Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- Muslim youth are advised to fear Allah and to avoid all sources of temptation, especially at summer time.
2- A Muslim young man is to armor himself with piety and fear of Allah.
3- A Muslim young man should try his best to get married as soon as possible as this will protect him from temptation.
Responding to the question, Dr. Sano Koutoub Moustapha, Professor of jurisprudence and its principles at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, states:
As all of us know, fitnah is rampant all over the place nowadays; therefore, the best way of avoiding it is to get married as soon as possible.
This is based on the Prophetic hadith:
“O young people, whoever reaches adulthood or becomes able to get married, he should do so, thus it would protect him. But for those who are not able to do so, they should keep fasting (Mondays and Thursdays); thus fasting would protect them.” (An-Nasa’i)
In this regard, I am of the opinion that marriage is a great help for the youth who want to avoid fitnah.
In addition to this, one needs to lower one’s gaze as required by the Quran in Surat An-Nur: 30–31. This gesture is also a great help in terms of avoiding fitnah.
Finally, the youth should remember the Prophetic duaa (supplication) that he gave one day to a young man who couldn’t refrain himself from adultery. He (peace and blessings be upon him) prayed for him by saying, “O Allah! Help him to be chaste, purify his heart and forgive his sins.” (Ahmad)
Accordingly, it is strongly recommended for the Muslim young man who is faced with temptation to repeat this duaa all the time by saying, “O Allah! help me to be chaste, purify my heart and forgive my sins.
I am sure that the youth should do their best to busy themselves in doing good and useful deeds. They should avoid having more free time or having too much interaction with the opposite sex.
Furthermore, they should always have friends who would help them to fill their time in a proper manner. From the depth of my heart, I pray to Allah to protect the Muslim youth and guide them in their vacation and summer camps. I wish them all an excellent and fruitful vacation!
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.