Barsisa: The Monk Who Traded Paradise for Zina
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious the Most Merciful
Barsisa had been a pious worshipper known for his devotion to Allah. His story is told by the People of the Book, whose life was ruined after falling into zina (unlawful sexual intercourse). His story is a cautionary tale on free-mixing and succumbing to Satanic desires. But what happens when society itself promotes zina? Today, the West has produced a hyper-sexualised society via social media, Hollywood and the public school system. This makes it harder for young people to avoid a widespread 'zina culture’. But why is the state promoting this, and how has it affected people’s morals? This article studies Barsisa’s downfall and what this teaches us about modern zina culture.
The Pious Monk
Barsisa was a monk from Bani Israel, famed for his piety. He would remain in his temple, worshipping Allah day and night. One day, three brothers were about to leave for war and needed a guardian for their sister. She was unmarried, with no female relatives to care for her. Worried about who would be her guardian, they decided on the famous monk. When they spoke to Barsisa, he immediately refused and sought refuge in Allah. But after the brothers insisted, he relented and said:
“Put her in the house next to my place of worship.”
The brothers left, while the woman remained in the house by herself. Barsisa would regularly leave food out for her near his temple and call her to collect it. Then, he would lock the door and resume praying. One day Shaytan approached him and encouraged him to take the food directly to her door instead.
The Satanic Whispers
Barsisa continued to leave the food at her doorstep without speaking to her. Eventually Shaytan came to him again and encouraged him to get closer. He advised him to take the food and place it inside the house for her. The Satanic whispers continued for some time, until Barsisa began to enact this advice, placing the food indoors. Eventually Iblis came again and encouraged him to converse:
“If you talk to her for a while she will be put to ease by your conversation as she is in a state of fear and she is all alone.”
Barsisa then began to speak to her atop his place of worship. Eventually, Shaytan told him to come down and speak to her directly.
“If you were to come down and talk to her while she sits at her door and talks to you, that would be even more comforting for her.”
This led to the two of them interacting at the doorstep, socialising with one another. This continued for a while until Iblis seized the opportunity, and told Barsisa to enter the house. He would talk with her until the night fell and would later return to his temple. Iblis continued to make her look attractive to him until he eventually committed zina with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a boy. Shaytan came and told Barsisa to kill both the woman and the son, that way his sin would be concealed. The monk was spurred on until he eventually committed the act, burying their bodies in a ditch, levelled under a rock.
A Strange Dream and Discovery
When the brothers returned from fighting, Barsisa announced their sister had become ill and died, showing her grave. The brothers mourned at her gravesite and eventually returned home.
One night Shaytan came to them in their sleep and told them Barsisa had lied, and had impregnated their sister and killed her and the child. He then told them to visit the ditch dug behind the door of the house, to the right of the entrance.
The Devil went to each of the three brothers, telling them the story. When they awoke, they discussed the dream, surprised it was exactly the same. They disputed on whether to investigate the gravesite until they eventually agreed. The brothers opened the door and found their sister and her son buried in the ditch.
When they confronted Barsisa he confirmed what Iblis told them. They took him and were about to crucify him, until Shaytan came in the form of a man and told Barsisa:
"If you obey me today and deny Allah, who formed and shaped you, I will rescue you from your predicament.”
He then submitted to Shaytan and denied Allah. When this happened, Shaytan betrayed him, leaving him to be crucified.
Zina Culture in the Modern World: Weakening Faith and Collapse of Ethics
It is evident that Barsisa's downfall was caused by his own moral failure. His repeated contact with the woman, visitations and eventual seclusion is what destroyed his morality. No unmarried couple are alone except that Shaytan is present:
A man is not alone with a woman but the third of them is Ash-Shaitan.
In an alternate version of the story narrated by Ibn Masud, the brothers first went to the king for help, who sent troops to arrest Barsisa. It was when being dragged to his death that he succumbed to the Shaytan. (Balagha.net)
This provides a clear insight into society's role in serving as the enforcer of morals. Barsisa wasn’t executed solely for the murder itself, but the act of zina which led to the fatal action.
The brothers only trusted the monk because they believed his piety was above human temptation. It shows that zina can affect anyone, even the most devoted worshiper. It forces society to ensure there is a strict separation of the sexes to discourage seclusion and free-mixing.
However, today's society no longer plays this role, instead it normalises pre-marital relations. This has created a zina culture known as the hypersexualisation of society, which in turn has led to unwanted pregnancies, broken family ties and collective humiliation. All of these were the same outcomes from Barsisa's act, and yet society is no longer like the brothers or the king, who sought justice against transgressions.
In the contemporary age, society has made zina easier. Evolving technology has solved unwanted pregnancies with abortions. Humiliated family members are expected to bear the pain that fornication causes. Sexual diseases, assaults and same sex relationships have emerged from this permissive culture. This has positioned modern society as the enforcer of zina.
The Western world order has replaced religion with secularism. Institutions are no longer based on religious scriptures and rulings. Laws are man-made. Morality is subjective.
This burdens man with developing his own individual truth, and is often guided by society to indulge in a hedonistic path driven by desire. Liberalism in particular, has paved the way for normalising homosexuality, transgenderism, gender orientations and abortion access.
Movies and TV shows are now more graphic, social media has ads which are obscene and sexual, and billboards and adverts rely on overtly provocative images to sell items. It's everywhere, from music to books which are designed to turn people to beasts driven by desire. We live in a shameless world where streaming explicit things on our screen is normal. The rise of the pornography industry, X rated sites and social media have collectively made access to sexual depravity easier and more accessible.
We’ve become consumers of filth. Instead of lowering our gazes we gawk and stare. The boundaries of decency are now blurred.
In the story of Barsisa, his personal thoughts corrupted his real life dealings due to exposure to a high pressure environment. Prolonged intimate company of the woman changed his personality, ethics and morals in a way that contrasted how he usually behaved. Today, we are constantly under pressure and our morals are tested by temptations and widespread immorality.
The question remains, why is the modern world promoting a hyper-sexual society and what does it gain from it? The below section outlines the main theories regarding the purpose and goal of zina culture.
The Rise of AI: Replacing Human Connection with Machines
Many young people find themselves alone and isolated. The breakdown of the community and social ties has created vulnerable individuals with few emotional bonds and connections.
AI has worsened this trend, leading to company layoffs, a de-skilled society and is even replacing human connections. Chatgpt can now serve as a therapist, advisor and friend. Additionally, AI bots can also produce pornographic content.
In 2026, X chatbot Grok began to produce explicit deepfakes of other people, including children. This caused the AI bot to be banned by a Dutch court, showing it can destroy the lives of regular individuals who can unknowingly become sexual commodities. It has raised concerns about online safety, privacy and human dignity. (Pazzanese, 2026)
Similarly, AI girlfriends have become a reality where vulnerable individuals can engage in explicit conversations with a chatbot to replace human connection or physical partners. Sites like OnlyFans have encouraged women and men to sell themselves to fuel the sex industry, commodifying their bodies for profit. This undermines the notion of family, and instead creates morally bankrupt individuals who sell their bodies for fame. This is legal and normalised, showing how governments, tech companies and institutions are the main actors in pushing zina culture.
The real purpose for AI’s expansion is to create the digital surveillance state. By normalising explicit content online, it lures people to view this content on their phones. In turn, our governments can spy on people and collect personal information.
What do governments want with such content? Weaponising lust is a powerful tool to control the human mind. By creating a zina culture which pushes people into depravity, it is easier to influence them.
For example, pornography is a blackmail operation. Elites create an addicted generation by offering filthy content that naturally becomes more deranged, extreme and perverted. Tech companies collect a user's IP address and can access their devices. Similar methods are deployed in government espionage operations to implicate political enemies. Such examples are outlined below.
2. Sex as a Form of Blackmail: Espionage, Honeypots and Mind Control Experiments
The recent Epstein files gave a glimpse into how sex is used as an infrastructure to manipulate, control and silence individuals. This is known as ‘sexpionage’ in which honeypot operations are deployed to humiliate public figures and extract information. It shows how intimacy can be weaponised to control human behaviour. (Kalmoy, 2026)
Pornography was used for psychological warfare tactics in WWI in which the Germans distributed sexual material to weaken enemy soldiers. The idea was that explicit content would distract soldier’s minds and lower morale.
This method was mentioned in the article The Sixth Column:
By air-dropping graphic leaflets…the goal was to undermine an enemy’s soldiers desire to fight by transferring their attention to the imagery.
This device would insure that the soldier would be attracted and would be unable to resist looking at the picture over and over again. This would rouse his passion, and his heart would be inclined for love and to hate fighting.
Psychological research suggests exposure to highly rousing ‘erotic stimuli’ can be a mediator of aggressive behaviour.
Though it failed to destroy soldier morale, the campaign led to US and British soldiers receiving the explicit leaflets and distributing them between one another. This shows how pornography can be used to influence people by appealing to one’s lusts.
