Concept of Chastity in Hinduism and Islam

Purity or chastity  is defined differently in Islam.  According to Hindu religion, if one has followed Brahmacharya, that is, has kept his semen safe, then he is pure.  This concept of Hinduism is related to the purity of man.  Purity  of thoughts also lies under this concept.  While following celibacy, if any erotic thought comes to mind, then the purity of the man is considered to be violated.

But in Islam, it is considered impure that man who has physical contact with a nameless woman.  The purity of a man or a woman is not disturbed by the mere thought coming into the mind.  According to the beliefs of Islam, if a woman has violated her modesty while following the legal process, then that woman can never be considered impure.  Similarly, if a man has ejaculated due to masturbation and other reasons, then he cannot be considered impure, but on the provocation of a nameless woman, ejaculation occurs due to taking her internal man( Penis) in her hand, rubbing  on any of her limbs.  If so, according to Islamic point of view, it will be considered as an attempt to rape the man by the woman and even if there is no act of sexual intercourse, it will be considered as a breach of the sanctity of the man.  But if someone's wife has coerced sex with her husband, it will not count as rape and the man's chastity will be maintained.

In this connection, I remembered an incident from my student life.  There were about 25 students in our M. Ed class, 16 girls and 9 boys.  There was a lot of friendship between all of us female and male students, but one of our male companions used to have a lot of friendship with other male students but did not even talk to any student, not even Salaam Dua.  Actually that student was a foreigner.  He was from Palestine.  He was a very smart, tall and handsome young man of fair complexion.  Such was the effect of his personality that no girl student could dare to propose him.  While many girls wanted him with all their hearts.  With many excuses the girls tried to talk to him but he did not answer and kept on walking with his eyes low.  Now the fame of that student had reached even the girl students of B. Ed class.  The students of B•Ed class always used to hover around that student on the pretext of notes, on the pretext of explaining something, to suggest about the books but he did not see face to face and did not give any answer.

 The road to the library went through the B.Ed class.  He was going to issue a book from the library with me.  As soon as we passed in front of the B•ed class, about 20-25 girl students surrounded both of us.  And all kinds of remarks started tightening on that boy and they said that we will not let him go until he looks at us.  But funny!  The boy did not even look at them at any cost and did not give any answer.

 Then all the girls of M•Ed class did a planning together.  He told one of our teachers who used to teach us a subject called "comparative education", that this fellow does not talk to girls, get him to talk to us in any way, ma'am.  Madam spoke directly to him one day and said - "Son, from today you have to talk to girls. Look son, it is very good to be friends with girls. And if you consider it a crime, then son it is wrong. Madam said this to the boy during the entire M. Ed class.

But the answer he gave to Madam was astonishing.  He said- "Ma'am I respect you very much. You are my master and I am  incapable of disobeying the orders of the master and from  the point of view of Islamic Shariya law also it  is not correct to disobey the commands of a teacher. I want permission to make a statement."

The girls of the class started jumping on hearing this as if their wish had come true.  They would go to Madam again and again and thank her.  Seeing the faces of the girls, it seemed that how would they be able to contain so much happiness.  But Madam pacified the girls and said, let me listen to the whole thing.  Madam said- "Yes son! Now tell me you were talking about some of your weakness?"  He said- "Ma'am you yourself, all my male and female companions are very strong mentally and emotionally but I am very weak ma'am, too weak! My male companions, talk with female companions, make friends but  because of their mental and emotional strength, this friendship can last without any harm ma'am but it is not like this with me ma'am!  The thought and desire of intercourse with companions will arise. And ma'am, if even once in my mind sexual feelings arise for any female partner, then at the same time I will become impure and will also fall in my own eyes. I don't know more.  Ma'am, if I die, my this world and the world hereafter all will be ruined. Just ma'am! This is what I always fear because of my weaknesses. There is nothing other than this, ma'am!"

All of us students were listening to his words silently and when our attention turned towards Mam, we saw that she was crying without making any sound.  After this there was silence in the whole class.  Ma'am gestured and called the boy to her and said son, just stand here.  When he stood up, Madam said, son, do not move away from here until I tell.  While he stood there, Mam got up from her place with lightning speed and immediately sat down at his feet and clung to his knees.  As long as that boy could understand something, Mam immediately stood up straight and said to him - "Son, forgive me that you must have felt bad that your teacher sat at your feet but son it was very important here that a modest and a  very holy spirit resides inside the visible human body. I had to pay respect to that holy spirit, so I did it."  The boy remained unanswered.

After this incident, he became more and more favorite of everyone in the whole college, but no boy or girl would make any remarks on him, rather everyone would go ahead to do his work.  The boy often used to say that the love and respect that he got from Indians, no one in his family gave him that much respect.