Satan readies himself and chooses his prey carefully. He is determined as he shoots the arrows of looks to go through your eyes, tearing the veils of modesty and chastity. This arouses the desires of the weak heart, which commands the body to pursue the satisfaction of such desires. The tongue speaks, the legs walk, and thus, unlawful acts are committed and the soul falls into the mire of sin.

 

“That is purer for them”

 

In order to ward off this Satanic cycle, Allah The Almighty instructed his believing slaves, both men and women, to lower their gaze. He told them that this would purify them. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Tell the believing men to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts. That is purer for them. Indeed, Allah is acquainted with what they do. And tell the believing women to reduce [some] of their vision and guard their private parts.} [Quran 24:30-31]

 

Ibn Al-Qayyim  said in his well-known book Al-Fawaa’id: A collection of Wise Sayings that Sahl ibn ‘Abdullah  says, "Abandoning the order is greater than committing the prohibition in the Sight of Allah because Adam, may Allah exalt his mention, was forbidden to eat from the tree and when he, may Allah exalt his mention, ate from it Allah accepted his repentance, but Satan was ordered to prostrate to Adam, when he refused and Allah did not accept his repentance."

Again Ibn Al-Qayyim   says in his another famous book in Ad-Daa’ wad-Dawaa’, “Look at the accuracy of the Quranic expression in the order to lower the gaze, as if Allah The Almighty reminds us that not lowering the gaze causes the doom of the doer and his suffering in this life and in the Hereafter. Failing to lower one’s gaze is the basis for the problems that afflict man. An unlawful look generates thoughts, then thoughts generate ideas, then ideas generate desires, then desires generate will, which develops into resolve and determination, then the action inevitably takes place if there is nothing to prevent it.”

 

This is the destructive cycle of Satan, which traps the one who does not lower his gaze, then records the images and scenes seen by his treacherous eyes. The cursed Satan waits for the moment of weakness in man's faith to release these images and scenes in his mind and soul, igniting his sexual desire, which dominates the heart that commands the body to disobey Allah The Almighty, and so on in a consecutive sequence. The more the images vary, the easier arousal and falling into sin will be. On the other hand, the less the images and scenes, the weaker their impact and influence on the heart will be. According to a saying, "Patience over lowering the gaze is easier than patience over the pain of its consequences."

 

O Muslim who does not lower his gaze, if your eyes roam around looking at the charms of beautiful women, you would plant in your heart thorns of loss and regret.

 

 

“Allah knows that which deceives the eyes”

 

Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {He knows that which deceives the eyes and what the breasts conceal.} [Quran 40:19] This is a great verse and the interpreter of the Quran, Ibn Mas‘ood, may Allah be pleased with him, tells you its meaning, "It refers to a man who enters a person's house where there is a beautiful woman among them, or that a beautiful woman passes by them, and while they do not notice him, he looks at her; when they see him, he lowers his gaze. However, Allah The Almighty Knows that he inwardly wishes to see her private parts."

 

The great scholar, Al-Ameen Ash-Shinqeeti  said in his book Adhwaa’ Al-Bayaan, "The verse contains a warning for the one who betrays with his eyes by looking at what is unlawful for him. The slave of Allah will stand before Allah and be questioned about his senses. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.} [Quran 17:36]

 

If you will be questioned on the Day of Resurrection about your stares and looks, have you prepared an answer for this?

 

The fornication of the eyes

 

To make this act more repugnant to the souls, the Prophet  called it adultery of the eyes. It was narrated on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet  said: "Allah has written for the son of Adam his inevitable share of adultery. The adultery of the eye is looking (at what is prohibited), the adultery of the ears is listening (to what is prohibited), the adultery of the tongue is uttering (what it is unlawful to utter), the adultery of the hand is doing (what is prohibited), the adultery of the legs is walking (to what is prohibited) and the heart desires and wishes for (adultery) and the private parts affirm that or contradict it." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

 

In Sharh Saheeh Muslim, An-Nawawi  said, “The meaning of the Hadeeth is that a share of adultery is written for the son of Adam. Some people commit actual adultery such as a male commit sexual intercourse with a female who is unlawful to him. Other people commit adultery in the figurative sense by looking at the prohibition or listening to adultery and its relevant affairs, or by touching with the hand a non-Mahram (marriageable) woman or kissing her, or by walking to commit adultery, seeing, touching, or forbidden talking with a non-Mahram woman, or by inner thoughts. All these things belong to metaphoric adultery. By "The private parts affirm that or contradict it" it means that adultery might actually happen through the private parts or might not take place by entering the male genital organ into the female genital organ even if he is close to doing it. Allah knows best.”

