Reproductive Health Education

I totally agree with faiza hussain. It is totally against our cultural and social norms to discuss this topic openly. In my opinion parents are the right source for this kind of education instead of making it part of curriculum thus making it an open topic for discussion.

This is a topic not adderessed in Mulsim cultures rather its one of those forbidden aspects of life that must not be discussed in public. I agree with your view that it is impportant to educate kids but at the same time we must take precaution not to corrupt their innocence. I think the major problem in countries like Pakistan nowdays is the advent of cable/satellite TV. Kids are getting addicted to the subliminal as well as provocative messages that are arousing sexuality and corrupting their morality. Having grown up in USA, I don`t think it is appropriate to learn about sex at the age that we learned about it (elementary school). I think we should make it clear to our kids that anytime they interact with others they tell us about the interaction in order to ensure that ill acts such as sexual abuse are not committed. There is no reason to fill a 7 year old kid`s mind with references of sex. Thanks for addressing a much neglected issue.

it is really funny to see two equally lost men--hamidm and tahmed arguing--the blind leading the blind!!

actually, at least hamidm is openly a heretic and doesn`t pretend to hide his contempt for traditional islam (disguised behind his sarcasm and wit) whereas tahmed is just offensive and pathetic. hamid doesn`t pretend to be a great authority on islam whereas tahmed thinks he understands the quran sharif whereas the muslims for the past 1400 years are all wrong!

hamid miaN

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i DO believe the qur`an to be the infallible, uncreated, Kalam of Allah Ta`ala. That is the orthodox aqidah.

ps there are a LOT of islamic lovemaking manuals available in arabic. i don`t know if any have been translated though...

hamidm2 #24 Why do you need a sex manual? What kind of a man are you anyway that you need instructions on how to do it?

Let me help you then (so that your chowk experience is not a complete waste):

Step 1: Suggest sex to the missus.
Step 2: Absorb (without whining, please) insults you receive from missus in return about your being inconsiderate(hey, you are used to being called ``baysharam liberal`` on chowk from Urstruly by now).
Step 3: Beg some more.
Step 4: Give up. Agree with missus that you know the meaning of ``No``, and go to sleep.
Step 5: Spend next day buttering up the missus the way men have buttered up women for ages (flattery, doing stuff you has been asking you to do, maybe even invest in some flowers).
Step 6: Follow up buttering up during the day with romantic foreplay in the evening (you may need to study a manual at this point).
Step 7: Do what your pet dog (or neighbors pet dog) could have told you. (if you still need instructions at this point, you dont need my advice. You dont even need picture books showing you ways it can be done. You just need viagra.

So quit whining about Islam not providing you with a sex manual.

PS: btw, on the other point in your post - i am not surprised you find the ``rational`` muslim to be dangerous. When you do irrational things (like attributing inane mullah phrases ``infallability of the koran`` to anyone who does not share your ridicule of islam), you are bound to find rational people to be dangerous.

tahmed,

mr naqshbandi is the best kind of muslim out there - his views might be quaint and laughable but they are not dangerous ............. at least i can live with people like him - the hari krishna variety who mean no harm and do no harm ............. on the other hand, ``rational`` muslims who are convinced that the koran is infallible and that it provides all the answers are a real danger to civilization.........

............ actually, if islam does provide a sex manual it is a lot more useful than a rambling book of random verses that don`t make any sense .............

Naqshbandi: Your putting the shroud of Islam on your sexual urges is just another way whereby individuals like you have made a mockery of Islam, and another reason why you and your shameless kind (the mullahs who can also talk quite filthy when given an excuse) cannot be considered muslims.
Go and masturbate if you have unfulfilled sexual urges - dont try to cover up your sexual fantasies concerning slender waists and things by dragging islam into them.

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naqsh miaN -- thanks for your exhausting/tive reasearch proving sex is `sacred` in Islam --and is made Halal by saying Bismillah --

now we can discuss sex education for our four wives...

brother naqshbandi,

.......... thank you for refreshing my faith in the greatness of islam....... may the blessings of the prophet and his favorite camel be upon you, and may allah subhan taa`la give you the iman and sexual prowess to perform acts of sadaqa and charity like a true momin - amen!............. ``seven times in a night!`` - they don`t make momins the way they used to ....... i guess today`s muslims lack the jazba of iman ..........

