Pornography and Islamic Values
Introduction
Islam teaches its followers to restrain from all kinds of heinous and shameless deeds and words. Pornography is one of the shameless deeds. According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, pornography is defined as “printed or visual material that explicitly describes or exhibits sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate sexual arousal.” It can also be said as visual or printed material that promotes illicit sex and promotes rape and sexual harassment. Today we came across many ads on TV or mobile phones, among which many of them cause sexual arousal.
Pornography is a vast field that is spreading at an exponential rate worldwide. Now pornography is easily accessible in the whole world and one in eight (12.5%) of the 400 million online searches are for pornography. The tendency of human beings to be involved in sexual lust is used as an effective tool to keep young people away from decency, productivity, and morality. It is also used to divert the youth from the right path and stop them from committing to good causes. Sadly, Muslims are now equal consumers of pornography as non-Muslims.
History of pornography:
Pornography is as old in this world as time. According to research, pornography started at Venus of Willendorf. About 28000 years old women’s sculptures are found, which are considered the beginning of pornography.
The present pornography industry started with the invention of new technology. First motion film which shows pornography was in the 1880s. It was the start of pornography digitally, but for 40 years, it was not prominent. In the 1920s, there was a real start to capturing every type of porn video. In the 1970s, it reached the top, and in 1971, gap film was produced, and this porn industry grew and grew, and now this is a billion-dollar industry in America and Europe.
Islamic teachings:
Islam is a complete religion, and it is a complete code of life. Islam always teaches us to remain clean from outside and inside spiritually. Pornography, ads on TVs, mobiles, and magazines all promote sex in the public domain. Islam fundamentally forbade the promotion of sex in public and teaches its followers to stay away from haram activities and stay halal even by the eyes, ears, hands, and body parts. Halal from eyes means that don’t watch haram, from ear means don’t listen to haram from ears and don’t involve yourself in physical haram activities. Islam tells us to stay away from anything that can lead us to adultery (Zina). In Surah Al-Isra (17:32) Allah says
“Do not even approach fornication, for it is an outrageous act and an evil way.”
Islam encourages halal sexual intercourse but never allows slow prohibits illicit sex, haram physical relations that promote evil, immorality, and disorder on earth.
Allah says in Surah An-Noor (24: 30–31):
“And O Prophet, urge the Believing men to restrain their gaze and guard their private parts. It is a more righteous way for them: Allah knows what they do. O Prophet, enjoin the Believing women to restrain their gaze and guard their private parts.”
The Qur’an forbids people to approach immorality and shamelessness, whether it is in public or in private. As social hygiene is concerned, immorality is at the forefront of obscenity and shamelessness.
According to the Holy Prophet (PBUH), Haya is one of the things which will go first from this world. This pornography snatches away the “Haya” from Muslims.
Prophet (saws) said: “Haya and Trustworthiness will be the first to go from this world; therefore, keep asking Allah for them.”
Who watches pornography:
There is a desire for sexual gratification in humans, and it is as important as the desire for food and water. This desire is naturally built-in both males and females that we need to control.
According to a study, males and females are attracted to pornography, but males are more consumers of pornography. Covenant Eye tells that men watch 543% more pornography than women. 18% of women and 68% of young adult men use pornography at least once a week. Surprisingly, 1in 5 mobile searches is for pornography. 9 out of 10 boys fall into pornography before they reach the age of 18, and on the other hand, 6 out of 10 girls fall prey to it before 18. According to a study, American children came across pornography for the first time at 12.
What does pornography do with you:
There are almost ten things that pornography does to the people who follow it.
1) Pornography enslaves you:
It is very easy to addict to pornography. But it is very difficult to leave it. The easier it is to get caught up in it, the harder it is to give up. It is said that it is very much addictive, and it is considered much more addictive than heroin, cocaine, and other drugs. One who becomes a consumer of pornography does not find happiness without watching it and is not interested in anything. Nothing attracts him and makes him excited and happy. Only one thing can make him excited, and that is porn. When someone gets enslaved, it needs a great struggle to get freedom, which happens with pornography. People are easily trapped in it, and then it isn’t easy to get rid of it.
2) Pornography automatically leads to masturbation:
Masturbation is said to immediate relief from the need for sexual intercourse. It has when people play with their private parts and arouses their sexual desire until they ejaculate. Masturbation puts people in a mood, restless, and physically weak. It causes dehydration, and it makes people weak. Once pornography has successfully led anyone to masturbate, he loses focus on anything other than masturbation and pornography and is diverted from the right path.
3) Pornography snatches your focus:
When someone is addicted to pornography, he can’t see anything except pornography and starts losing focus and diverting from the main target. Pornography starts to control the thoughts of its consumers, and then it starts to control maturity, growth, and then productivity. When someone starts to consume pornography, he becomes addicted to it and always wants more and more. So he starts to think about it 24/7, which is how people lose their focus.
