—is one of the two treatments, for it restrains and weakens the carnal appetite. By this the young man is protected from letting his eyes wander or yearning for what Allah has forbidden, because he senses that he is engaged in an act of worship; thus he lowers his gaze and is careful about his devotion. Fasting, therefore, is a guarantee and a fortress for the Muslim against falling into the unlawful. This is one of the benefits of fasting—indeed, one of its greatest benefits—that it shields the Muslim from committing the prohibited. For that reason the Prophet ﷺ said, “for it will be a wijāʾ for him,” meaning that it reins in his desire and breaks the overwhelming passion whose danger he fears.
In this noble ḥadīth the Messenger ﷺ directed the youth to two great remedies with which he may treat the fierceness of desire:
- The first remedy is marriage; he ﷺ said, “It is more effective in lowering the gaze and more protective of the private parts.”
- If he is unable to marry, he turns to the second remedy, which is fasting, for the effect of fasting upon a Muslim’s psyche and character is well known.
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Meaning of the ḥadīth: “Whoever inaugurates a good practice in Islam”
Question: What is the authenticity of the ḥadīth, “Whoever inaugurates in Islam a good practice will have its reward and the reward of everyone who acts upon it until the Day of Resurrection”? What does it mean? Does it allow people to introduce other practices besides those contained in the Qur’an and the Prophetic Sunnah, and would anything so introduced be considered an innovation (bidʿah)?
Answer: What is meant by his ﷺ words, “Whoever inaugurates in Islam a good practice,” is that whoever performs a prescribed act of obedience and others follow his example in that,