I told God’s messenger that I, being a young man, was afraid of committing fornication, and I had no means to enable me to marry a wife. (It was as though he was asking permission to have himself made a eunuch.) He gave me no reply, so I repeated what I had said, but he gave me no reply. I repeated it again, but he gave me no reply. I repeated it once more and the Prophet said, “Abu Huraira, the pen has written all it has to write¹ about your destiny, so have yourself made a eunuch on that account, or leave things as they are.” Bukhari transmitted it. ¹ Lit. “the pen dried up”.