Is marriage obligatory in Islam, or may a Muslim choose to stay single?

Marriage is the emphatic Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, and the majority of scholars hold it becomes obligatory upon one who fears falling into ḥarām and is able to marry, recommended for one who desires it and is able, and may be delayed for one genuinely unable to provide or fulfil its rights. The Prophet ﷺ said: "O young men, whoever among you is able to marry, let him marry, for it lowers the gaze and guards the private parts; and whoever is not able, let him fast, for it is a shield for him." Allah also commands: "And marry the unmarried among you and the righteous among your male and female slaves. If they should be poor, Allah will enrich them from His bounty." Deliberately renouncing marriage as an act of worship or asceticism is forbidden: when three men vowed lifelong celibacy and constant worship, the Prophet ﷺ said, "I fast and I break my fast, I pray and I sleep, and I marry women; so whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me." So a Muslim may remain unmarried for a legitimate reason such as poverty, illness or study, but not out of contempt for marriage or as a claimed path to piety.

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