............ the horrible hindoos can keep their kama sutra and the jews can keep dr ruth - who needs them when we have ``Ihya Ulum Id-Deen`` and our own imam ghazali ............. if i had known this earlier i would have been a better muslim ........ if i had known you could substitute sex for namaz as a form of sadaqa and ibadat, i would have prayed a little bit harder ............... subhanallah!......... i will bring this matter to mrs hamidm`s notice and see if we can`t both strive to be better muslims and, if i am lucky, this ramadhan she will choose this path instead of starving herself unnecessarily ............ jazak allah khair!

nasah,

...... i can`t believe you asked, ``can`t we discuss even a laudable subject like sex education without bringing -- Islam, Allah and Mohammed into it? -- ``

............the answer is, ``no, we can`t``.......... why?......... because islam is not a religion, it is a ``complete way of life`` and you can`t do diddly without consulting the koran, the hadith or the sunnah .........you can`t even eat a big mac or use toothpaste without referring to the eating habits and hygiene standards of seventh century bedouins ............. so stop asking silly rhetorical questions .............

.............. as for the kama sutra, i think it is one good reason to revert back to the faith of our ancestors - they had this sex education thing figured out long before the doctor ruth came along .............why don`t we just use kama sutra as a standard text instead of trying to reinvent the wheel?

I agree with the gist of the article; however i think it is the job of the parents to impart such knowledge to their children--fathers to sons and mothers to daughters--and not that of the state. The problem is that many of the parents themselves are ignorant of the teachings of islam on this issue--which are very open and frank. My advice to any people who do not know and wish to find out is to consult the local imam or, if you can get access to them, read some of the classical texts on this issue--there are many. Imam Suyuti himself wrote 8 such texts on lovemaking techniques etc. subhan Allah.
``There is no sharm in shariat``--we should remember this advice; pre-colonial muslim societies were not as prudish as we have become.

The following article is excellent by my e-friend Brother Kamal, a Traditional Sunni:


Islam and Sacred Sexuality
The following is a private correspondence from Mr. Kamal S., reproduced with permission, about the relationship of Islam to sacred sexuality.

Before going further, I`d like to reproduce a quote by one of the greatest latter day Muslim scholars, a Mullah and Sufi Imam al-Suyuti, in his book, ``Kitab al-Idah fi ilm al-nikah``:

``May Allah grant glory and eternal salvation to those who know how to stroke a soft cheek in an accomplished manner, to give a just accolade to a slender waist, and to enter the sweetest farj (yoni) with a befitting skill!``

Islam`s views on sexuality really, really, are nowhere like Christianity`s. They resemble Judaism`s, barely, but are as far from Christianity`s as the Moon is from the Sun.

When dealing with religious traditions other than one`s own, there is a symbolic language that is closed to one unless one is very perceptive or sensitive.

The ``other`` is always feared or at least viewed with distrust. As a Wiccan I assume no doubt you realize how Christians look upon you as ``the other``, your religion as ``devil worship`` and in general are closed to understanding the symbolic universe in which you inhabit.

So too with Islam, for the vast majority of Westerners. For Christians Islam is the infidel other, for post-Judeo-Christian Westerners who moved beyond Christianity or Judaism, Islam is more so because you have the standard cultural discourse / polemic on Islam, added to that you have preconceptions of Judeo-Christian tradition, as well, that color one`s perception of Islam. This makes communication between traditions and cultures difficult at best, but we live in an age in which we, the peoples of the world, teeter on the edge of a knife. We cannot afford to not understand each other, for we stand before an abyss of war that threatens to engulf the planet. Only perceptive and open men and women can hope to bridge their differences and discover an underlying respect for ``the other``.

So my words are addressed in this light.

You state that Islam does not recognize the sacredness of sexuality. I understand that Islam is not very well known in the West, even today after Sept 11th, and that Muslims are often themselves ignorant to varying degrees of their faith, carrying varying degrees of commitment and understanding of the outward and inward teachings of their religion, but your statement is flat out wrong even on the most exoteric outward level of Muslim religion, culture, and civilization, not even touching esoteric, or mystical, teachings within the Islamic Dispensation.

