05 January 2009

Hijab and Cosmetic Surgery?

Is it completely haram? I don't know and I don't think I'd ever get cosmetic surgery just in case it is but would you? The rates of nose jobs and the such are very high in Arab countries as well as in Iran so Muslims across the world are obviously getting it done but when there are people starving and don't even have water is it morally correct to spend thousands of pounds to make yourself look more attractive? And you have to think, especially hijabies, whats your intention of making yourself look more pleasing to the eye anyway? On the other hand, I'm sure there are people who were seriously paranoid about certain aspects of their body which could have steamed from bullying etc and this has affected parts of their life - should these people really be judged?

The reason why I'm writing this is because I have recently been watching this Arabic programme on MBC called 'Ma'a Joelle Ahahla' which translates to 'Prettier with Joelle'. It's basically a makeover programme that gets normal looking hijabies and non hijabies all transformed into a prettier them..but with surgery. Breast enlargements, nose jobs, botox, lipo, you name it and its been done on the show and very much normalised. In fact, by the end of it they look like different people no joke! But it's not this that annoys me about the show, it's the way they have advertised it. Basically, there's this average looking husband and a pretty wife watching TV and he's not paying her any attention, then Joelle (the plastic presenter above) suddenly pops out of nowhere and transforms the wife with a click of her fingers into this busty, plastic barbie doll and suddenly her husband's all interested in her. That's what makes me mad!!! Basically the message is that even if you are nice and naturally pretty and your husband is a minger you still have to have surgery for him to be interested. What a load of bull, I won't get married if that's how it goes! Anyway, I just want opinions to see what other Muslimahs think about it but in my opinion, if it's just to make you look nicer it's most likely haram because that money could be better spent.

29 comments:

Hijabee said...

What will you tell to Allah if you die during the process? Ahouzubilah!

Hijabee said...

What will you tell to Allah if you die during the process? Ahouzubilah!

Ange said...

the whole thing is haram you are changing the creation of Allah. a simple thing like shaping eyebrows by plucking is haram... so wouldnt changing your face, nose, breasts, etc be worse?
i mean i guess there are considerations if someone needed reconstruction surgery due to an accident or burns, etc.
I also find that most of these girls getting surgery are changing their traditional arab features in order to look more western. They all end up coming out looking more european than arab. its very sad.

Anonymous said...

I agree, unless it is to correct a deformity or injury it is better not to. Also, it places too much emphasis on women's physical attributes, not on all of our other attributes! I do not want to be valued based on how I look, and I look just fine the way Allah made me thank you.
Walaikum asalaam.

Anonymous said...

I agree, unless it is to correct a deformity or injury it is better not to. Also, it places too much emphasis on women's physical attributes, not on all of our other attributes! I do not want to be valued based on how I look, and I look just fine the way Allah made me thank you.
Walaikum asalaam.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Sorry about the multiple posts, it wasn't working and I clicked several times, oops.

Candice said...

There are certain reasons to get plastic surgery, like when you had an accident and you're trying to get back to what you looked like originally (burn victims, severely broken nose, those types of things). I also find some cases OK like when you're born with something like a cleft lip. And some less severe things, like unnaturally tiny breasts are kind of acceptable to me. Not sure if I'd personally do it even if I had those, but I saw a surgery show where the woman got that done, and seriously, her breasts weren't even breasts and I totally understood her feeling the need to get them done.

Celeritas said...

I think plastic surgery is ok, ie to make you look 'normal' because you were born or became disfigured.

I think cosmetic surgery however is really really sad and especially for Muslims because we should love our bodies as gifts from Allah swt.

The popularity of cosmetic surgery amongst muhajibat just shows that wearing a particular part of clothing doesn't free us from the Beauty Myth.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I've heard of this show. I don't have a set opinion on whether or not it's halal to get cosmetic surgery. Personally, I'd like to get it done but I'm afraid it may be haram.

BTW: Does anyone know where I can watch it online?

on345667755 said...

i guess it depends, there are certain procedures that are considered "cosmetic surgery" that aren't 100% based on vanity, for exampled a Breast Reduction or a Breast lift to remove some of the weight that comes with large breasts (that seems to turn you in to a hunch back!)

lala said...

I think changing what Allah SWT gave you in lusts of achieving what mere man deems 'beautiful' is haram and laughable. Who knows best what beauty is?
I think cosmetic surgery is haram bc it's permeanant and serves no other purpose, like Halal Honey mentioned, than to further ones vanity.

ipv6 said...

Am agree with what Ange said..

You mention that it very high in Arab countries as well as in Iran and Muslims across the world are obviously getting it done...

