Ibn ʿAqīl said: “If you say that these three have no life, then say also that touching a paralysed limb does not invalidate ablution—yet you hold that it does invalidate it.” (1) …

“Or an unbearded youth, …”

His statement, “or an unbearded youth,” means that touching an unbearded youth does not invalidate ablution. This is one whose moustache has begun to appear, but whose beard has not yet grown, because he is not ordinarily an object of desire. Thus Lot said to his people:

“Do you approach males among all people, and leave what your Lord has created for you of your wives? Rather, you are a people transgressing.” [Surah al-Shuʿarāʾ]

A male was not created for another male. It is therefore like touching a three-month-old girl, since neither is ordinarily an object of desire.

This view is very weak, if we hold that ablution is invalidated by touching a woman lustfully. For among people—may Allah protect us—are those whose perception and natural disposition Allah has turned upside down, so that they desire males rather than women, indeed even more intensely.

When the people of Lot came to Lot, he said: “These are my daughters; they are purer for you.” They replied: “You certainly know that we have no claim upon your daughters, and you surely know what we want.” [Surah Hūd: 79] They meant the angels who had come in the form of young men.

The correct view is that touching an unbearded youth is exactly like touching a female. Some scholars even said that looking at an unbearded youth is absolutely forbidden, just as looking at a woman is forbidden; one must therefore lower one’s gaze. (2)

Shaykh al-Islam said: “Seclusion with an unbearded youth is not permissible, even with the intention of