The Twentieth Ḥadīth

29 – With the chain that reaches Yūsuf ibn Khalīl: Abū Jaʿfar al-Ṭarsūsī informed us; Abū Manṣūr al-Ṣayrafī informed us; Abū l-Ḥusayn ibn Fādhshāh informed us; Abū l-Qāsim al-Ṭabarānī narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us, from ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Abū Ḥanīfah, from Ḥammād, from Ibrāhīm, from ʿAlqamah, who said:

Ibn Masʿūd was asked about coitus interruptus. He replied, “If Allah has decreed the coming into existence of a soul from a man’s loins, and that seminal fluid were poured upon a smooth rock, He would still cause that soul to emerge from the rock. So, if you wish, practice withdrawal, and if you wish, refrain.”