Well being an Arab or Parsi on that matter doest make you a better muslim. One should lerned to differentiate between the race and religion. Just like many people of others religion,some muslim also disregard (or perhap naive and lack knowledge?) the teaching of Islam. And that including the Arab of course.There is a lots of unjustice an atrocity in in the muslim country in spike of "sound religioues" on the paper. They leaders opress the people. Money from oil rich counties and national coffers become subject to a massive corruption.

It's very unfortunate indeed, that this gave a bad name to muslim all over the world. This paint a wrong picture of the trully Islam and their teaching. Some Arab, after flying to anothers country(vacationer or not), they no longer adorn abaya instead they fancies something that you see on tv and mag(read:western). And some men start looking for those gurl at Sukhumvit road in Bangkok or Red light District in the Europe if you know what I mean.

Not all Arab is a muslim, some goes to, not all muslim is Arab.

Hijabis On Ranting Tour. said...

Beauty is only skin deep. It seems that the meaning of inner beauty is lost.

StylishMuslimah said...

ipv6 - thank you for your comment and I completly agree with you because nowhere in my post did i say being an arab makes you a better Muslim, who on earth would think that anyway, its ridiculous! i was mearly stating stats that come from predominantly Muslim countries.

Anonymous said...

wat do u ladies think of wearing braces to straighten the teeth (it's nt harming anything but to look nicer) and lasik surgery fr the eyes (to avoid wearing lenses all the time) ?

thanks !

Anonymous said...

Anon: Braces are to correct crooked teeth, they may be considered more attractive but are also much easier to keep clean and healthy. And laser surgery is to correct poor eyesight, so they are both fine.
I had awful teeth as a child, sticking out in all directions, so I had to have braces and a lot of corrective work done to have normal teeth.

Anonymous said...

LOL...im suprised they would actually show that on arabic tv!...what is the middle east coming to?!!

StylishMuslimah said...

Sara: haha i actually did lol when i read your comment - you clearly dont have arabic tv channels because trust me you can watch anything and everything from there these days, unfortunatly this is fairly innocent by comparison. zaenab xx

ipv6 said...

Me I read between the lines..my apologies if indeed I was wrong.

@Sara
the middle of the east and west(ern) of course.

StylishMuslimah said...

ipv6 - oh thats fine lol :D i do that as well zaenab xx

Anonymous said...

Salaam 'alaykum. It is indeed haraam, unless there is a necessity, i.e. plastic surgery is necessary after an accident or operation on bones after they are broken, or when you have a mark after a wound that healed in a visible place like face etc. - then it is lawful, it's all about intention. If the intention is your health or restoring your NORMAL look that you have lost as a result of an accident or disease, then i is permitted. But, if you are normally looking and there no special needs, the intention is obviously to change your appearance into more attractive, then it is HARAAM.
But, seriously, this is true that - unfortunately - most husbands don't even look at their wives and they only keep comparing them with actresses from tv, they would like their wives to look like them. That is awful and really makes me mad when I find my husband blaming me for how I look like, while it is not even my fault, Allah made me like that and I am happy with that. If he isn't, then why is he still with me, what for?! Does he have to give me punishment every day instead of marrying another, more beautiful woman...?! I hate when a Muslim man does not appreciate what he has got and when he is not thankful for what Allah has given to him, lol!
I think this is sick and disgusting, this is what makes me seriously concerned and really frustrated about being continuously compared with actresses and models and blamed for being small, curvy and having 'too small' bust...! It's not bad, at least I have no problem with covering my bossom underneath my hijab...! Lol, I'm depressed because of that.
I think if a husband doesn't want to see his wife even if she beautifies herself for him in a halaal way, but instead he prefers too watch 'nice' slim half-naked girls in a tv and if his wife was like them, he would be the happiest man in the world - then it is an AWFUL AND HORRIBLE, BUT TRUE WITNESS about man's nature, i.e. that he only needs sex, this is what a man is only interested in when it comes to marriage; this is important for him more than pious and God-fearing, intelligent and loving wife - and that makes me mad...! It reveals the bad and ugly truth about an ordinary man's nature: in an average man's mindset, a woman or a wife, is basically objectified and he views her as if she had only her body to offer, overlooking the fact that a woman is also a human being and a human being basically consists of both BODY AND SOUL, mind, heart, ar-ruh or whatever you call it...! That a HUMAN BEING is NOT only a body (bones, blood and flesh) and therefore has only bodily needs (food, drink, clothing and... hmmm you know what I'm talking about, don't you?) - RATHER, A HUMAN BEING HAS GOT SOMETHING ELSE THAN A BODY, AND THEREFORE, HE/SHE HAS GOT SOME SPIRITUAL NEEDS, OR EMOTIONAL NEEDS, TOO. We, women, are human beings, too, and as human beings, we deserve full emotional, spiritual and social rights; we have right to be loved and cared for, we need it. We need attention from our husbands and we have this right over them. We have right to be respected, too, and be treated nicely, we have right to hear nice speech and soft and sweet voice from our husbands - why, for Allah's sake, do our husbands speak to us as is they spoke to thir servants, while even servants in Islam have the right to be treated with respect as human beings...?! So, why shall we be worse than them?! If we did not do anything wrong, then what is our fault, that our husbands become our enemies after only 2 years of our marriage...??!?!
We believed in them being religious and noble before and nowadays, the more we get o know them, the more far away we find ourselves from them...?! How is that happening, do you know oh, sisters...?!
I do not understand... I ask Allah for help - for a solution - exit from the situation - but nothing comes in mind, except divorce... And after all, who actually wants a divorce? Surely not the one who fears Allah and not the one who loves their spouse...!
Oh, Sisters! This is a terrible nightmare and it may be the case for not only me, but there are many other sisters out there with the same problem, eventually... Please, make dua' for me and may Allah Ta'ala reward you, ameen. May you all have nice religious husbands, devoted rather to the worship of Allah the Almighty and to the charity, than such a dirty inappropriate things...!
Jazakallahu khayr for your time to read it... Salaam!
AISHA, UK

