Regarding the hadith — the meaning of the wording of the hadith — that the one who marries is as if he has completed half of his religion; is the one who has not married deficient in his religion?

The questioner : May Allah reward you, Shaykh. Regarding the hadith—meaning the meaning of the wording of the hadith—where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: —meaning the married man—it is as if he has completed half of his religion; is the one who has not married deficient in his religion?

The Shaykh : I understood you; the hadith being asked about is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . There is no doubt that this hadith cannot be understood except on the basis of the established ruling on marriage being in the mind of the listener of this hadith. And in my opinion, the difficulty that arises in accepting the ruling of this hadith is that it has become established in the minds of most people that marriage is a recommended practice (sunnah)—meaning a sunnah that is not an obligation—and that is not the case.
Marriage for the one who has not married — or more precisely — for the one who does not have a wife is an individual obligation (fard 'ayn) upon him; he must strive for it with earnest effort, as the command for it is established in the Book and the Sunnah. As for the Book, it is His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He) in the famous verse: . As for the Sunnah, it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) in the authentic hadith that I mentioned in a past occasion or occasions regarding the story of the group of men who came to the wives of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asking them about the worship of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his enjoyment of his wives; so they were surprised at how the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would come to his wives. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) delivered that sermon, and there is no need to mention it again; for it is well-known — if Allah wills! — The point is that he responded to each of them regarding what he had vowed for himself. One of them said: "As for me, I will not marry women." So the response of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was: .
So marriage is an obligation (fard) and not a recommended practice (sunnah) because of the verse and this hadith, and because of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . "O young men, marry" — the Messenger (peace be upon him) said — and he explains the reason for that: .
And there is no doubt that there are preliminaries to unlawful sexual intercourse (zina) that he (peace be upon him) explained in some authentic hadiths. So this hadith mentioned earlier explains that the one who marries is saved from these preliminaries; because you heard that he said: . As for those preliminaries, it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . And this hadith contains a refutation of some of the youth who may be deceived by themselves when they say: "I lower my gaze." The Messenger (peace be upon him) says, refuting them: . These preliminaries are inevitably what he is in, as for the major sin, it has been and will be: .
So marriage is an obligation (fard); because it prevents a person from falling into many of the forbidden preliminaries mentioned in the context of this hadith: — to the end of the hadith — . And therefore, it is obligatory for the capable Muslim to take the means that prevent him from falling into the major sin, and that is done by two means:
The first means is marriage, but this is conditioned by ability; because Hajj — which is greater than marriage — is only obligatory for the one who is able, as is well known. So the first means for the Muslim to prevent himself from falling into sin is marriage. He (peace be upon him) said: .
And here I must make a pause, and I hope it will be a short one:
And that is that some people, in the past and present, issue fatwas to the youth who desire marriage but do not find a way to it for one reason or another. They issue fatwas to them, and some of them have even written in that or written in some of the books; they issue fatwas permitting the secret habit (masturbation). And this is forbidden upon forbidden; how is that? First, they contradicted the command of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and second, they contradicted the noble verse. As for his command, his saying (peace be upon him) is: . So fasting is the means for the youth who is feared to be overcome by the desire for marriage which will lead him to ruin; so he should fast by the command of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him); meaning that his command (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) is the medicine, and it is the treatment for every youth who has a desire for marriage but cannot do so, as we mentioned; so his medicine is fasting; because he (peace be upon him) compared this fasting to castration, which is the castration of the animal, and when it is castrated, its desire for its female is cut off. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) compared this fasting to castration; so the meaning of that is that the treatment for the youth who desires marriage is not masturbation, but rather fasting. That is from the Prophetic medicine.
As for the contradiction of the Qur'an, He (the Exalted) said in describing His believing servants: , meaning: besides marriage and having concubines, there is a way to release their desire, meaning: the fornicators, the wrongdoers. So how is it permissible for a Muslim scholar to present a treatment for the youth who cannot marry, presenting them with a treatment that contradicts the treatment of the Messenger (peace be upon him)? He tells them: "Masturbation by hand is permissible!!" and does not command them to fast, which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded. Is this not like a doctor who knows that the black seed, for example, is a cure for every disease, and knows the method of using it, but prescribes the forbidden intoxicants for the patient, and turns away from this prescription that came from him (peace be upon him)? There is no doubt that these fatwas, in addition to their contradiction of this noble Prophetic methodology, are on the level of the saying of that famous dissolute Abu Nuwas, who used to say out of his love for intoxicants and being intoxicated by them: "And I treated [my illness] with what was the disease." This is not permissible in the religion of Islam.
Therefore, if we know this reality, and return to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is pointing with this hadith to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . This is the end of the answer.
Please proceed.