Salaah and Marriage of a person who underwent a sex change operation

Question

The members of our community were surprised to learn that one of the regular Muṣallies of our Masjid was actually a woman who had undergone a sex change operation and had become a man. Everyone was amazed and dumbfounded because the individual concerned had a small beard and his voice and all other external physical characteristics were like a male; in fact he displayed no visible signs of a female. Now we would like to know whether it is permissible in Sharī’ah for this particular person to pray Ṣalāh in the Masjid in the same Ṣaff (line) as the men and secondly is it permissible for him to get married to a woman (as he is intending to do so)?

Note: The majority of the members of our community follow the Maẓhab of Imam Shāfī RA so we request if you could kindly issue the Fatwā according to the abovementioned Maẓhab. May Allāh reward you abundantly in both the worlds.

Darul Iftaa, Darul Uloom Zakariyya · Accepted Answer

The changing of an individual's gender through surgical procedures is one the new Fitnahs of this age. The closest example we could find to this situation in the Kitābs of Fiqh is the Masalah of that hermaphrodite in which the characteristics of one gender are more apparent. All the Fuqahā (Islamic Jurists) including both Ḥanafī and Shāfī have stated in their respective Kitābs as mentioned above that whichever sexual characteristics are predominant in the individual then accordingly he\she will be judged and treated as belonging to that particular gender in all aspects of life from Ibādāt (worship), to Nikāḥ (marriage), to Mīrāth (inheritance). And since the individual mentioned in the question looks so much like a male that no one ever imagined that he actually had been a female, has a beard, has a male voice, and does not have any external female characteristics then according to the Sharī’ah as proven by the Fiqhī Ibarāt (Theological Texts), he will be recognized as a male. It is therefore completely permissible for him to pray Ṣalāh with the men in the Masjid and to get married to a woman.

It is essential at this stage that we clarify one important point in order that we may not be misunderstood. The fact that it is permissible now for him after the sex change operation to pray Ṣalāh with the men in the Masjid and to get married to a woman does not in any way imply that the sex change operation itself was permissible. All the Fuqahā (Islamic Jurists) are unanimous in their verdict that it is completely Ḥarām (forbidden) for a person to change his gender under any circumstance as this is playing around with the creation of Allāh and desecration of the noble ‘Amānah (trust) entrusted unto us. The Fatwā given above by no means goes against this consensus of the Ulamā, it merely gives the judgment of the individual who has already gone ahead and done the operation. In any case whatever has passed has passed so we advise the individual concerned that he repent to Allāh (SWT) and seek his forgiveness for He is the Most Merciful and All Forgiving, and to lead his remaining life as a faithful servant of Allāh.

And Almighty Allāh alone knows best

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