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Are Cosmetic Surgeries Permissible?

22 December, 2018
Q As-Salamu `alaykum. I understand that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade men and women to change their shape. Does it mean that Muslims are not allowed to carry out cosmetic surgeries? Are such surgeries haram (unlawful) in Islam?

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

Muslim jurists considered all cosmetic surgeries haram, unless they are done to correct a defect that causes hardship to a person physically or psychologically or to improve his/her performance.

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In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states:

The general rule in Islam is that one should be satisfied with the way Allah has created him/her. One should not spend too much time or money on changing one’s shape or style.

Instead of wasting one’s time being preoccupied with the body, one should rather give time to worshiping Allah as well as doing other righteous and charitable acts.

Allah Almighty says:

{[Satan said: I] will command them [people] to change what Allah has created…} (An-Nisa’ 4:119)

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have cursed “the tattooer and the person who is tattooed and the one who shortens the teeth and one whose teeth are shortened.” (Muslim)

In another hadith, the Prophet is reported to have condemned those women who widen the gap between their teeth for the sake of beauty.

On the basis of the aforementioned Qur’anic verse and Prophetic hadiths, Muslim jurists considered all cosmetic surgeries haram, unless they are done to correct a defect that causes hardship to a person physically or psychologically or to improve his/her performance.

In the famous book of Al-Fatawa Al-Hindiyyah, it is mentioned that if a person has an extra finger in his hand or a similar problem, then there is no harm to remove it.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.