Sexuality is considered sacred in Islam, in both the exoteric, legalistic understanding, as well as with the esoteric understandings of Islam`s sufis. Beyond the fact that the Prophet himself explicitly referred to sex with one`s wife as an act of worship for which one can acquire divine reward and grace, the mainstream Sufic scholars of Islam have long stated that sex has spiritual benefits. None of this is, on the surface, little known. The basic texts regarding the Prophet`s statements on sex between a husband and wife being a form of worship are very, very well known.

The Esoteric significances of sexuality have been lesser known by day-to-day Muslims because, frankly, the matter is irrelevant to those outside of circles of active seekers on one of the many spiritual paths (turuq) in the Islamic faith. Imam Ghazzali, Medieval Islam`s foremost exoteric and exoteric scholar, wrote to some degree on the spiritual and material benefits of sex, Ibn Arabi`s teachings contain the most explicit discussions of the benefits of sex from a mainstream Sunni perspective, explaining the usage of sexual intercourse to witness the manifestation of divinity in a women. Many others have written to some degree on these issues as well.

Books like the ``Perfumed Garden`` were considered marginal in the Islamic world, the better known corpus of sexual and erotic literature on it sspiritual and worldly significance is, by and large un translated. To give a small inkling as to what exists, the Muslim Mullah and scholar, Imam Suyuti (see above quote), wrote at least 9 known works on erotic techniques works. Suyuti`s considered one of latter day Islam`s greatest exoteric scholars. Most of his peers also wrote one or two works on the subject, some were quite prolific.

Obviously, to a Pagan, perhaps from a Judeo-Christian background, a strongly monotheistic tradition like Islam not only conjures up negative understandings of Western monotheistic traditions, but also Islam has a bad rap to begin with, in the West. Its easy, therefore, for someone unfamiliar with Islam, or at best marginally familiar with Islam, to see Islam through Judeo-Christian eyes, since all three faiths share much in common. However it is also true that in many cases all three faiths have WIDELY diverging viewpoints.

This is very true in the case of sex. Islam sees not only sexuality, but all worldly human activities, as potentially spiritually uplifting activities, paths and means to Allah, or banal and meaningless activities - or worse, activities distancing one from God. It is a matter of the explicit intention behind the act. Eating an apple can, in Muslim thought, be a valid means of approach to God depending one one`s intention, and as the Prophet told some of his male companions, there is divine reward in their wives` vulvas.

One statement of the Prophet is that:

``In the sexual act of each of you there is a sadaqa.``

Sadaqa, in Arabic, is a form of Worship defined primarily as a charitable gift, the implication here is that the sexual act is a gift. Second, Sadaqa is an act of worship, a rite, hard for Christians to understand, but in Islam any act with a specific intention is actually a rite.

The Prophet`s companions were astonished by this statement, asking ``Oh Messenger of God! When one of us fulfills his sexual desire, will he be given a (spiritual) reward for that?`` The Prophet replied yes, and given the context that they were astonished, obviously his answer was worded for their specific mind set, for the Prophet stated ``Speak to people according to their levels;`` that is, speak to people on the level that they understand, no more, no less. So in this discourse the Prophet went no further than to explain; ``Do you not think that were he to act upon it (lustful desire) unlawfully, he would be sinning? Likewise, if he acts upon it lawfully he will be rewarded.``

So making love to one`s wife, or husband, is considered a rewardable charitable gift to her, or him. So, on the outward level at least, Muslims have always looked upon sex as potentially an act of worship of some sort, on the lowest level as a charitable gift to another human being, at higher levels those who understand the nature of the godhead, understand that Males manifest specific attributes of divinity, and females other specific aspects, and that during the sexual union these merge making the union itself, firstly, symbolic of the Unity of Allah, in a metaphorical sense, but also enabling each respective gender to, if sensitive enough, actually ``see God`` in their partner.

This teaching is well known to the students of Ibn Arabi`s school of Sufi thought, though its likely that those able to make practical use of this latter understanding are an Elite, or ``Khawas`` as the term in Arabic goes...