 

Public corruption

 

Giving free rein to the gaze has corrupted most human beings; the display of beauty no longer has limits, and indulgence in luxury no longer has restraints. Adornment, clothing and fashion have penetrated our minds, surpassed all the restrictions and barriers, and has become like a sea of chaos where good taste is drowned and the pure, chaste heart is spoiled.

 

Destruction of homes

 

It is noticeable that one of the most important causes of problems in many homes is failing to lower the gaze. When the husband releases his gaze, a comparison will seep into his heart between his wife and the corrupting programs made by some people to tempt others. This comparison causes many problems in homes, when the husband asks his wife to give him what he sees from dissolute women and provocative images are imprinted in his mind.

 

It is also noticeable that releasing the gaze is one of the main reasons for the delay in marriage. That is because the young man already has in his mind multiple examples of beautiful girls, especially those whom he watches on television and searches hard to get one like them. Yet, he will not get what he wants, because what he sees on television is generally deceptive beauty and false femininity, and thus leads him to delay his marriage and affects the marriage of Muslim girls with him.

 

On our journey towards handling the ‎problem of sexual desires that embitter the life of many Muslim ‎young men, let us discuss an important issue that will help you ‎release yourself from the captivity of sexual desires, namely, ‎"closing the open doors”.‎

Here, the words “open doors” stand for everything that is related to sexual‎ desire and sins, and for the things that can lure you to return to them once more. Hence, your sincere repentance and honest determination to abandon such sins requires making haste to close these doors, which include the satellite dish, internet, magazines, and other remnants of that past.


Taking this important decision requires a moment of truthfulness with yourself, because you must get rid of all that can take you back to your past, just as you have got rid of your past itself.

You must take the decision to leave the swamps of sin for the gardens of obedience and closeness to Allah The Exalted, like the one who killed a hundred people and then Allah The Exalted admitted him to Paradise due to his sincere repentance.

Take the decision to get rid of everything that reminds you of the dismal past, and that supports and gives power to your devil over you.

These decisions require taking the following steps:

1- Tear up all the immoral magazines that you keep. Then remove the pictures that are hung on the walls of your room and replace them with posters of Hadeeths (narrations) and things that remind you of Allah The Almighty. You could also put up pictures of natural scenery.


2- Destroy video tapes, CDs or films that you keep on your PC by deleting them, and replace them with religious or scientific lectures and materials.


3- Purify your PC from any pornographic sites and then force yourself not to return to these sites by installing anti-porn software on your PC to block any pornographic sites.


4- You must immediately sever your relationship/s, if you have any, with girls, and you must erase their phone numbers that you keep.


These steps will not be hard to take as long as you have a good intention and strong determination, as Ibn Al-Qayyim  said in Al-Fawaa’id,


“Whoever abandons habits for the sake of ‎other than Allah The Almighty, will surely face difficulty. However, ‎whoever abandons habits for the sake of Allah The Almighty sincerely from his ‎heart; he will not find any difficulty in abandoning it except at first. (This initial difficulty) is to test if ‎one is sincere and truthful. If he endures this difficulty for a short time, it will turn ‎into pleasure. Ibn Seereen said, ‘I heard Shurayh swear by Allah; no slave of Allah abandons something for the sake of Allah and feels a sense of loss.’ It is said, ‘Whoever abandons anything for ‎the ‎sake of Allah, He will compensate him with what is better.’ ‎Of course, ‎compensation is of different kinds and the best is to ‎be ‎compensated by Allah with His love, and the heart’s tranquility, satisfaction, strength, activity, happiness, and contentment.”

Thus, be patient, because the sweetness of good health enables one to endure the bitterness of medicine.