Is it permissible for a Muslim doctor to examine the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered) of a patient if the patient is imagining an illness or defect in it?
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The questioner : The second question, may Allah reward you. Patients come to me and I examine them, and through the patient's history I diagnose, meaning, based on my experience, I identify the illness he has.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And I am able to give him treatment without examining him, especially if his condition is normal. I mean, some illnesses are perhaps imagined. A young man comes to me and says, "Doctor, my penis is small."
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And I am confident that he is imagining it; he heard wrong things from his friends.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He has a wrong understanding.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So I am forced to examine his 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered), and I am confident that the organ is sound. Or a second case: a man comes to me and says, "When I am away from my wife, my erection is excellent, but when I approach her, my penis goes soft."
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : It is a known psychological condition that he is afraid and so on. But even to make him feel that I am paying attention and that I have reached a diagnosis, because if I do not examine him, he will say, "What is this doctor? Is it possible that he is giving me treatment without an examination?"
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So I am forced to examine, meaning his 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered), to prove to him that I have made an effort and am diagnosing correctly, and thereby I return to advising him while he is reassured.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : This examination of the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered) and this reason: is it permissible for me to expose the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered)?
The Shaykh : By Allah, Doctor, you are supposed to be able to dispense with asking any scholar or jurist about such a matter, because the rule is clear to you: dire necessities permit what is prohibited, and dire necessity is measured by its extent. So if you are convinced that there is no dire necessity for the examination, I say the answer is in your hand and in your sleeve, which is that there is no dire necessity there to commit this forbidden act. For example, I say that you give the result of the examination to this imagined-illness patient without committing that prohibition. If it succeeds, as it should, with this description, without you being exposed to the examination, that is what we want. Otherwise, the second time, as they say, the crux of the matter may be that for you there is a dire necessity, because the first method you took with this imagined-illness patient did not succeed. But for the first time, we knock on the door of committing the prohibited act on the excuse of dire necessity, and there may not be a dire necessity. So I think this is not permissible. I hope the matter is clear to you.
The questioner : Yes, psychological disturbance, meaning or imagination, we consider it an illness.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Is imagination not considered a dire necessity, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, but I say, first of all, we knock on the first door.
The questioner : Okay, okay.
The Shaykh: Is it clear?
The questioner : You have made it clear, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh: All right.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And I am able to give him treatment without examining him, especially if his condition is normal. I mean, some illnesses are perhaps imagined. A young man comes to me and says, "Doctor, my penis is small."
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : And I am confident that he is imagining it; he heard wrong things from his friends.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : He has a wrong understanding.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So I am forced to examine his 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered), and I am confident that the organ is sound. Or a second case: a man comes to me and says, "When I am away from my wife, my erection is excellent, but when I approach her, my penis goes soft."
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : It is a known psychological condition that he is afraid and so on. But even to make him feel that I am paying attention and that I have reached a diagnosis, because if I do not examine him, he will say, "What is this doctor? Is it possible that he is giving me treatment without an examination?"
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : So I am forced to examine, meaning his 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered), to prove to him that I have made an effort and am diagnosing correctly, and thereby I return to advising him while he is reassured.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : This examination of the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered) and this reason: is it permissible for me to expose the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered)?
The Shaykh : By Allah, Doctor, you are supposed to be able to dispense with asking any scholar or jurist about such a matter, because the rule is clear to you: dire necessities permit what is prohibited, and dire necessity is measured by its extent. So if you are convinced that there is no dire necessity for the examination, I say the answer is in your hand and in your sleeve, which is that there is no dire necessity there to commit this forbidden act. For example, I say that you give the result of the examination to this imagined-illness patient without committing that prohibition. If it succeeds, as it should, with this description, without you being exposed to the examination, that is what we want. Otherwise, the second time, as they say, the crux of the matter may be that for you there is a dire necessity, because the first method you took with this imagined-illness patient did not succeed. But for the first time, we knock on the door of committing the prohibited act on the excuse of dire necessity, and there may not be a dire necessity. So I think this is not permissible. I hope the matter is clear to you.
The questioner : Yes, psychological disturbance, meaning or imagination, we consider it an illness.
The Shaykh: Yes.
The questioner : Is imagination not considered a dire necessity, my Shaykh?
The Shaykh : Yes, but I say, first of all, we knock on the first door.
The questioner : Okay, okay.
The Shaykh: Is it clear?
The questioner : You have made it clear, my Shaykh.
The Shaykh: All right.
Source
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The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.