Fatwa #143067 June 2006United Kingdom
'sex education'. My question is: Is this allowed?
Question
i am a father who has a older son in madrassa and became a hafiz recently, now my second son is in his final year in a primary school before joining his brother in madrassa. As part of their education in this year, they are taught 'sex education'. My question is: Is this allowed? I have had a meeting with the teacher and she has explained briefly what is involved, however, i would welcome a Sharia ruling on this. My younger brother is a Maulana and he advises that it is permissable as long as there is no video or graphic images.
Answer
There are two aspects to this query:
A) Education b) morality
Sex education is a topic. It does not only concentrate on the physical aspects of intimacy but also highlights issues of HIV, AIDS and other medical related issues. However, the issue of immorality cannot be separated from such a topic. It is fact that a child by nature is adventurous. If a child is educated on this subject, the urge to test the feeling of physical satisfaction will brew within them, thus opening the doors of fornication, masturbation, etc, etc. In brief the harms of outweigh the benefit hence it is not permissible even tough there is no video or graphic images.
And Allah knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai