The following is excerpted from Imam al-Nawawi’s Kitab al-Adhkar (‘Book of Remembrances’):

‘Obscenity and vulgarity are forbidden, as is attested by many well-known and rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadiths, obscenity meaning to express ugly or vulgar matters in plain words, even if they are true and the speaker is being honest. One should instead express such things by alluding to them in a polite way that nevertheless conveys what is meant, as is done by the Holy Qur’an and authentic noble hadiths. Allah Most High says:

  • “It is permitted to you on the nights of the fast to enter unto your wives” [2:187]

  • “How can you take it [the marriage payment] back when you have entered unto one another?” [4:21]

  • “But if you divorce them before you have touched them…” [2:237]

There are many Qur’anic verses and authentic hadiths that employ similar words. Scholars say that comprehensible allusions should be used for these and other matters one is hesitant to mention by name. One alludes, for example, to sexual intercourse with a woman as “going unto,” “lovemaking,” “sleeping with,” and so forth, and does not use explicit words such as copulate or the like; and similarly alludes to urinating and voiding excrement as “answering the call of nature,” or “going to the bathroom,” and does not simply say “defecate,” “urinate,” and so forth. The same is true of mentioning personal blemishes such as leprosy, halitosis, underarm odour, and the like, which one should refer to polite words that indicate what is meant. Other matters should be dealt with as in the above-mentioned examples – all of which applies to cases in which there is no need to plainly refer to these things by name.

When the need arises to explain or teach, and one fears that the listener may not grasp one’s allusion or may misunderstand the meaning, one should plainly say the things name so that the real meaning is understood. And this is how one should interpret the hadiths that have reached us which contain such straightforward expressions, as arising from the needs we have mentioned, for communicating clearly is more important than mere decorum. And Allah alone gives success.’

[Translated by Shaykh Nuh Keller (h) in Reliance of the Traveller, Amana Publications, Maryland, 1994, pp. 761-762. Minor edits have been made.]