对[穆罕默德]说：让信道的男人低下视线，保守贞洁。这对他们是更纯洁的。真主确知他们所做的一切。你也要对信道的女人说：让她们低下视线，保守贞洁……208

Tell [O Muhammad] the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them. Certainly, Allah is fully aware of whatever they do. And also tell the believing women to lower their gaze and guard their chastity…208

在这一名为“光”（al-Nūr）的古兰经章中，对贞洁的号召不仅禁止通奸与淫乱，还规定了一套行为准则，以防止人走上通往这些罪行的滑坡。不尊重此类准则的文明，往往会逐步堕落，最终走向无可挽回的境地。他们的放荡败坏了他们的良知，他们很快会发现，淫乱不仅是一条邪恶的道路，更是一个邪恶的结局，因而必须加以预防。

The call to chastity in this Qur’anic chapter entitled al-Nūr (the Light) not only prohibited fornication and adultery but outlined a code of conduct to preempt the slippery slope leading to them. Civilizations that do not respect such codes often spiral downward to points of no return. Their licentiousness destroys their sensibilities, and they soon discover that fornication is an evil path—not just an evil end—that needs to be preempted.

正如安拉所说:“你们不要接近淫乱。”

As Allah said, “And do not approach unlawful sexual intercourse.

诚然，这是一种淫秽之事，也是一条恶劣的道路。209

Indeed, it is ever an immorality and is evil as a way.”209

它可能始于婚外性关系，接着把性取向当作个人身份的核心，继而接受各种形式的性表达，甚至包括恋童癖、人兽交和恋尸癖。从这一立场回看，人们会重新体会到这节经文开头的意义：“你们不要接近淫乱”，仿佛淫乱是一场烈火，连靠近它的人也会被吞没。尽管性自由已十分普遍，你仍会发现，来自各种意识形态立场的专家都承认，禁欲与婚姻忠贞在预防性传播疾病方面发挥着作用。

It may begin with extramarital relations, then making sexual orientation the central part of one’s identity, followed by the acceptance of all forms of sexual expression, even pedophilia, bestiality, and necrophilia. From that vantage point, a newfound appreciation surfaces for how this verse begins: “Do not approach fornication,” as if it were a wild blaze that will engulf those who even come close to it. Despite how common sexual freedoms have become, you will still find experts from across the ideological spectrum acknowledging the roles of abstinence and marital fidelity in preventing sexually transmitted diseases.

伊斯兰教还通过强调家庭制度来抵御这一威胁。通奸不仅会招致身体疾病，更体现出一种自私的心态，这种心态对所毁坏的家庭漠不关心：对那些出生后得不到爱与照顾的孩子漠不关心，对数以百万计的晚期堕胎漠不关心，对我们共同出资维持的监狱系统漠不关心，诸如此类。伊斯兰教为此设立了种种保障，其中包括贞洁与社会责任。通奸甚至会影响到老人，使他们孤独而沮丧地死去。因为父母未婚或身份不明的孩子，与祖父母的关系自然会更加疏远。结果，老人在脆弱的晚年被遗弃，而这一时期通常需要大家庭的陪伴，共同分担重担。先知ﷺ曾在许多场合强调这些危害。例如，他对一位饱受情欲困扰的年轻人说：“你愿意为你的母亲、你的姐妹、你的女儿接受通奸吗？”211

Another way Islam mitigates this threat is by emphasizing the family system. Fornication is not just an invitation to bodily disease but represents a selfish mentality that has no care for the families it destroys, the children that are born deprived of love and care, the millions of late-term abortions, the prison systems that we pay for collectively, and the like.210 Islam installs safeguards against all this, chastity and social responsibility among them. Fornication even affects the elderly who die alone and dejected, for those whose parents are not married or unknown to the child will naturally be further severed from their grandparents. As a result, the elderly find themselves abandoned in their vulnerable old age—a time that usually requires the presence of the extended family to shoulder the load together. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم highlighted these dangers on many occasions; for example, telling the young man who struggled with lust, “Would you accept fornication for your mother, your sister, your daughter…?”211