Do Muslims watch Pornography?

Aisha Sabeer

Aisha Sabeer is a budding writer from Canada. She has a keen interest in science and comparative religion, and loves travelling the world and meeting other Muslims.

Yes!

Unfortunately pornography has a foothold in both the Islamic and non-islamic worlds. Western society is well known for its blatant promotion of the pornographical industry, and it has never hidden the rampant pornography consumption that is prevalent within its developed countries. But the consumption of pornography in Islamic countries has seemingly flown under the radar, with the Islamic community leaders either unaware of, or turning a blind eye to the issue.

Many experts are of the opinion that the pornography addiction topic is well known by the Imams in western countries, but it is an area they dare not enter into out of fear of providing acknowledgement of the issue. They would rather pretend that none of the muslims in their area suffers from a pornography addiction, and that the problem just isnt a concern. The acknowledgement of the situation is even worse in Islamic nations, with experts having knowledge of the issue also remaining silent on the sidelines.

Pornography is an issue that the Islamic states need to deal with immediately, as figures show that consumption may already be spiralling out of control. Google recently released data detailing where the most sex related term searches were originating from, and muslim nation Pakistan came in at first place. For those who think that Pakistan may just be a blip on the radar, think again. Muslim states actually held 6 of the top 8 positions for searchers intending to seek access to sex related sites. The complete top 10 were:

1. Pakistan
2. Egypt
3. Vietnam
4. Iran
5. Morocco
6. India
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Turkey
9. Phillipines
10. Poland

Even more disgusting were the statistics for various animal sex terms, where Pakistan once again led the field across most areas. A suggestion for them to rename their nation as Pornistan would not be out of the question, as they were the country that produced the most searches for sexual terms for the animals pigs, donkeys, dogs, cats, horses, cows, goats, snakes, monkeys, bears, elephants, and the generic term animal.

Saudi Arabia was the only country to generate more searches than Pornistan for an animal, coming in at position 1 for ‘fox sex’. They also finished second or third for a good number of the abovementioned animal terms. Other muslim countries to register top 5 positions for those terms were, in order of prominence, Iran, Egypt, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey, Morocco and the UAE.

Other interesting statistics were Turkey ranking number 2 for ‘child porn’, and arabic being the language used 2nd most for searches for ‘gay man’, ‘gay sex’, and ‘gay girl’. Egypt led the pack when it came to ‘fat sex’ and ‘bird sex’, Indonesia was first for ‘homo sex’, and Saudi Arabia up front, or should I say back, for ‘ass sex’. Pornistan also led the searches for the terms ‘children sex’, ‘sexy child’, ‘sexy children’, and ‘rape’.

The fact that muslim countries dominate the list for pornography searches is alarming in itself, but when you add in the data for the child, animal and homosexual sex searches, it paints quite a disgusting picture of the state of the islamic world. Statistically a large number of pornography seekers confess to having an addiction problem, which means that pornography addiction is currently a massive problem within our muslim ummah.

Christians surveyed on the pornography issue state that it is a major problem in the home for 47% of them, and based on the above statistics we can assume that the figure is even higher in muslim homes. Unfortunately religion does not appear to be a barrier to pornography access, as can be seen in the figures that show Iran visits the most pornographic sites on the Shiite’s Ashura Day. Furthermore, another study in Saudi Arabia focusing on teenagers mobile phones showed that up to 70% of files exchanged between phones contained pornography.

Pornography addiction is an issue which can no longer be brushed aside by the muslim community. Many muslims are suffering from this problem and need assistance. If the community continues to deny there is a problem, it makes it harder for them to admit their isuues and seek help. Fortunately there are some muslims tackling the issue over the internet, with a number of pornography addiction programs available. One of the best programs available today is Purify Your Gaze by Zeyad Ramadan. If you are suffering from, or know someone who has a pornography addiction then please visit the Purify Your Gaze website to start on the road towards breaking your pornography addiction permanently Insha Allah.