Q: I want to know that if any adult young unmarried guy intentionally sees one of his maternal aunt/ paternal aunt/cousin sister/sister in law/fully naked through peeping in bathroom, changing room etc for enjoyment, and for lust or watches their body parts through thin dress when she’s engaged in house keeping work and intentionally peep into dress from neck side for inner view of body and masturbates. Does all these acts comes under major sins? And if any unmarried guy intentionally touches body parts of married mother’s cousin sister like her legs, put his arms around her shoulder, keep closer for touch, caress her back, waist etc for enjoying body part with lust over dress and his aunt considers all these things as love or affection of nephew is it zina (fornication)? Does it impact on the nikah of his aunt? And if anybody did this, what they do? Will Allah forgive him? How does a guy ask for repentance?
A: Kissing, looking at the body of, or touching and deriving sexual gratification with one’s aunts, cousins and sisters-in-law, are acts of zinaa in Shariah, and the sin is the same as zinaa, except that the punishment of lashing will not be meted out to such a person as for one who actually committed fornication. These are major sins in Islam. In the case of one’s aunt, it will not be permissible for her nephew who did these acts to her, to marry her daughters. (Al Fatawa Al Hindiyyah, 1:274) But the marriage of the aunt is still intact.
One has to perform sincere taubah for these evil acts and never repeat them. Following hereunder is the method of taubah:
METHOD OF TAUBAH:
► Perform a two rakaats salaah with intention of Salaatut-Taubah or Namaaz-e-Taubah
► In the first rakaat read Surah Qul Yaa Ayyuhal Kaafiroon (Surah Kaafiroon), and in the second rakaat Surah Izha Jaa-a Nasrullah (Surah Nasr).
► After the namaaz make one tasbeeh of the following istighfaar:
أَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ وَأَتُوبُ إِلَيْهِ
One tasbeeh means one hundred times.
► Then lift up the hands and make sincere dua to Allah, crying and begging for forgiveness. Mention the following four things in your dua:
1) O Allah! I confess and admit to my sin and feel ashamed. I regret what I did.
2) O Allah, forgive me for this sin. I beg your forgiveness and your mercy.
3) O Allah, I promise I shall never ever repeat this sin again. Give me one more chance O My Beloved Allah, I promise that I will not do it again. Help me O Allah, and strengthen my resolve.
4) O Allah! Save me from the evil effects of the sin that I committed. Save me from disgrace and humiliation, and don’t let me or others around me get affected by this sin. Hide my sins from others O Allah!
One must cry and make the face like a crying person. Thereafter one should constantly feel regret and consciously build up hatred and resentment for that sin. Most importantly, make strong effort never to commit that sin again. Don’t allow yourself to be tempted by that sin; don’t go to places or to people that will invite you back to that sin.
It appears that the young boy to whom this question refers has become habitual in committing these evil sins. He, therefore, needs to be rehabilitated and reformed. We suggest he approaches an aalim in his town for guidance on how to reform himself from acts of lust and sex.
And Allah Ta’ala knows best. May Allah grant him complete cure from this serious sickness, aameen.
Mufti Siraj Desai