstruating woman using a condom, and this act results in taking back a revocably-divorced woman, and so on.

The fasting person should refrain from intercourse, according to scholarly consensus. Therefore it breaks the fast, even if no ejaculation occurs.

This fatwa is a mistake on the part of the one who suggested it, and it makes the fast meaningless. If a wise person reflects on this matter, it will become clear to him how reprehensible and evil this fatwa is. If someone refrains from eating and drinking, then has intercourse with his wife every day, using a condom, what kind of fasting is that?! The matter may be even worse if someone said to him that ejaculation does not invalidate the fast, so in this case he does both, intercourse and ejaculating, then he says: I am fasting!

This is a kind of nonsense that the teachings of Islam should be protected from.

If someone followed this view and had intercourse with a woman who is not his wife, and says that he did not commit zina because intercourse did not take place, what would this mufti say to him?

Hence no attention should be paid to the notion that penetration is not regarded as intercourse if a barrier (condom) is used, regardless of whoever among the fuqaha’ says that, especially with these thin barriers (condom) that do not prevent pleasure, so they are not like wrapping a piece of cloth around the penis as mentioned by the fuqaha’.

SECONDLY:
Fatwas can only be taken from those who are qualified to give them. Hence the one who has done this thing must do the following:

Repent to Allah, from having committed this unlawful action.

Make up that day’s fast which he invalidated by having intercourse.

Offer expiation (kafaarah), by manumitting a slave; if that is not possible, he must fast for two consecutive months; if he is not able to do that, then he must feed sixty poor persons. It makes no difference whether he ejaculated or did not.

In al-Mawsoo‘ah al-Fiqhiyyah (35/55) it says: There is no difference of opinion among the fuqaha’ regarding the fact that it is obligatory to offer expiation for one who had intercourse during the day in Ramadan, deliberately, with no excuse, regardless of whether he ejaculated or not. End quote.

Almighty Allah knows best.

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