Is Masturbation A Sexual Deviation?
Our objection to homosexuality is primarily from the angle of ‘ Tazkiya ‘, both at an individual level and at societal level ( in the context of the institution of family ). It is the ‘ Fawahish ‘ factor which according to Islam applies to Homosexuality and hence impacts the purity of an individual required for success in the hereafter. Masturbation, never considered a recommended act, still does not fall in the definition of Fawahish. The way APA has its own criteria of categorizing an act as sexual deviance, we also have our criteria, but it is slightly different to the one considered by the APA. In simple terms, we can call acts of sexual perversion as Fawahish ( among other things ), but according to us, even the act of adultery/fornication falls under sexual perversion but masturbation does not. This is from a religious perspective, as a matter of sin or not. But generally speaking, sexual perversion can be applied to many other scenarios which may not fall directly under Fawahish but they would still be called sexual deviance in broader sense. Therefore, if someone calls masturbation as sexual deviance in general sense, then it can make sense in some circumstances where a person becomes addicted to this mode of gratification as opposed to natural mode of fulfilling it through the institution of marriage, for example.