Purify Your Gaze is a three-week online awareness campaign discussing pornography addiction within the Muslim community.
From November 22nd through December 10th, 2010 Imancipate, an organization exclusively working with Muslims struggling with sexual addictions, will partner with ICNA and other national Muslim organizations and influential Muslim individuals within the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom to shed light on a silent, shameful addiction affecting tens of thousands of Muslims and their families.
Pornography addiction is a psychological dependence upon pornography, characterized by compulsive reading, viewing and obsessing about pornography to the detriment of a person’s well being and affecting all areas of his or her life. It is usually coupled with other manifestations of sexual compulsive behaviors, and, like other addictions, can worsen without treatment.
Wide availability of and easy access to pornography and anonymity of the Internet have added to the problem, where an addict can spend hours searching the Internet for the newest or most hardcore pornographic material.
Pornography addiction been a growing problem within the Muslim community; this addiction does not discriminate based on the length of your beard, how observant a Muslim you are, or whether or not you pray five times a day.
ICNA encourages and supports its members who may be affected directly by pornography addiction to learn more about proactive measures they can take to improve their situations.
If you are currently struggling with pornography addiction or other sexual behaviors, or are the spouse of an individual with this struggle, an anonymous online survey has been put together to compile statistics and measure some of the problems and trends amongst Muslims.
You can take the survey here: http://www.purifyyourgaze.com/case-study/
I’ve been Begging for a wife since I was a Three Year Old Boy, You People seem to Judge those without a Legal Legitimate Spouse to Entertaain and to be Entertained by, but what do you say when a Man begs everyone and their Parent for a Legal Spouse and Everyone Denies that bassic Right, Even though Seculars and Kuffar and ******** thaat Fornicate out of Wedlock have no Shortage of options to Get rid of the Urge, Yes I fast, I fasted and Prayed until the People of Masjid At Taqwa in Brooklyn New York Locked me away in the Mental Hospital because I was Judged as “Overly Religious”. So I am damned when I Pray and Fast, They call me and Extremist and lock me away, and I am Blamed when I go to an outside resource to entertain myself when Imam soandso says the Mahr for one of the women in their American Muslim Community Masjids is More than $13,000.USD Thirteen-Thousand Dollars to Marry a Secularized American Woman and to keep her in their Masjid and not take her away to a real muslim Country like Syria or Arabia to veil her and the children. What is a man like Myself to do besides Zhikr, self distracting livelihoods, Play Videogames, talk to family, hunt, fish, cook what is caught, and to Prepare for Allahs decision like the Baring of The Shins?
Assalamalaikum
Look into your relatives. Fix on one, and propose her (Islamically)and then start your hunger strike…decently. Pray Allah…
May Allah make your test easy on you…ameen
Jamal, you look confused- why do you want to marry a girl from here and take her to a different country. And begging for wife since 3 years old? Isn’t it insanity? You should rather think about your career and achievements. Do something great ( may be a get a good job, degree etc) . The girls will come after you then!
Alhamdullilah,
Brother Jamal I am in the same situation as you. I am 28 and have never hesitated at the option to marry. 17 or 18 would have been ok with me. I ve been in and out of the military, have lost my job, have had some casualties occur in my life, I have fallen in love with people none-muslim and muslim, and have had to keep back because I know Allah does not want that for me. All that and then more pain from having to be alone. And, Alhamdullilah I have not done anything really destructive like fornication or something. My point is I know what you are going through and so does Allah. He is the one we are returning to. Allah is not going to ask you how much wealth you have, but how you spent your wealth. He is not going to ask you how old you are but how you spent your youth. He is not going to ask if you have a Masters degree or Phd, but he will ask you “what have you done?” So dont let anyone tell you you have to have these things to get married. The best sister will be wise enough to look to your God conciousness, and whether you are following our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as much as you can. Please do your best to please God and the rest will follow, inshallah. Allah made us Men descendants of Adam (pbuh), we are not Angels, and we are not robots. So may Allah forgive us our faults. So please remember (along with me) our final goal is paradise God willing. This experience should warm your heart knowing that you tried your best. Remember Allah said he will not suffer the reward of the righteous to be lost. And May Allah save us from what he has decreed, and peace and blessings on our Master example; Muhammad as well as the messengers and warners. And May Allah forgive me from saying anything wrong here. Asalamu Alaikum
Beloved Khayra Ummatin (The Best Ummah) Inna ALaha Ahlaya Nasriheem La Qadir. (For Their Aid Allah Is Most Powerful) As Salaamu’ Alaikum. Shukran Wa Jazakallah Khair To The Staff That Set Up This Website. And It Is A Good Sign Of Maturity That Muslims Are Helping Each Other To Address This Heinous Secret Sin. I Have Seen Homes Destroyed By This Addiction. And It Is Rampant Across The Entire community Of Faith. As an Online Imam I will offer my insight into this matter. In the nature of the woman she is relational and quite content once her quest for security in her mate has been satisfied. And therefore is a lot less likely to stray into the dram of pornography. Now the man is a visual creature from our hunter – gatherer evolution so to speak. Our sexual functions (interest)(arousal switches) are primarily set off by Visual Cues. Which is one of the reasons Allah (SWT) particularly addresses the Men In Lowering Their Gaze. And in fact our sexual functions so driven by Visual Cues that we can have a Noctural Ejaculation recreating a Visual Memory from hours ago or years ago or even a Visual Cue that we create from our imagination. SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN? It means for men under Prayer and The Desire for Righteousness we can remain God-Fearing and Lawful. But if you add 30 Seconds of Pornographic Images to that magnificent computer creation known as the brain you may not recover in a lifetime. WHY DO I SAY THAT? Memory Recall Is divided into short term and long term memory. And many people have varying degrees of photgraphic memory (10 percent – 20 percent; ecetera.) So your mind will keep replaying those images that you looked at yesterday or yesteryear over and over in your conscious mind. Before you know it your prayers will become befogged (powerless) and you will start looking at all women differently (fleshly.) AND THIS MONSTER THAT YOU HAVE CREATED WILL CONTINUE TO GROW until it consumes your ability to reason clearly and destroy your relationships with others or even worst. Allah; As Sabur The Most Patient Tells Us In Quran That Unlawful Sexual Relationships Opens Us Up To The Total Destruction Of Self In Other Matters Of Sin. And Allah; Al Halim The Most Forbearing Tells Us In Quran That IT IS MAN WITH THE HELP OF SATAN WHO IS HIS OWN WORST ENEMY. And I Will Close With A Verse From The Kitabiyya: Poverbs 3 That Says “Can A Man Take Fire Into His Bosom And Expect To Not Be Burned.” The Only Way To Avoid The Scourage Of Pornography Is To Avoid It And Turn To Al Islam Like We Should. That’s Al Haqq (The Truth). I Hope Somebody Got Set Free. Khuda Hafiz.
Asalaam alaikum. I am stuck at this era myself. I don’t know what to do or how to approach anyone about it. I am so shameful of it that I never want to discuss this with anyone face to face. I am looking for someone to help me out of this; someone who can hear my story and help me out. I really see myself as a good person, but I don’t know what takes over me and make me commit regretful acts. I completely get blinded.
I appreciate the help.
Asalaam alaikum. I am stuck at this era myself. I don’t know what to do or how to approach anyone about it. I am so shameful of it that I never want to discuss this with anyone face to face. I am looking for someone to help me out of this; someone who can hear my story and help me out. I really see myself as a good person, but I don’t know what takes over me and make me commit regretful acts. I completely get blinded.
I appreciate the help.