Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi 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- Islam intends to build a community based on chastity, modesty and bashfulness.
2- Islamic teachings have laid restrictions on the interaction between marriageable men and women to block all ways to evil practices.
Answering your question, Dr. Muhammad Salama, PhD in Islamic Studies in English, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences al-Madinah International University (Mediu), states:
Asexuality seems to be a very problematic term, because it is more related to feeling. There is no litmus test to determine if someone is asexual. Even scientific researchers have differed whether it could be a sexual orientation.
Asexuality is generally defined as the lack of sexual attraction or the lack of sexual interest. But it does not mean inability to have sex. Some asexual persons may engage in sexual activities, despite lacking sexual attraction or a desire for sex, due to a variety of reasons, such as a desire to please romantic partners or a desire to have children.
Some asexual persons may engage in purely romantic relationships. This means that even if an asexual person wants to have a relationship without having sex, he may have sex to please the other partner.
But illicit sexual contacts are not the only reasons behind the Islamic strong restrictions that regulate interactions between members of opposite sexes.
Islam takes prohibitive measures and does not wait for evil to take place. Women have been commanded to observe hijab, which is much more than a head scarf; it is a lifestyle and a way of conduct.
Both men and women have been commanded to lower their gazes and not to look at members of the opposite sex except for a legitimate reason.
Unnecessary mingling between marriageable men and women is not permissible and any contact has to be within the Islamic guidelines in this regard.
All evil practices between men and women are results of neglecting such teachings.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.