Question

If a person has vaginismus & doctors recommend using dilators, will this be permissible? Can a woman use it on herself or will the husband have to use it on her?

Answer

It is disliked (makruh) to insert anything into the internal part of the vagina, and this ruling is to safeguard oneself from self-stimulation. For this reason, it would be strongly advisable that she consider the various other forms of treatment that are available for vaginismus before resorting to dilators:

– Psychosexual therapy which is a talking therapy with a female Muslim psychologist. This is especially helpful if the issue is caused by anxiety or lack of familiarity with intimacy.

– Physical exercises like pelvic floor stretches to help her develop a sense of how to voluntarily relax the muscles in the area.

– Sensate therapy, which is a type of touch therapy that the couple do together in privacy.

More information about these methods is available online or your GP may refer you to a psychosexual specialist for advice regarding it.

If these methods of treatment are ineffective, dilators could be used as a last resort, but only by the husband on the wife. This would be to stimulate the muscles in her outer private-part only and it must not be inserted into the inner private-part.

المحيط البرهاني (1/ 215): وعن محمد بن سلمة البلخي رحمه الله أنه يكره للمرأة أن تضع الكرسف في الفرج الداخل، قال: لأن ذلك يشبه ‌النكاح ‌بيدها

منهل الواردين (ص171): (ويكره وضعه) أي: وضع جميعه (في الفرج الداخل) لأنه يشبه النكاح بيدها، “محيط”

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel