It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not, or if you believe in God or not. There is no such thing as “safe sex” if you are not married. If there is no paper involved between you and whoever you are sleeping with, you are at the mercy of that person and there is very little anyone can do to help you if something happens, be it accidental, deliberate, or malicious. This is a matter of life and death in the most literal sense, whether you are talking about the potential to create life, i.e., a human being, or the contraction of life threatening diseases, or any other kind of possible emotional, physical, or sexual abuse, or all of the above.

This used to be common knowledge. This used to be common sense. But now, just pointing this out means you’re a religious fundamentalist who has turned off his brain and doesn’t understand human rights and the value of sexual autonomy, and blah blah blah. How blind can you be? Is this really so hard for people to understand?

As Muslims, yes, we abide by Islamic law when it comes to pre-marital abstinence and marriage, etc., first and foremost because we hear and obey our Creator. No doubt about it. But when we recognize the clear benefit and wisdom in His commands and make note of that in our crazy, topsy turvy world, does that mean we are “rationalists,” trying to revive mu`tazili philosophy, etc.? You don’t have to be a hardcore theological rationalist to point out the stupidity at play here.