4) Pornography weakens you physically:
If people are addicted to pornography, they sometimes have trouble sleeping at night. It makes people frustrated and tired, and they get distracted. They are not interested in anything but pornography; here comes another test that you have to experience — insomnia. Bad or disturbed sleep affects the productivity of people during the day, no matter what they are doing.
Lack of attention, and lack of sleep, lead to physical weakness, and man becomes moody. Since people are not interested in anything, nothing will make them happy except pornography. Because nothing makes them happy, everything will make them moody and angry. This physical weakness is followed by psychological weakness.
5) Pornography weakens you psychologically:
People who are addicted to pornography have a constant criminal consciousness. It leads some of them to develop low self-esteem and of lack confidence. Even the strongest can become the weakest, and he cannot impress himself with his abilities and talents to people. Such people start to avoid social gatherings and try to separate themselves from the society in which they live.
6) People dissociate you from society:
When someone is addicted to pornography, he wants to follow it 24/7 and even in public, but when he cannot see it in front of people, he has to isolate himself from them to get excited. In public, he cannot get his into the comfort zone, and his comfort zone is a mobile phone, laptop, and isolation.
7) Pornography ages you faster:
With physical and mental weakness, loss of attention, and constant thoughts about images that are both unrealistic and harmful at the same time, which comes due to pornography, a person becomes overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, and these two can age him faster. People would age faster, which doesn’t mean that they will attain maturity. Age does not increase or decrease, but one becomes old and weak at a young age. Old age does not mean maturity.
8) Pornography keeps you in unending delusion:
The delusion of pornography addiction means that the brain tells a person that he can get happiness and excitement only through pornography. The unmarried addict keeps looking for this happiness by watching more and more pornography to get happiness and excitement. He may even think that he will get that happiness if he does it. That way, he would consider getting married. It is good for a single person to get married so that his modesty can be saved from temptation and he can get close to Allah. But unless people stop watching pornography, they are not ready for a successful marriage.
9) Until quit pornography, you are not ready for a successful marriage:
Unfortunately, some people think that marriage can save them from pornography. But this is not reality. A factor that motivates people, either men or women, to get married is sexual gratification. If people know that they will not enjoy sexual gratification in their marriage life, they will not go for marriage.
Pornography scenes are more deceptive than real, and artists use different drugs for this purpose, so the people who saw them expect that they can also do it in their marriage life, but they cannot do that as it is opposite to reality.
10) Pornography is undoubtedly sinful:
Watching pornography is haram in Islam in different ways. Seeing ‘aura’ (private parts) is not allowed by religion and ethics. People masturbate, and masturbation is prohibited in Islam. People harm themselves, and Islam forbids harming themselves. Quran also tells stay away from immorality, shameless activities, and deeds.
PIED
Nowadays due to the great availability of the internet young people are addicted to pornography at a high rate and this caused a common problem in young men that is Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction. I PIED, a young boy who got an erection by himself through the internet but when the boy gets to a real woman faces difficulty in getting or maintaining his erection. PIED desensitize sexual response. PIED is one of the signs that affect the brain and change the brain due to porn addiction. Some signs are:
1) Penis become less sensitive, 2) it is not easy to maintain erection, 3) stronger erections on porn videos as compared to partner, 4) and not feeling turned on by a partner.
HOW PIED AFFECTS AND CHANGES THE BRAIN:
The brain is affected and different changes occur in the brain due to PIED and Pornography.
1) Condition
The brains of affected people are addicted to a certain level of porn addiction and when this level is not achieved then some kind of dissatisfaction is created in the mind and the level of dopamine falls in the brain.
2) Circuitry Desensitization:
The great intensity of porn creates a spike of dopamine and too much dopamine is unhealthy for health so the brain with the mechanism drops the level of dopamine and this increases the craving more.
3) Hypothalamus:
A Large quantity of dopamine is required by the hypothalamus which triggers the penis for erection so a lot of difficulties are faced for erection in the brain part, the hypothalamus.
PORNIFIED BRAIN:
Brains that are addicted to porn always want more. There are two types of pleasure systems in the brain which are passionate and satisfying pleasures. Passionate pleasure is caused by a higher level of dopamine and by masturbation or by thinking of favorite food, porn, videos, etc. Mostly, pornified brains want sex but in real life, they couldn’t do it and could not reach the expectations. Such kinds of minds want only one thing that is pornography and only this can make them happy and satisfied.
How to get rid of pornography and recover from pied
We can get rid of pornography and recover from PIED by following the given steps.
