How Would the Conversion/Tawbah of a Transgender Person Be Handled?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question

Would they be forgiven? How will they be treated under Sacred Law regarding gender-specific things like marriage? What if they have already transitioned so much that they look like the opposite gender physically and emotionally?

Answer

In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Transgender people who embrace Islam or repent and return to the religion will be forgiven if they fulfil the conditions of repentance. They will reassume the gender/sex they were born with and will be treated accordingly. If they do not possess any heterosexual desire, or they can’t relate to their birth gender/sex, they should practice patient restraint or find satisfaction in lawful marriage, and Allah knows best.

Would they be forgiven? 

Repentance

If a transgender person embraces Islam or is Muslim, and then repents, they will be forgiven. According to Sacred Law, Allah can forgive all sins. The only sin that Allah says He will not forgive is shirk (ascribing partners to Allah); when someone dies in that state. 

Allah says: “Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺, but forgives anything else of whoever He wills. And whoever associates others with Allah has indeed committed a grave sin.” [Quran, 4:48]

The general conditions of repentance apply to a transgender person, namely, to stop the sin, promise not to return to it, adopt remorse, and (where applicable) return the rights of those whose rights were trespassed. [Nawawi, Riyad Al-Salihin]

Repentance in Practice

In practice, stopping the sin, for a transgender person, entails reverting to the truth of their gender identity (the sex with which they were born). 

Corrective Surgery

If the person in question surgically changed their sex, it was sinful and is usually irreversible. 

The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) cursed those women who pluck their eyebrows and file their teeth for beautification and change the creation of Allah. [Agreed Upon]

“Those who file their teeth” refers only to purposes of beautification. What is unlawful is done for beautification only, but if it is needed for medical treatment or to “correct a fault” in the teeth, eyebrows, odd birthmarks, etc., there is nothing wrong with it, and Allah knows best. [Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim]

Any elective or cosmetic surgery that could be a health risk is unlawful. Therefore, if the person in question surgically changed their private parts, Sacred Law does not demand them to change it back. Though they may do corrective surgery on the condition that it is safe and medically advisable to do so, and Allah knows best. Please see our answer about corrective surgery.

How will they be treated under Sacred Law regarding gender-specific things like marriage?

Repentant transgendered people should reassume the gender/sex they were born into and will be treated accordingly. This is because it is not permissible to change the creation of Allah, so despite the cosmetic, hormonal, and surgical changes, they would still, in truth, be their birth gender/sex. [Qadhi, Fiqh Council]

If their heterosexual desire does not correspond to their gender/sex, they should practice patient restraint or find satisfaction in lawful marriage, and Allah knows best.

What if they have already transitioned so much that they look like the opposite gender physically and emotionally?

If the person in question resembles their opposite gender/sex, they should alter their appearance to resemble their birth gender, to the extent that it will not cause them physical harm. [ibid.]

Their efforts to observe Sacred Law will be rewarded. “The essence of our religion is to control our urges and to bring them in line with the Sacred Law; the urge itself does not define a person, and conquering urges that are contrary to our faith is how piety is established.” [ibid.]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan. 

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.