Is oral intimacy permissible between husband and wife?

Question

اَلسَلامُ عَلَيْكُم وَرَحْمَةُ اَللهِ وَبَرَكاتُهُ

Is oral sex permissible for husband and wife?

— Farooq, Boston, USA

Answer

وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته

Oral intercourse is not permissible for husband and wife. Concerning this matter, Fatāwā Hindīyah, also known as Fatāwā `Ālamgīrī, states:

إذا أدخل الرجل ذكره في فم إمرأته قد قيل يكره وقد قيل بخلافه

“When the man inserts his genitalia in the mouth of his wife, it has been said that it is disliked (makrūh) and the contrary has also been said.”

[Fatāwā Hindīyah, Chapter 30 in Miscellaneous]

Based upon this passage, the senior authorities of fiqh in this era have deemed this act makrūh and have mentioned that the man and the wife must abstain from it. They further mention that if ejaculation occurs in the mouth, it is undoubtedly ḥarām. This verdict endorsed by Sayyidunā Tāj al-Sharī`ah and Qāḍī `Abd al-Raḥīm Bastawī, upon them be mercy, reads:

مکروہ ہے اس سے میاں بیوی دونوں کو احتراز لازم ... اور اگر منہ میں انزال کرے تو بلا شبہ حرام بد کام بد انجام

“[Oral sex] is disliked – the man and wife both must abstain from it… and if he ejaculates in the mouth, then without doubt it is ḥarām, an evil act, and has negative consequences.”

[Fatāwā Bareilly Sharīf, Pg. 136]

The face, and particularly the mouth, is a place wherein one places pure things and to place therein something which excretes impurity and enables impurity to be ingested should not be desirable, and Allāh knows best.

Faqīr Sayyid `Abdul Ṣamad al-Qādirī · (may he be pardoned) · Muḥarram 29, 1446 AH