And in the sexual intercourse of one of you is charity
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question : And in the sexual intercourse of one of you is charity. Is this charity obligatory or recommended?
Answer : Yes, it is sometimes obligatory and sometimes recommended. If a person fears for himself committing zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) if he does not come to his wife, it becomes obligatory charity. Otherwise, it is recommended charity. The apparent meaning of this hadith, and in other hadiths regarding charity, is that it is charity even if it is for the sake of desire, not for the sake of abstaining from the forbidden.
Because if it is for the sake of abstaining from the forbidden, the matter is clear that it is charity, because he is repelling the forbidden with the permissible. But if it is merely for desire, the apparent meaning of the hadith is that it is charity. And there is a basis for this.
One of the bases is that a person is commanded not to deny himself what he desires, provided it is not in disobedience to Allah. "You have a right over your soul."
The second is that if he comes to his wife, he has done good to them. To his wife. Because the woman has desire just as the man does, so she desires the man just as he desires her. So when he comes to her, he has done good to her, and that becomes charity.
Answer : Yes, it is sometimes obligatory and sometimes recommended. If a person fears for himself committing zina (unlawful sexual intercourse) if he does not come to his wife, it becomes obligatory charity. Otherwise, it is recommended charity. The apparent meaning of this hadith, and in other hadiths regarding charity, is that it is charity even if it is for the sake of desire, not for the sake of abstaining from the forbidden.
Because if it is for the sake of abstaining from the forbidden, the matter is clear that it is charity, because he is repelling the forbidden with the permissible. But if it is merely for desire, the apparent meaning of the hadith is that it is charity. And there is a basis for this.
One of the bases is that a person is commanded not to deny himself what he desires, provided it is not in disobedience to Allah. "You have a right over your soul."
The second is that if he comes to his wife, he has done good to them. To his wife. Because the woman has desire just as the man does, so she desires the man just as he desires her. So when he comes to her, he has done good to her, and that becomes charity.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 335 - 336 وفي بضع أحدكم صدقة - الشيخ ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.