Sex Education Acceptable In Islam
"There is no shame in knowing one's religion. Ask everything that you do not understand."
Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Sanusi Gumbi of Kaduna, Nigeria, is interviewed by Ilyasu Ibn Muhammad.

Q: At what age should a child be taught sex education?

Gumbi: As we all know, there is nothing which Islam has not taught its followers. Sex education in Islam is taught theoretically and not practically. If a child is being taught sex education it is not permissible for his teacher to come into body contact with him during the period of study. As long as a person has reached the age of puberty, it is not permissible for him/her to see the thigh of another person. However, sex education can be taught properly. When we look at the book of Buhari, a hadith from the Prophet (PBUH) shows where he (the Prophet) was teaching his companions how to perform purification bath, he said, "if he sits in between her (thighs) and exhausts her, then a purification bath becomes compulsory." Here, he only made a statement which explains how intercourse may take place, but he did not say come and sit here let me demonstrate how it is done. Therefore when teaching, there is no harm in explaining how it is done. There is even no harm in drawing on the board, but not when the teacher and his students come in contact. We have books in Islam, which explain the purification bath, what spoils ablution; some of these things explains how the sperm or semen is emitted.

Q: Still, at what age should a child know about sexual intercourse?

Gumbi: In modern times, a child of primary school, say age seven, should start knowing these things, before he/she becomes fully mature.

Q: Is it proper for children to start knowing about sexual oriented vices like homosexuality at such age?

Gumbi: Yes, it is in Islamic books of jurisprudence and history. It has shown that homosexuality and their likes exist. Children should be taught about this, likewise the punishment for it. If you go to our settlements in Northern Nigeria, remote areas where we grew up, you will find young children learning about these things. They learn about them and their punishments, so that by the time they grow up and mature, they will know how to deal with such cases. They should know that it is forbidden.

Q: What is the Islamic perspective on masturbation. Is it proper for young children to learn it?

Gumbi: Whatever it is that Allah has ordered mankind to adhere to and forbid them from, there is no harm in young children knowing about them. They should know them thoroughly and then learn their virtues and vices. All that matters is that they should not see them being done practically, so that they will not attempt doing it.

Q: What is the Islamic view on contraception and what effect does it have on children knowing about them?

Gumbi: Teaching children about contraceptives such as condom, is like encouraging them to go and have sex, because in the Hausa culture, what makes one to migrate to another area is the issue of pregnating a woman out of wedlock. With the introduction of condoms, these people of shameful character have found an avenue to do so as they wish. Therefore it has become necessary for children to know that these things have negative effects, even if they have advantages. They should know that it should be used when lawfully married.

Q: Is it permissible for young children to know the intensity of sexual arousement, like where to touch, how a partner should react, and other heated sensations, which cannot be mentioned here?

Gumbi: If it is all in explanation, there is no fault. In Abu Hanifah's school of thought, he said, there is no harm for a person seeking marriage to smell the lady he intends marrying and vice versa and there is also no harm for them looking at each other properly, because they are expected to be life partners. there is no harm in children knowing all these things. All that matters is that there should be no practicals. As a young man growing up, there was a time my Mallam [teacher] was teaching me, you know how raw Sokoto Hausa is [the local language], he said penis in Hausa, he said virgina in Hausa and then was explaining how one enters the other then I laughed, he cautioned me not to laugh and said that "fiqhu cannot be taught without explanation." Even the Prophet (PBUH) was asked by a woman as is narrated by a Hadith reported by Aisha. The woman asked what the Islamic injunction of a woman who sees what a man sees, she was referring to wet dreams, because a woman can have a wet dream just as a man does. Before the Prophet (PBUH) was able to answer, Aisha said to the woman "why are you asking such a question? do you want to embarrass us in front of the Prophet?" the Prophet then said there is no shame in knowing one's religion. Ask everything that you do not understand.

Q: In this part of the country, the mention of sexuality education makes people jittery due to lack of the knowledge of fiqh. Or is it the normal culture here?

Gumbi: People here like to wear the garb of ignorance whereas they know what is true. Somehow they are 100 years backwards. Even what they read in the fiqh books have not fully been comprehended. When in the past sexuality education was not taught, it led people to pregnanting women out of wedlock, which is very shameful. Islam is not against theoretical sex education. It only frowns at the practical aspect. Sex is a natural thing. no animal is taught it. it happens naturally.

Q: What is the Islamic view on abortion?

Gumbi: Abortion in Islam is haram (forbidden). However, there is the permissible abortion where a married woman is concerned, where it is discovered that if a child would become a nuisance to people if it was born with some deformity or something of that nature. Now, questions where thrown to scholars, where it was agreed that abortion is haram, except in a case where the foetus has not yet matured to become a living being.

Q: Still on sex education, some have the view that sex education should be left as parent's responsibility. What is your view?

Gumbi: There are schools where human mannequins are brought in front of the class and these mannequins are used to demonstrate the sexual act. Muslims have frowned at such demonstrations because children would practice it when it is practically shown to them. However, it has to be taught because children will mature and like we have been stressing, it should be taught theoretically, so that when these children mature, they will know what to do in the light of difficult circumstances and situations that arise in relation to sexual intercourse.

© Weekly Trust, Kaduna Nigeria
July1, 2002