A`isha bint Talha, the niece of the Prophet`s wife, A`isha, a pious, scholarly and beautiful, woman married the ascetic sage, Umar ibn Ubaydillah, a close companion of the Prophet. On their wedding night he made love to her less than 7 times, upon the rise of the morn, she told him:

``You are a perfect Muslim in every way, even in this!``

The Prophet also stated:

``Three things are counted inadequacies in a man. Firstly, meeting someone he would like to get to know, and taking leave of him before learning his name and his family. Secondly, rebuffing the generosity that another shows to him. And thirdly, going to his wife and having intercourse with her before talking to her and gaining her intimacy, (and) satisfying his need from her before she has satisfied her need from him.``

In other words, the Prophet stated that a proper Muslim is supposed to let his wife come before he comes. This a teaching 1400 years ago in a ``stodgy, patriarchal old faith.`` This too is not an uncommon statement of the Prophet, its pretty well known.

Regarding foreplay, the Prophet stated:

``Not one of you should fall upon his wife like an animal; but let there first be a messenger between you.``
``And what is that messenger?`` they asked;
and he replied: ``Kisses and words.``

The Sufi and Exoteric legalist scholar, Imam al-Ghazzali, stated that:

``Sex should begin with gentle words and kissing.``

The scholar of both outward exoteric studies, and inward studies, Imam al-Zabidi adds, in his commentary on Ghazzali:

``This should include not only the cheeks and lips; and then he should caress the breasts and nipples, and every part of her body.``

Remarkable that stodgy old Mullahs discuss such matters with such frankness. As I`ve tried to Indicate, Muslims are not, in any way, Christians... On this note, the Sufi (and exoteric scholar, but the man is better known for his Sufism) Imam Al-Junaid Al-Baghdadi used to say: ``I need sexual intercourse just as I need food.``

The boon friend and companion of the Prophet, son of the Prophet`s best friend, Ibn `Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), was amongst the most ascetic of the early Muslims. Indeed, it is stated that he used to break his fasts with sexual intercourse instead of eating.

In general, the practitioners of Islamic spiritual medicine (Unani Medicine, or Tibb al-Nabawi, the Hakim system, etc.) used to regard celibacy as potentially very dangerous, not only spiritually but also physically. Imam Muhammad ibn Zakariyya stated, quaintly:

``Abstaining from sexual intercourse for an extended period weakens one`s nervous system, can cause obstruction of the urethra, and shrinks the penis.``

Adding that he observed some people vowing temporary abstention from sexual intercourse, that their sexual energy diminished, they suffered general weakness of their bodies, became doleful, lost their desire, and their digestive system became corrupt.

In his Magnum Opus Encyclopedia of the Islamic Religious Sciences, the ``Ihya Ulum Id-Deen,`` Imam al-Ghazzali stated:

``When he has come to his orgasm (inzal), he should wait for his wife until she comes to her orgasm likewise; for her climax may well come slowly. If he arouses her desire, and then sits back from her, this will hurt her, and any disparity in their orgasms will certainly produce a sense of estrangement. A simultaneous orgasm will be the most delightful for her, especially since her husband will be distracted by his own orgasm from her, and she will not therefore be afflicted by shyness.``

The Ihya Ulum Id-Deen has been for over a thousand or so years the most popular work on the Islamic religious sciences, indeed it is a bestseller now in the Muslim world, and its sub-books have popular English translations even to-day.

The Sage and Jurist, Imam Abu Hanifa, was asked about a husband`s touching his wife`s private parts, and vice versa. His reply was:

``There is nothing wrong with that, and I hope that their (spiritual) reward will be great.``

In the Traditional Islamic world, men and women would begin sexual intercourse with prayer, or at the very least with a ``Bismillah`` in the name of God. Can anyone imagine a Christian woman being entered and shouting ``in the name of God``? Also traditionally Muslims uttered this also at the moment of climax, can anyone imagine a Christian man shouting ``In the Name of God`` as he came? The early Muslims recited a longer prayer at the moment of coming, but to-day, given the downward spiral of the world, many people are content with a simple ``Bismillah`` not so simple, it is actually a VERY profound utterance.

