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Operation for sex change

Question

What was the Islamic rules about effeminate man behaving like a woman who is having an operation to remove his male vital part and form it like a female part. He even form the woman breast. Now his body physically look like a woman. Also about his Aurah, his marriage to the man .his mixed with another woman and about his repentance. What I tell you is he was physically a man but he tell everyone his soul was a woman. He was not a Khunsa' bisexual. This really happened in our country. He had the operation in a neighboring country.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

There are two terms that are used for this condition:

The first one is hermaphrodite. This is a person who has both a male and a female organ or who does not have any organ at all just a hole from which he/she urinates.

The second term is an effeminate. This is a man who is like a woman in softness, in his talk, his look, his movements, and so forth. If a person is created like this, he is not sinful for resembling women.

However, if a person is not created in this manner; rather, he imitates women, then it is such a person who is cursed in some Ahaadeeth. For instance, Ibn ‘Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “Allah has cursed men who imitate women and has cursed women who imitate men.” [Al-Bukhari]

Another narration by Ibn ‘Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him reads: “Turn them out of your homes.” So, the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) turned out such-and-such man, and ‘Umar  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him turned out such-and-such woman”. [Al-Bukhari]

Therefore, if the person whom you mentioned is a hermaphrodite, it is permissible for him and he is not sinful if he has an operation to make his sex evident i.e., the sex which he is naturally inclined to have.

If the female sexual organs appear on a person, then he is considered as a woman and the rulings concerning women apply to such a person: concerning her marriage, ‘Awrah (parts of the body that must be covered in Islam) and so forth.

But if the person whom you mentioned imitates women, then he is committing a grave major sin. His sin is even much greater as he carried out an operation to transform him from a man into a woman. However, if a person repents, regrets and seeks Allah’s Forgiveness, then Allah accepts his repentance as Allah accepts the repentance of a person as long as he does not breath his last.

If he has now changed completely to a woman by having woman's genitals and woman's breast, and other women’s appearance, then he is no longer a man. Indeed he is a woman and the rulings of women apply to her.

Allah knows best.

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