I was asked by a brother whether or not it is true that Shi’ite men are allowed to derive sexual pleasure from infant children, and even new-born babies, by fondling them or rubbing their genitals on them. I told him that I would post about this issue soon, so this post of mine is about that topic.Yes, this is indeed permissible for Shi’ites. But I warn my brother from the Ahlus Sunnah to not rush to condemn the Shi’ites for this moral depravity, since I’ve looked in our own texts and I could not find any rules in the works of jurisprudence of all the madhabs that forbid such behavior. And since deriving sexual pleasure from your wives or female slaves is generally permissible in Islam, and only sexual intercourse is prohibited before the age of maturity (typically at 9 years), it appears that the act of lustful fondling and thighing infant wives may be permissible for us as well.

So if we condemn the Shi’ites for these hideously immoral laws, and it turns out that they are permissible in our faith as well, then obviously they cannot be immoral since our religion allows them, so we will have to walk back our previous comments to the Shi’ites, which might be a little embarrassing for us. So take heed!

Anyway, coming to the actual issue, here are the rulings of their scholars (the “Ayatullahs”) about this topic.



The most prominent Shi’ite scholar in the world today is Ayatullah Sistani, who resides in Najaf. This is what he has to say about this issue in his book Minhaj as-Saliheen (in the Chapter of Nikah):

مسألة 8 : لا يجوز وطء الزوجة قبل إكمال تسع سنين، دواماً كان النكاح أو منقطعاً، واما سائر الاستمتاعات كاللمس بشهوة والتقبيل والضم والتفخيذ فلا بأس بها،‏

http://www.sistani.org/arabic/book/16/858/
Issue #8: It is not permissible to have sexual intercourse (with one’s wife) before she reaches 9 years in age, be it in Nikaah (permanent marriage) or Mut’a (temporary marriage). As for all other pleasures such as lustful touch, kissing, embracing, and thighing (i.e., rubbing penis between the thighs), there is no problem in it. [That is, there is no problem in deriving such pleasures from one’s wife before she reaches the age of 9 years.]

Another extremely important Shi’ite leader from the 20th Century was Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. You might be familiar with him due to his prominence in the late 20th century, especially due to him being the founder of the current Islamic Republic of Islam. He also repeats the same ruling as above in his book Tahreer al-Waseelah:

مسألة 12 : لا يجوز وطء الزوجة قبل إكمال تسع سنين ، دواما كان النكاح أو منقطعا ، و أما سائر الاستمتاعات كاللمس بشهوة و الضم و التفخيذ فلا بأس بها حتى فى الرضيعة

Tahreer al-Waseelah, volume 2, page 343
Issue #12: It is not permissible to have sexual intercourse (with one’s wife) before she reaches 9 years in age, be it in Nikaah (permanent marriage) or Mut’a (temporary marriage). As for all other pleasures such as lustful touch, embracing, and thighing (i.e., rubbing penis between the thighs), there is no problem in it, even if she is a suckling baby.

Some other prominent Shi’ite scholars who have given the same ruling regarding deriving sexual pleasure from babies are the following:

• Ayatullah Khoei, the teacher of Ayatullah Sistani mentioned above, and the head of the Hawzah in Najaf till his death, in his book: Al-Mabani fi Sharh Urwat al-Wuthqa

• Ayatullah Muhammad Kazim Tabtaba’i Yazdi in his seminal work, al-Urwat al-Wuthqa, volume 5, page 502.

• Ayatullah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani in his book Tafseel ash-Sharee’ah fi Sharh Tahreer al-Waselah.

• Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Sadeq Rouhani in his book al-Urwat al-Wuthqa, volume 2, page 469.

• Ayatullah Muhsin al-Hakeem in his book Mustamsak al-Urwah, volume 14, page 79.

So hopefully that answers the question. Again I must warn the brothers to be careful in this regard, since this immoral law might be permissible in our faith as well, which would make it completely, 100% moral. So do not rush to judgments too quickly. And, indeed, Allaah is the best of Helper and the best of Guides.