The ancient scholar, Ibn Qutayba, stated; ``The more a woman feels desire, the more she will be desired.``

Just as Islam`s sexual freedom, within bounds, confused and alienated more ascetic Christians. Today the few boundaries that Islam places around sexuality confuse and alienate post Christian freethinkers in the West. Islam simply sees itself as controlling and channeling powerful forces and energies. Lightening does little good, and static electricity build up dissipates uselessly, but if you channel electricity, you can light darkness, run toasters, and other assorted neat tricks. Quite useful. So too with sex, the forces are VERY powerful, capable of illuminating (literately) an individual, creating new life, and communities, but they can also be very destructive. Hence Islam channel ssexuality in the channels most conducive, we say, to forming stable Human communities while enabling spiritual advancement to take place free of great hindrances. Sexuality has a ``Hurmat`` to it, the body has a ``Hurmat``. Hurmat can be mistranslated with ease, this is the term from which ``Harem`` comes, with all of its accompanying images in modern minds. But Hurmat actually carries, implicit in the term, an awe almost. Hurmat is more of a sanctity. The Kaaba is called a ``Noble Harem`` in Arabic, as is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Though not explicitly stated by Muslim authors, the fact that the term describing the status of male and female nudity, or the inner sanctity of the house (Hurmat) is etymologically related to the titles of Islam`s three most sacred temples, can give the perceptive food for thought.

---

One might be motivated to say ``well, that`s fine and good, but it`s too bad Muslims nowadays do not practice, or know of this.`` I usually respond, ``Pshaw, what does the stater know of his statement,`` and point out that the person making the statement really has no clue what 1 billion plus contemporary Muslims believe, or do, beyond what they read in Newsweek, or beyond their impressions from the few Muslims they may run into. After Sept. 11th I realized the futility of scoffing at people`s impressions, people believe and know what they believe and know for profound reasons and its up to the one who knows differently to gently share his knowledge.

One interesting factor is this, even until the 19th century the Christian West condemned Islam... for being a sensualist`s religion, too sensual, too engrossed in worldly pleasure, a devil`s religion or orgies and orgiastic rites with a paradise full of nude nymphs. The Catholics called Muslims ``Naturalists``.

Today the post-Victorian, post-19th century Western man and woman see Islam as condemnable because it`s puritanical, life and world denying, and so on and so forth.

Some creative souls manage to integrate, with some difficulty of course, both visions of us.

We can`t win, either we are lecherous naturalists who smoke hashish, watch belly dancers, and copulate with gaggles of nymphets in large Harems all day, or we are stodgy bearded world denying, flesh hating, suicidal Puritans.

There is no doubt that puritanical tendencies have entered Islam since the 19th century, the example of the Taliban are a tragic example of this. It is to be noted that some sociologists (see Barbara Metcallfe`s work on 19th century Indian Islam,) have noted that when British and French colonialism took over much of the Muslim world, there was an inferiority complex produced. Since European Western Civilization was, at this time, in the throes of Victorianism, the moral code that defeated Muslims came to see as superior manifestations of their conquers` civilization was, oddly, Victorian prudishness. Its been said that the ``Burqa`` cloak that women in Afghanistan wear, was almost unknown in Afghani cities prior to the 19th century. It was imported from India, which was then under British control.

Many of us Muslims, however, simply prefer to think of ourselves as followers of a middle path, between extremes of asceticism or fleshy dissipation.

It is vital in today`s world that we try to transcend stereotypes on all sides and realize that peoples other than ourselves have much to contribute to the world. One contemporary web site on Tantra, Islam, and Sacred Sexuality sums up the whole matter thusly:

``Islam`s attitude toward sex is simple and easy to understand. As long as you`re married, you are free to enjoy sex as much as you like with your partner. You even get spiritual benefit from it (this is where the Sacred Sex part comes in). If there are any Muslims who don`t ``get it,`` that`s their failure to understand Islam, not the failure of Islam itself.

