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Is the Hadith: "The son of Adam has his share of adultery written for him, which he will inevitably attain: The adultery of the eyes is looking, the adultery of the ears is listening, the adultery of the tongue is speaking, the adultery of the hand is striking, the adultery of the leg is stepping, and the heart desires and wishes, and the private part confirms or denies that," contradictory to the Hadith: "And whoever seeks chastity, Allah will make him chaste"? And what is the meaning of: "which he will inevitably attain"? And does it mean the continuity of this matter or its occurrence at least once for every person?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The two hadiths do not contradict each other. The first is about the lust of the private parts, and the second is about the lust for wealth. The context of the hadith mentioned in the question indicates that what is meant by 'iffah (chastity/abstinence) is refraining from asking people, and this is what the majority of commentators, ancient and modern, have agreed upon. As for chastity from the lust of the private parts, only a few commentators have adopted this view. And the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) saying, "The son of Adam's share of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) has been decreed for him" means that Allah has ordained for the son of Adam his portion of zina, whether it be actual zina or its metaphorical مقدمات (preliminaries) such as looking, touching, wishing, and so on. This does not imply compulsion; rather, it is a divine decree, and عصمة (infallibility/preservation from sin) is by the grace of Allah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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