I didn’t plan to write this. Who wants to talk about this? Not me. But silence kept me stuck, so here we are. Think of this as my field notes. What helped. What flopped. And how faith fit in, for real.
The Hard Part To Say Out Loud
I’m Muslim. I pray. I care about halal and haram. And yet, I kept slipping back to porn. Nights felt long. My phone felt loud. Shame lived in my chest. It wasn’t only lust; it was stress, fear, boredom, and scrolling too late. Hearing another brother’s journey—like this honest take on fighting porn addiction as a Muslim—reminded me I wasn’t alone in the mess.
I told myself, “Tomorrow I’ll stop.” Then tomorrow came, and I didn’t. You know what? That loop is heavy.
What Finally Moved The Needle
Not one big fix. Small, tiny things. Stacking them.
- A real alarm clock, not my phone.
- Isha, then bed. No screen in the bedroom. Non-negotiable.
- A glass of cold water and a walk when urges hit. Sounds silly. Works.
- Dua, even when I felt fake. I asked for help anyway.
I also remembered what my mom said when I was a kid: “Close your eyes from what harms your heart.” That lined up with lowering the gaze. It became a practice, not a slogan.
If you need a concise, faith-based game plan, the practical tips laid out in 10 Useful Strategies that Help You Quit Porn gave me extra ideas to stack on top of these small wins.
Faith Tools That Actually Helped
- Salah on time: Not perfect, but steadier. Maghrib and Isha set the floor for my night.
- Short surahs on repeat: Surah Ikhlas, Falaq, Nas before bed. Calmed my brain.
- Fasting on Mondays: Hunger softened the noise. It also cut down evening scrolling.
- Tawbah without drama: I slipped. I repented. I tried again. Over and over.
I once thought I had to feel “worthy” first. Nope. You pray, even when you feel low. Mercy meets you where you stand.
Tech Tools I Used (And My Plain Review)
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Screen Time controls (iPhone): Blocked app stores, set limits, used a passcode my cousin held. Simple, but strong. 4/5. Easy to bypass if you really try, though.
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Covenant Eyes: It flags risky content and sends reports to my accountability buddy. Not perfect, but it made me pause. 4/5. The weekly “Are you okay?” text from my buddy mattered more than the software, if I’m honest.
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CleanBrowsing (Family filter): DNS filter for my Wi-Fi. Fast, cheap, catches a lot. 4/5. Some misses, but it blocks enough that the “instant hit” is gone.
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Reading one breakdown on WildPornReviews opened my eyes to the tricks the industry uses, which weirdly killed a lot of the appeal.
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A dumb phone on weekends: Calls and texts only. Hard to explain how peaceful it feels. 5/5 for peace, 2/5 for convenience.
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What failed me: relying only on willpower at 1 a.m. Willpower at 1 a.m. is a wet paper bag.
Conversations That Changed Me
I spoke to my imam. I stared at the carpet and said, “I’m stuck.” He didn’t flinch. He said, “Shame locks doors. Mercy opens them.” He told me to fast a bit, move my bedtime earlier, and lower my gaze like it’s reps at the gym. Short, daily reps. Not a one-time hero lift.
I also joined a small WhatsApp group. Three brothers. We share a green check for clean days. A yellow dot for struggle. A red cross for a slip. No lectures, just “Praying for you.” I thought it would feel corny. It didn’t. Reading about how other Muslims broke free through programs like Purify Your Gaze: Muslims Healing from Porn Addiction reminded me that structured support exists beyond my circle.
Real Days, Real Slips
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Winter break: I was home alone, bored, and mad at myself. I almost caved. I put the phone in the car glove box, locked it, and took a shower. I sang off-key. I made tea. Urge passed in 20 minutes.
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Ramadan night 14: I scrolled reels after suhoor. Bad idea. I felt the pull. I texted “Walk?” to a friend at 5 a.m. We walked. We laughed. That morning saved the rest of the month for me.
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Business trip: Hotel Wi-Fi is a trap. I asked the desk for a room facing the parking lot, not the pool. I told my accountability buddy my room number and my schedule. Boring works.
For a blow-by-blow account of what early recovery can feel like, the week-by-week reflections in this detailed porn-addiction recovery timeline gave me realistic expectations and a lot of hope.
What Helped My Brain (Not Just My Phone)
I learned my cues:
- Late night + alone + stress = danger.
- Hot showers and rants on social media = danger.
- After a hard conversation = danger.
So I built swaps:
- Hard day? I do push-ups, then call my sister and talk nonsense.
- Lonely? I sit in the masjid for 15 minutes, even if it’s quiet.
- Travel day? I bring a paperback. Pages beat pixels.
Also, sleep. Sleep is like armor. When I slept 7 hours, urges dropped. When I slept 4, I was toast.
Islam Didn’t Just Say “Don’t”
It gave me a plan:
- Lower your gaze. Practice it at the store, at the gym, on the sidewalk.
- Keep modest company. Not perfect folks—steady ones.
- Make dhikr in tiny bites through the day. Slow and steady cleans the window.
- Fast sometimes. It turns down the volume.
And it gave me hope. That matters most.
Quick Ratings: What I’d Keep
- Mercy mindset over shame: 5/5
- Bedtime rules and no-phone bedroom: 5/5
- Accountability buddy: 5/5
- Fasting once a week: 4/5
- Filters and blockers: 4/5
- Therapy with a Muslim-aware counselor: 5/5 (I did six sessions. We talked stress, not sin tallies. It helped me breathe.)
Stuff I Stopped Doing
- “Last time” goodbyes. It kept me in a loop. I switched to “Next right step.”
- Endless guilt. Guilt can wake you up. Too much guilt puts you back to sleep.
- Big speeches. Small actions work better.
If You’re Where I Was
- Tell one safe person. “I need help” is a brave sentence.
- Pick two guards: one faith guard, one tech guard.
- Move your bedtime up by 30 minutes. Big win, tiny cost.
- Plan your “urge script”: water, walk, wudu, call, bed.
- Count streaks if you like, but count returns more.
If you’re walking alongside a spouse who’s struggling, this first-hand review of a husband’s porn addiction—what helped and what hurt can guide you on what actually supports recovery and what accidentally sabotages it.
You know what? You’re not broken. You’re a person with a habit and a heart. Hearts can change. Mine did, slowly, with slips and starts. I’m not a saint. I’m steadier.
If you need more help, get it. An imam. A counselor. A group like SA. No shame. Use every tool. Faith isn’t fragile. It’s a lifeline.
And if you’re reading this at 1 a.m., put your phone on the dresser. Say a short dua. Lay down. Let morning be your friend again.