Similarly, in March 2002, Israel military forces hijacked four Palestinian TV stations and as part of their occupation began to broadcast pornography. This was used as ‘sexual bondage’ and a tool to control their enemies. It was done to weaken the religious authority in the land, humiliate its culture and people. (Alexis, 2011)
In the 1950s The CIA invested in how sex controlled human behaviour. They launched Operation Midnight Climax in which they paid prostitutes to lure men into wire tapped apartments and douse them with LSD. The goal was to test how sex combined with hallucinogenic drugs influenced men to reveal information the government wanted. The operation was part of their MKULTRA programme, which experimented how to control human minds to serve the interests of the state. (Kiger, 2024)
This is how zina culture is utilised by the state to psychologically enslave enemies. This reinforces how the elite class harbour little ethics towards morality and paints a bleak picture of the citizens impacted by their policies. But how does zina culture work at a community level and how does it impact the youth?
3. Sex Education: Attack on Muslim Children
In order to indoctrinate a population, the easiest way is to corrupt the youth. Public school education has a great influence on young people. It takes millions of children away from their parents to be taught in institutions, absorbing state approved ideologies and beliefs.
Zina culture is spread predominately in non-segregated Western schools through teaching sexuality to adolescents. This is through a course known as Sex Education. It focuses on hyper-sexualising the youth and normalising pre-marital relationships. The World Health Organisation defines Sex Education, or Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) as covering pregnancy prevention, contraception, sexual consent, gender fluidity and LGBT orientations. (WHO, 2026) This is the basic framework used in most public schools, exposing Muslim children to these lifestyles and behaviours.
However, Islamic schools in the West are not safe from these teachings. In 2014, a scandal known as Operation Trojan Horse accused Islamic schools in Birmingham, UK of promoting religious extremism. A letter was leaked to the UK press, allegedly authored by local Muslims detailing a plan to stage a religious takeover of UK public schools. In response, emergency inspections began at 21 schools in Birmingham and reviewed their curriculums. A main concern was around sex education. A Guardian article detailed their findings:
Inspectors alleged that these schools had provided inadequate sex education, failed to teach students enough about belief systems other than Islam, segregated some classes according to gender, and discouraged boys and girls from socialising with each other.
When reviewing a Muslim co-educational school, inspector complaints were also around the topic of sex:
In this class, teachers presented PowerPoint slides that focused on marital life but skirted around the subject of sex
There was no evidence the Trojan Horse letter had ever been authored by real Muslims, but what remains clear was the way UK Muslims were vilified in the media afterwards. Over a decade later, regular media coverage frames Islamic schools as outdated, extremist and draconian. One of the media's biggest issues is gender segregation and enforcement of Islamic teachings and laws.
It shows that zina culture has even targeted faith schools, enough for the state to stage infiltrations to control the school curriculum.
In France, Muslim girls are barred from wearing the hijab, niqab and abayas in regular public schools, placing a greater strain on how modesty is defined in the modern world. (BBC News, 2023)
The state now plays a role in overriding religion itself, namely Islam. The Western world has ensured free-mixing, immodest clothing and hookup culture is widespread. This shows a deep conspiracy to subvert Islamic values and spread liberal ideologies.
Moving Forward: Navigating Zina Culture in the Modern World
We're living in unprecedented times where state trust is collapsing. Governments can no longer be considered morally upright or preserving the honour of its people. As a result, zina culture is all around us. This puts increased responsibility on Muslim communities to be morally responsible for one another. We need educational spaces at the masjids and community centres to protect isolated and vulnerable young Muslims.
Islamic education must address the modern problems of social media, pornography, movies and pop culture that promote lust and degeneracy. Similarly, courses about navigating AI and protecting our modesty online will provide clarity on managing digital spaces.
Ultimately, it is not enough to simply warn about zina but educate Muslims on the bad actors who wish to impose it on them - particularly governments, Hollywood and public schools.
Overcoming zina culture is by holding each other accountable and sticking together. Isolated people are vulnerable to control. Muslims have to be each other's moral enforcers. Where society has failed, we must be a community who safeguards Islamic values, principles and ensure zina culture is not glamourised but erased from our spaces.
We seek Allah’s protection from zina, its harms and anything that comes close to it. Ameen.
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Jazakallah khair for reading. Please benefit the ummah by sharing this knowledge and downloading a transcript below. Feel free to use it for your own research or personal study.
Bibliography
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