ipv6 said...

@annon
unfortunately your man is sick, really sick I must say. My take is he watch too much Baywatch and the like that. But not all men like that. Knock some reallity onto his dotish saddo head. make it bit creative. Perhap he like to sleep wth a corpse, as nowdays it's possible to salvage the face and part of the facial bones of the dead and put onto the wannabe zombie wth a "pretty" look and the drugs to keep thebody from rejection for the rest of their pathetic life. or doest it help if you maked the same same kind of comparision, him n the guy on tv. watch his reactions,put it nicely. get what I mean? Ok, I'm done here.

Gud day.

StylishMuslimah said...

AISHA: omg he sounds horrible! i have known girls who have stayed with their husbands just because there is this stigma on getting divorced and then their lives turned into a complete misery and they brought children into a horrible environment. dont do it to yourself, Allah (SWT) mad divorce halal for a reason and you should think about that. I hope it goes well!
Zaenab xx

Anonymous said...

Assalamu'alaykoum
sorry for my bad english because i'm a mauritian sister who born and grow up in france
'it's not because your beautiful the people loves you,but it's because they love you that your beautiful'
Dont know if i translate this 'proverbe' correctly.
by the way love your blog dear sister

yasmin said...

PLEASE BE MORE SPECIFIC WHEN YOU MENTION ARAB OR MID EAST! arab world is BIG and they do differ from one country to another. an eg, covering the face is normal in fact the girls themselves will insist to put them on because of 'maruwah" (dignity) in yemen, but covering the face is not normal, say, in lebanon or morocco. people might even brand you a "terrorist" for covering your face in lebanon. or even for wearing hijab, for that matter. when you say arab, you are not making any exceptions or specifications and this is sad because arab comes in variety of cultures, way of life, thinking, communities, etc. what is normal in one so-called "arab" country is NOT normal in another arab country and so on and so forth. maybe you will, for example, find some arab guys say, from yemen who did bad things like drinking or go with girls- but others will comment on that or get very upset. but in other arab countries, that is viewed as normal.you will not find arab girls walking freely in the street with uncovered face and a whole lot of makeup piled on her, or with no hejab on. she'll have trouble with her family if she do that means, the islam is still well-preserved there and your saying that arab girls are so westernised etc and it is so normal is INACCURATE because it does not apply to ALL arab lands. about that ma'a joelle show, please specify that it is from lebanon. even other arab countries deny these sort of things. it might be normal in lebanon to have surgery and other Fitnah programs, but not so in saudi or yemen or oman, for example. kuwait is different with some part being very religious and another part being very americanized. then there is UAE where if u go to dubai it is like las vegas, mostly becoz its an international city-even russian prostitutes roam freely there! but not so in abu dhabi or sharjah etc which are still quite traditional and islamic. egypt is second to lebanon in terms of being very western beauty cultured, especially so in cairo. then you have morocco and algeria whereby a large part are very french oriented, whilst others strive hard to be more arabic in terms of language and deen.

so please, when you mention any arabic program or vices or whatever not, be more specific! dont let a number of incidences mar the whole race! thanks!

StylishMuslimah said...

Yasmin: "..whilst others strive hard to be more arabic in terms of language and deen.." isnt that a bit of a contradiction to your whole comment?

Anonymous said...

A such hijab (with rabbit ears, for kids), is it haram ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_94Oa4WVKNc

Anonymous said...

hijabs are made for woman who loves to wewar it allah tala will show your path magically and fufilled your wishes ameen