Suffering From Psychological Problem: Fear of Marriage
Question

                I want to marry. I wish I have a good wife to live with in happiness and satisfaction, to have a loving relationship with, to pray at night with, her to be my source of comfort and I be her shelter. I am a man who lives with a big fear of marriage and women. I live in shyness and timidity. I feel I need to marry for some time now, my parents are persisting but I am too shy to say I want to marry. Although I feel like I want to scream and say I want to marry.   

I feel that I have made my shyness and doubts about my sexual abilities a barrier between me and marriage. Yes, I would love to get married. I do not know why I run away from marriage, is it because I fear failing a lot or because I am not confident? I am a hesitant person as for the matters of buying and selling. I grew up in a conservative family; I rarely hear any talk about sex or even references to it. Although I hear a lot how our relatives talk to their sons about sex and make jokes, and the sons feel free to express themselves about sex and marriage.   

I fear a lot I fail sexually in my marital life; I even went to have a fertility test, blood tests and other similar things. I do not know if it is my fear of marriage or my desire to stay away from it. Some of the investigations made me doubt myself even more, yet, I still feel it is not the investigations that make me hesitant to marry, it is my fear of it more than anything else. Every time I intend to talk to my family about my marriage I feel terrified.  

Since my childhood, to be honest, I have convinced myself that it is impossible for me to marry, and that I will stay lonely until I die. 
If anyone asks me about when I intend to marry, I immediately answer saying: “in paradise”. I feel that this has been imprinted onto my subconscious.   

I want to marry, by Allah I want to marry. My fear of women and failing stays as a barrier between me and marriage. Also I cannot imagine that I am having intercourse with a woman, I cannot imagine that I am sleeping and travelling with a woman, all these matters stay as barriers between me and marriage.   

I encouraged myself some time ago and talked to my family, and they engaged a girl to me and her family approved. But when the time to meet her came, I felt big fear from the whole matter, and then said to my family that I do not want to marry this girl.   

I am over thirty years old now. I feel helpless although the hope is there. I feel hesitant although I have a great desire to marry. I am badly affected by my problem; I saw many psychiatrists complaining from my great worry and depression. They all said to me I have to take tablets, while they do not feel my suffering. 

Except the last psychiatrist, he really put his hand on the root of the problem, which is my great fear of women, marriage, failing, and sex.

Please guide me. I need your advice and guidance. I want to destroy these barriers between me and marriage. Any word, negative or positive, will affect me a lot. I need who takes my hand to rest, comfort and marital happiness.
Praise be to Allah.
	You may be certain that we 
	understand your problem and feel your pain, and that any Muslim in this 
	world is our brother and what befalls him affects us too. We feel his joy if 
	he rejoices and we feel his sorrow if he grieves. We will try to offer you a 
	solution because we share your pain, so that you may be rid of this problem 
	quickly, in sha Allah. 

	You should realize that you are 
	not the only one in this world who has problems and suffers worries, anxiety 
	and depression. Right now you are facing a test from Allah, and this test 
	requires you to do some things so that you may learn from it and emerge from 
	this calamity with many great benefits. These things include the following: 

	1 – Think positively of Allah, 
	for He has only decreed this thing for you for a reason that is known to 
	Him. He wants good for you so long as you adhere to His commands and 
	guidance, and obey His commands and avoid overstepping His limits and 
	falling into that which He has forbidden. You do not know, perhaps this 
	calamity has befallen you so that Allah might ward off thereby something 
	that is even worse; perhaps Allah has warded off thereby some major sins and 
	some destructive calamity without you realizing. So think positively of your 
	Lord and believe that He will bring you forth from this calamity as a hair 
	is pulled out of dough. 

	2 – Trials require patience and 
	seeking reward. Allah has praised those who are patient in His Book and has 
	prepared for them a reward like no other, as He says (interpretation of the 
	meaning): 

Indeed, 
	the patient will be given their reward without account. 
	(39:10)

	The Prophet (peace and blessings 
	of Allah be upon him) also praised patience and those who have the 
	characteristic of patience. He said – in a hadeeth (prophetic tradition) 
	whose authenticity is agreed upon – as was narrated by Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri 
	(may Allah be pleased with him): “…whoever is patient Allah will bestow 
	patience upon him, and no one is ever given anything better and more 
	generous than patience.” Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim . 

	So you have to be patient, for 
	it is your provision at times of calamity and times of ease. 

