“The seven whom Allah will not speak to… among them is the one who has intercourse with his hand”

Question:
I am a young man, approximately twenty-four years old, who commits the secret habit. I do not have the ability to marry, and every time I resolve to repent from this act, I return to it a second time. We have fallen prey to this vile act. Please clarify this matter for us? Is it forbidden or what? And is the hadith that says: the hadith, and among them is the one who has intercourse with his hand—is this authentic? We ask for clarification. May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
The secret habit is an abomination; it is not permissible. It is obligatory for the Muslim to abandon it and repent to Allah from it, because it contradicts the saying of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He): EXCEPT WITH THEIR WIVES OR WHAT THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS; THEN THEY ARE NOT TO BE BLAMED. BUT WHOEVER SEEKS BEYOND THAT—THEN THOSE ARE THE TRANSGRESSORS [Al-Mu’minun: 5-7]. Also, because of the many harms that scholars and doctors have mentioned regarding it, which must be avoided. Allah has forbidden for the believer what harms him in his religion and his worldly life.
As for the hadith concerning the seven, among whom is the one who has intercourse with his hand, it is weak and not authentic according to the scholars.