Islam cultivates deeply inward tendencies, encouraging inward contemplation versus exterior activity, the desired personality traits of male and female Muslims includes a very, very, intense modesty that borders on bashfulness. One contemporary Islamic scholar, based in California, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (who was briefly one of George Bush`s advisors on Islam post Sept. 11th) compared Islam to the Alhambra in Spain. From the outside it is a stern, imposing, majestic fortress, of solid stone and stout walls. When you walk into it, it is quite literally a paradise on earth, of light, flowers, flowing waters, almost music in stonework. Islamic home architecture in the traditional Islamic world has always been plain from the outside, stone and plaster, but the interior of traditional Muslim homes are often nothing short of miraculous in terms of their artistry.

Muslim peoples have excelled, usually, at two types of art: poetry and symbolic non-representational geometric art. The Muslim ethos can be best understood by grasping this. Even an outright extremist like Usama Bin Ladin is a poet.

Westerners have always failed to understand us in this respect, indeed Muslims have always failed to understand and appreciate Westerners` opposite tendencies. I hope that, post Sept. 11th, both civilizations can come to a closer meeting ground, and share and mutually benefit from what each has to offer. Otherwise the world may well be lost in a needless, brutal, senseless, and frankly stupid clash of civilizations.

There is no doubt that in the West primarily, after 1700 years of torture by an acetic flesh-denying Church, Westerners have only just begun to reawaken to their bodies` wisdom, to learn that their bodies themselves are intelligent, that man and woman are more than mind, that there is no mind/body split, to re-learn the ancient wisdom that the body is intelligent, alive, and capable of much more than they ever imagined. Just as we grow into our bodies and their powers and are awestruck at them as children, learning to walk, to run, to excel our limits and constantly grow, for almost 2000 years Westerners were unfairly denied much of the wisdom of the ancients regarding the body.

So now as consciousness of it spreads, some Muslims think that there is a tendency to go to the other extreme in the West, from puritanicalism and self-flagellation to debauchery. Muslims earnestly and sincerely believe that a middle way is possible, that one can have one`s cake and eat it too, in moderation. That if people centered themselves moderately they would have little desire to go to extremes. I am a Westerner as well as a Muslim, I remember straying from my family`s teachings in embracing the freedoms that teenagers in this society are encouraged to cultivate, the expansion and joys, but also the puking over toilets, the hangovers, the utter emptiness of meaningless casual sexuality without love, friends with VD or worse, friends burnt out on Ketamine or Ecstasy, or bright creative friends, artists, pnd oets, turned to dull, lethargic potheads. I`m convinced that a more moderate approach is healthy.

But it must be remembered that the wisdom of the body was not lost in the Eastern lands of the Muslims, nor in the South, in Africa. Medieval Islamic books are chock full of ``the etiquettes of dumbbell lifting`` - wrestling was always one of the top sports in the Islamic world, especially Turko-Persian. The Persian Islamic world has always had gymnasiums, ``Zur Khaneh`` (Houses of Power), in which spiritual pursuits were wedded to physical perfection seeking. Traditionally, until very recently, Iranian men used to hurry to the Zur Khaneh before their morning prayers, dance to the drums and swing weighted paddles around in complex geometric patterns (an early precursor of the popular Russian art of kettle ball lifting, mind you).

Muslims exalted exercise, bathing, and wearing perfumes and scent, for men and women, at a time in which the Church ignored the pagan wisdom of the Graeco-Roman world with its public baths, gymnasiums, and the like. The Church discouraged bathing even saying that it encouraged the body! Most peculiar. The Hui Muslims of China invented, early on, many of the most powerful styles of Chinese Gung Fu, such as the Cha Quan, the Hua Quan, the Liu Lu Duan Quan, the Toi Quan, the Yong Chan Quan, the 10 Routine Tan Toi, and also the very secret ``Angry Style`` that has only become known to Westerners in the late 1990s. During the Muslim festivals of the Fast Braking (Eid Fitr, or Bairam in Chinese) and on the Prophet`s Birthday, Hui Muslims hold great Gung Fu and Wushu exhibits and competitions outside their Mosques.

What I`m trying to illustrate is that Muslim peoples universally, from Nigeria to China, always held an appreciation for the body and saw no incompatibility between spirituality and pursuing physical pleasure, and even perfection, within what we simply see as wide and generous limits. Yes, limits, but they are pretty wide.