	3 – Medical doctors say that 
	diagnosis is two-thirds of the cure. From examining what you say about your 
	situation in your question, it is clear that your problem is neither 
	physical nor psychological, something that can be treated by a psychologist; 
	rather it is persistent waswas (satanic whispers) that is affecting you in 
	an important aspect of your life. Waswas is a serious disease, which if it 
	takes hold of a person may lead to his doom and may put some people beyond 
	the pale of Islam – we ask Allah to keep us safe and sound. But, praise be 
	to Allah, your waswas does not have to do with ‘aqeedah (creed) or basic 
	matters of Islam, or with acts of worship or the pillars of Islam, rather it 
	has to do with your hesitation to get married and in buying and selling, as 
	you say. Although this seems to you to be a big issue, it is in fact minor, 
	if you compare it to the waswas experienced by other people about taharah 
	(purification). For some people may do ghusl (bathe) several times, after 
	which they are not certain that they are now in a state of purity, or they 
	may do wudu (ablution) more than ten times and still not be certain that 
	they have wudu. Perhaps a person catches up with the opening takbeer (of 
	prayer) with the imam but he misses the first rak’ah (unit of prayer) 
	because he is trying to do the opening takbeer (Allahu Akbar), then he 
	completes his prayer and does not know whether he has done it or not. Praise 
	be to Allah, no such thing is happening with you.  

	Hence your cure will be achieved 
	in the following steps, in sha Allah. 

	1 – You should understand that 
	waswas comes from the shaytan and, in fact, Allah calls the shaytan the 
	waswas (the whisperer) in Soorat al-Nas, as is well known.  This means that 
	you have to declare war on the shaytan and remember that he is the one who 
	started it with you and that he is the one who transgressed against you and 
	tricked you and wanted to deny you your rights, so do not turn your back to 
	him or show him your weakness, for he is weak and defeated, and withdraws 
	easily. So be of good cheer, and be certain that you can overcome him so 
	long as you are with Allah. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

… and 
	hold fast to Allah . He is your protector; and excellent is the protector, 
	and excellent is the helper. (22:78) 

	2 – You should read Soorat 
	al-Baqarah a great deal, and complete it every three nights, and if you do 
	that while praying qiyam al-layl (voluntary night prayers), that is better. 
	It is proven that our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 
	said: “Read the Quran, for it will come on the Day of Resurrection 
	interceding for its companions. Read the two bright ones, al-Baqarah and 
	Soorat Al ‘Imran, for they will come on the Day of Resurrection like two 
	clouds or shadows, or like two flocks of birds in ranks, pleading on behalf 
	of their companions. Read Soorat al-Baqarah, for reciting it regularly is a 
	blessing and forsaking it is a loss, and the magicians cannot withstand it.” 
	Narrated by Muslim.  

	The devils cannot bear to hear 
	Soorat al-Baqarah; they flee from it and weaken before the one who recites 
	it, and they are afraid of it. It is proven in a hadeeth that Abu Hurayrah 
	(may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and 
	blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do not make your houses into graves, 
	for the shaytan flees from a house in which Soorat al-Baqarah is recited.” 
	Narrated by Muslim (780). 

	3 – Always recite the dhikrs 
	(words of remembrance) for various occasions, such as the dhikrs for morning 
	and evening, the dhikrs for going to sleep, entering the mosque or the home, 
	entering and leaving the wash-room, dhikrs for eating, drinking and putting 
	on clothes, and so on, for in all of them there is a great benefit for you 
	and they will prevent the shaytan from reaching you. 

	4 – Engage in a lot of du’a. 
	Turning to your Lord with du’a will bring you relief and deliver you from 
	this trial. You should seek out for that the times when du’as are likely to 
	be answered, and allocate a time for du’a every night during the last third 
	of the night, in the last part of the day on Friday, and following the 
	prescribed prayers. Pray for everyone who is afflicted with calamity, for 
	the angels say ameen to your du’a and say “May you have likewise.” Pray a 
	great deal for forgiveness and repent to Allah, for Allah has promised a 
	great deal of good to the one who prays for forgiveness. Allah says 
	(interpretation of the meaning):  

	{And said, 
	'Ask forgiveness of your Lord. Indeed, He is ever a Perpetual Forgiver.

	He will 
	send [rain from] the sky upon you in [continuing] showers

	And give 
	you increase in wealth and children and provide for you gardens and provide 
	for you rivers.} (71:10-12) 

	5 – In all of that, it is 
	essential for you to do your utmost to ward off the waswas and treat 
	yourself by convincing yourself that you are normal and that you do not have 
	a problem; you should ward off all thought that may weaken you. You should 
	remember that all of this stems from one source, which is the waswas, and 
	overcoming it is easy, by Allah’s Leave. 

	6 – Seek the help of Allah and 
	go ahead and get married. Seek the help of your family and sincere friends 
	to do that. We know – personally – someone who had the same problem, whose 
	situation was exactly the same as yours, or worse. Then some of his brothers 
	and sincere friends forced him to get married, after they had made sure that 
	he was not suffering from a physical problem. Then Allah helped him and 
	relieved his distress, and his marriage became normal like anyone else’s. 

	7 – There is nothing wrong with 
	consulting a psychologist and using some psychological treatments that may 
	help in this case, because waswas is also a kind of mental illness that is 
	well known to the specialists. So there is nothing wrong with combining the 
	remedies that we have referred to above with psychological treatment. 

	I ask Allah, the Almighty, Lord 
	of the Mighty Throne, to heal you and to hasten your relief and bring you 
	happiness, for He is All-Hearing and Ever Near. 
And 
	Allah knows best.