1) Get rid of all Porn Related Materials
A reboot is defined as long-term abstinence from pornography, masturbation, and orgasm (PMO). By saying goodbye to pornography, people can have a successful reboot. All the problems in men’s lifelike anosmia, loss of focus. Stress, depression, isolation from society, sleep, and problems are due to pornography. Stopping consuming it, deleting all videos collection, destroying DVDs, and leaving anything which can lead to past patterns help to recover from the pornography addiction. Throw all your magazines, DVDs and books, etc., and anything that can remind you of any old habit.
2) The “Porn is not an Option” MINDSET:
When people give up pornography, they promise themselves inside that they will leave it for a while until they heal back. Such commitments cause problems for them in the future, and they return to them at the same time. People have to be mentally prepared, and they must decide properly whether they want to leave it permanently and get rid of this negativity forever.
3) Keep Journal:
Keep your journal. It is the best way by which people can be aware of their thoughts, desires, and feelings. Personal memory is not strong, so journals allow people to analyze their success and what mistakes they have made.
4) Stop using the internet:
Pornography is more addictive than drugs, and it is very difficult to leave. So for this, people must go offline and stop using the internet, Facebook, Instagram, and other social apps as these apps are full of ads, and 3 out of 5 ads cause sexual arousal. Use adblockers to stop ads that come on the sidebars. Try that there should be no internet connection at home as it will help you to remain strong with your commitment.
5) Make new habits:
People must try to avoid pornography at every cost. For this, people must replace old habits of pornography with new and effective habits such as Yoga, Meditation, short Exercise, Running, etc.
6) Motivate yourself:
People must make themselves mentally strong so they will leave that habit. For this, they must have motivation. People must motivate themselves every day before going to sleep and after the sleep-in the morning. They must create passwords for the accounts and phones that motivate them, like “I can do it” or “you are stronger,” etc.
7) Always remain busy:
Boredom is a major factor in most cases of addiction to pornography. When people have nothing to do and their minds are not busy, they start to think about waste and trash things. When people remain busy, they don’t think about past bad habits as they don’t have time. People must focus on their goals and aims in their free time. They must follow some good habits to help them stay from pornography.
90 days of rehabilitation from pornography:
Pornography is an obsession same as drug addiction. If you are dragged into the lust and not able to get out of it, then 90 days of practice can help you get out of it. It is a new idea designed according to the human mind. Most of the time, people decide promptly that they would not watch pornography and end up watching it again. So, it is needed to take small and long-lasting steps for great change. Rehab is a modification of the human mind step by step.
· Initial 6 days:
These are the initial days when inner desire is so strong but a man wants to overcome it. It is not easy to leave an addiction so these are the most difficult days of rehabilitation where temptations, frustration, and anger are normal.
· 6–14 days of rehabilitation:
These are after the initial days when temptations are less than the first few days but headaches can be severe. Relapses start in this period.
· 14–70 days of rehabilitation:
This is the third step when the brain improves and re-changes back to normality. In this stage, at first, the penis is completely dull, and the desire and temptation are mostly gone. Later in this stage, you may get unexpected erections, but erectile dysfunction improves gradually. At the end of this period, you might fall into the idea that you have fully healed. But this idea can prove your enemy. So, be considerate and stick to your cycle.
70–90 days of rehabilitation:
The fourth category would be after 70 days. It is a time when you will feel newborn. You will be fresh and able to handle any kind of temptation. You can enjoy your life after 90 days and it will help you to healthy living
RELAPSING:
Relapsing is a process in which the movement is away from recovery. There are different stages of recovery from porn addiction and one of the stages is a relapse in which a patient again return to engaging with pornographic materials after a period of abstaining from it and the patient is again addicted to pornography. If any relapse after the small time of recovery then he or she must check his sponsor or attend therapy. Patients must start from the beginning to know the strategies that were used to overcome the porn addiction. If anybody has recovered due to the support of family members or due to teachers or friends then the patient must visit them to gain their support to recover again from porn addiction.
Conclusion:
Pornography is an addiction that can harm your Iman. According to Islam, Zina is not only doing sex out of marriage; it can be of eyes and ears. The way to your heart is the eyes; what you take through the eyes affects your heart directly. One who seeks excitement and peace in filth will never be able to taste the fruit of prayers. Islam gives the most convenient way to go out of it: marriage at an early age. One who fears ALLAH will be away from it. As an Ummah, we need our young, strong, ambitious, and healthy. There are many cases where people want to get rid of watching pornography but cannot. There should be rehabilitation centers to help these kinds of people to cure. It is time to realize that pornography is a disease that needs to be cured. People who fall into it and want to gain their normal life help them. It is time not to judge them and help them to overcome them. If we do not overcome it, as an ummah, there is a danger that we will lose “Haya,” which is an important branch of Iman. As the Prophet said,
Abdullah ibn Umar (Ra) narrated that the Prophet (saw) said: “Indeed haya (modesty) and Iman are Companions. When one of them is lifted, the other leaves as well.”