This was not forgotten even in the Western Muslim lands like Spain, from where the secrets of esoteric sexuality, the ideas of courtly ``Romantic`` love, and many other concepts, were taught to the troubadours who carried the messages of Sufi poetry to the rest of the West. Islamic Spain which was the route through which the West learned of Alchemy,both in the Chemical sense, the Hermetic sense, and even the sexual sense. (Aleister Crowley frequently asserted that the secrets taught in the OTO had origins in the Templars who got them from Arabs).

Much of this is documented even in our English language, but the secondary sources are so scattered, a lifetime of constant research can assemble the bits and pieces. But SO MUCH more is not available in English or French or German, indeed much has been lost in Arabic and Hindi and Persian even, some manuscripts molder in the British Museum or Cambridge not in circulation, not translated, lost to the East and West in a University attic. Today some Muslims, not all but many, are embarrassed by these matters. But they too are shaking off the insane puritanicalism of their grandparent`s generation to discover Islam before the colonial era.

Sincerely Yours, with peace,
Kamal S.
****

endquote.

Sadaf:The idea behind the article is indeed valid and justified. Also, the intended audience would certainly benefit from the highlighted examples. But your comparison with the western way of life is a little off here. It seems that you are being very careful in writing about the subject at hand to avoid any kind of controversy. The real challenge will be to institutionalize this thought in a formal fashion in all schools in Pakistan. Also, any woman who is to deliver a baby needs to be affiliated with a social service institution that gives her some basic tips and monitors her success. Since many times, young mothers emulate their mothers or other elders who never cared to speak about these matters openly or even cared to discuss them.

On another note, I am slightly amused to read the question in the 1st line of your second para. I am definite if not 101% sure that Islam never encouraged ignorance in any matter of life.

``Is that article for real?`` -- Saminasha

good question -- are WE for real?

really-- what is wrong with us Muslims -- can`t we discuss even a laudable subject like sex education without bringing -- Islam, Allah and Mohammed into it? --

why have we turned so weird?

do we have to take such an infantile route -- for a serious subject like sex education?

``While talking about sex education, first as Muslims we should know that whether sex education is allowed in Islam or not? Allah says in the Holy Quran (39:9) that: “say are they equal those who know, and those who do not know?” .........

well BEFORE we talk about Allah allowing sex education -- being a a GOOD MUSLIM shouldn`t we ``research`` FIRST whether Allah allows -- SLS -- a SIN Like SEX itself... ?

another gem:

``Allah has discussed reproduction, family life, menstruation and even ejaculation in the Quran (Dr. Shahid A., n.d.)``

....even ejaculation? -- is there an Islamic way to ejaculate? -- man what planet do we come from

another precious line:

Even the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), used to discuss many aspects of sexual life including sexual positions with His companions, ........(Dr. Shahid A., n.d.).``

sexual positions? -- thanks for quoting the Sahabi Dr. Shahid otherwise it would have hard to believe that Mohammed wrote the Kamasutra.....

yet another diamond:

``The anal route of doing intercourse is not allowed in Islam, as the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) has said that “cursed is the one who approaches his wife in her rectum” (Dr. Shahid A., n.d.)``.....

do we have to be sooo clinical -- really??? --

Poor Mohammed -- indeed (PBUH -- Peace Be Upon Him) -- actually he needs more (GSHFHFF -- God Save Him From His Foolish Followers) than -- PBUH...

Is this article for real?

Hamid,
re: Kama Sutra

And yet the ``horrible hindus`` disclaim any connection to it-did you read the bahana when a Western law/divinity prof. dared refer to it as ``sacred``? Looks like Muslims on the subcontinent arent the only ones with issues!

........what really amazes me about the horrible hindoos is how a people who invented sex and came up with a masterpiece like the kama sutra have fallen to the level of muslims when it comes to ignorance and superstition about sex ............what happened?......... i don`t know about the rest of it, but it seems that the muslim conquest definitely destroyed the one good thing in india ............ that`s why i am all for the reconstruction of a festive mandir to replace the funereal babri masjid ............ let the light shine once again ............