Q.1. It was recently reported that a vicar from England was to undergo a sex change operation. He was quoted as saying that he was not doing it to satisfy any whim or desire, but as a medical solution for a personal problem. What does Islam say to this?
Q.2. On the one hand, the Qur’an tells us that the people who are most hostile to us are the Jews and the idolaters, but Islam permits a marriage between a Muslim man and a Jewish woman. How can we reconcile the two?
Q.3. A Hadith related by Abu Dawood states that a Muslim who stays with an idolater, socializes with him and agrees with his views is just like that idolater. Do you agree that this Hadith makes it forbidden for a Muslim to live in a non-Muslim country, and that Muslims who are living in such countries should immigrate to Muslim countries?
Z. Irfan, Jeddah
A.1. Some people are born with different abnormalities, which may be physical or mental, apparent or not apparent. Some abnormalities may cause a person much mental hardship. None of us questions the right of the parents to subject a child born with a physical abnormality to extensive surgery in order to correct it as far as possible. Even when such surgery involves tissue culture or organ transplant, we find this acceptable.
Why should we not look at a mental or sexual abnormality in the same light? The criterion which should determine this is medical. If reliable doctors tell us that a certain abnormality could make a person born with male genitals have a high level of female hormones, causing him immense physical and/or psychological problems, we need to ask them about the solution. If they suggest that a sex change operation could be of great benefit to that person, then we put the case to our most learned scholars for a ruling. This should be treated on a case by case basis, not given a blanket ruling.
A.2. There is no difficulty in reconciling the permissibility of such a marriage and the statement of Jewish hostility. The permissibility is based on the fact that marriage should be between people who share a minimum degree of faith in God’s oneness.
However, the verse speaking of the Jews gives an insight into the overall feelings of the Jews as a community over a long time period. Needless to say, no Muslim who respects his religion will marry a Jewish woman when he knows that she is very hostile to Islam.
A.3. No, the Hadith does not speak about Muslims living as a minority community in a non-Muslim country, as practically all Muslims outside the Muslim world do. It speaks about an individual fully integrating with idolaters to the extent that he seems, to all intents and purposes, one of them. In today’s world, a Muslim may be able to practise his religion and advocate its principles fully when he lives in a non-Muslim country.
Besides, we always say that Islam spread into vast areas of the world through trade contacts. Surely, those Muslim traders who went to places in South Asia and in West and Southern Africa were only small minorities living among idolaters. They were able to win them over to Islam through their honesty, integrity and care. Were they violating Islamic teachings when they lived in those communities?
On the other hand, some Muslims found themselves forced to seek refuge in foreign countries when Islamic advocates were subject to persecution in some Muslim countries. Had they stayed in their countries, they would have faced imprisonment, torture and possibly death. Anyone who could flee his country did so, and many could only find refuge in Western Europe and America. Were these violating this Hadith when they did so? When they established homes and families, their children grew up as citizens of these countries. They are definitely in small minorities, but Islam benefits a great deal from their presence there.
We need to look at the Hadith more carefully before we issue a blanket judgment as your question suggests.
Head cover in prayer
Q. Could you please let me know how important it is to wear a head cover, or a cap, in prayer, and whether it is permissible to enter a mosque without a cap.
A. Osama, Abha
A. When we think of clothes we have to differentiate between what is Islamic and what is traditional.
This applies to our own times and to the Prophet’s time as well. When we know that the Prophet did something with regard to his dress or his appearance generally, we need to know whether it was initiated by the Prophet, or ordered or encouraged by him, or he merely did it because it was the practice of the society in which he lived. If it is the former, then we follow his example, as a duty or a Sunnah as the case may be. If it is the latter, and we happen to live in a society that is much different from that of Arabia of 14 centuries ago, there is no harm in adopting our own social norms.
When we consider the Prophet’s guidance, we find that in clothing and appearance, he normally conformed to the social norms of his community, except in the areas where these norms were in conflict with Islam.
For example, it was an acceptable practice for the Arabs to be in the nude in certain situations. Islam does not accept that and the Prophet spoke clearly against such practices. If we happen to live today in a community that finds nudity acceptable, we must conform to the Prophet’s guidance and abandon what our community accepts.
We know that the Prophet used to wear the Arabian type of headdress, which is different from what people wear today. But he did not tell his companions that such headdress was necessary for the validity of prayer. Had he chosen a special headdress for prayer or stated that any head covering was necessary we would have known that and would have been required to follow his example.
But he has not made any indication of the sort, which means that he simply wore what his people used to wear. In fact, his dress generally was not different from that of the unbelievers in Arabia. We, therefore, know for certain that Islam does not require people to wear any particular type of dress, as long as what they wear conforms to its principles, such as not being tight and covering the awrah, which is the part of the body that may not be seen by others.
To sum up, wearing a head cap for entering the mosque or in prayer is neither obligatory nor a Sunnah. If people insist on it, it is only because they have been brought up in a tradition that requires it, not because of any Islamic requirement.