Fatwa ID: 06947
Answered by: Maulana Ubaidur Rahman
Question:
I live in an environment where we have unavoidable interactions with transgender people (not intersex). These people have changed their names to suit the new gender they claim to be, i.e.: if someone was born a male and now acts like he is a female, he changes his masculine name to a feminine one.
If I use their original masculine name which is in accordance with their real gender, it is seen as offensive to them and might create complications for me in my daily life. However, if I use their new feminine name, I’m afraid that Allah and others might view this as tacit approval and acceptance of this major sin.
Moreover, these people also change their pronouns according to their gender. Again, I cannot use their real pronouns without causing problems for myself, and I am afraid of angering Allah by using their new pronouns.
I am not afraid of professing my views publicly alhamdulillah. Everyone in my surroundings knows that I see this as a major sin and condemn it. This does not cause a problem for me alhamdulillah. However, using the real names and pronouns of these transgender people is seen as something offensive and I have been condemned previously for it.
I am unsure what to do in this case, and would be grateful for guidance.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Allah has created Men and Women separately for a purpose:
وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً1
This tells us how everyone has a specific and separate qualities to differentiate and make unique each gender to the other in comparison.
In hadeeth it states:
لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الْمُتَشَبِّهِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ بِالنِّسَاءِ، وَالْمُتَشَبِّهَاتِ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ بِالرِّجَالِ2
The Prophet (PBUH) cursed the imitators of the men and the women and the imitators from the women to the men.
This hadeeth makes clear the way in which it is admonished in Islam such actions of imitating the opposite sex.
وإذا بلغ الخنثى وخرجت له لحية أو وصل إلى النساء فهو رجل وإن ظهر له ثدي كثدي المرأة أو نزل له لبن في ثديه أو حاض أو حبل أو أمكن الوصول إليه من الفرج فهو امرأة فإن لم تظهر إحدى هذه العلامات فهو خنثى مشكل3
When a transgender or hermaphrodite person matures and they show traits of manhood by growing a beard or joins with a woman then he is a man. And if they start developing breasts like a woman’s breasts or starts giving off milk from the breasts or menstruates or has other natural qualities which a woman naturally possesses then the person would be a woman. A complicated hermaphrodite would happen when both these separate factors are difficult to distinguish or emerge.
According to how you know these people, associate or disassociate with them accordingly. If they display more masculine traits and recognise themselves as male, then it would be ok to mix with them, as all the traits of manhood are found within them. If on the other hand, they possess female qualities and are in fact female, then stay away from them and observe distance.
To not meddle with such matters is avoidable to save yourself from all doubts and difficulties.
1 Surah an-Nisaa, verse 1.
2 Saheeh Bukhari, 5885.
3 Mukhtasar al Quduri, Chapter 24, page 137.
1 (وَشَرْطُ افْتِرَاضِهَا عَقْلٌ وَبُلُوغٌ وَإِسْلَامٌ وَحُرِّيَّةٌ)
ص259 – كتاب حاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار ط الحلبي – كتاب الزكاة – المكتبة الشاملة
2 (قَوْلُهُ عَقْلٌ وَبُلُوغٌ) فَلَا تَجِبُ عَلَى مَجْنُونٍ وَصَبِيٍّ لِأَنَّهَا عِبَادَةٌ مَحْضَةٌ وَلَيْسَا مُخَاطَبَيْنِ بِهَا، وَإِيجَابُ النَّفَقَاتِ وَالْغَرَامَاتِ لِكَوْنِهَا مِنْ حُقُوقِ الْعِبَادِ وَالْعُشْرِ، وَصَدَقَةِ الْفِطْرِ لِأَنَّ فِيهِمَا مَعْنَى الْمُؤْنَةِ.
ص258 – كتاب حاشية ابن عابدين رد المحتار ط الحلبي – كتاب الزكاة – المكتبة الشاملة
Only Allah (عز و جل) knows best.
Written by Maulana Ubaidur Rahman
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
