The Concept of “Changing the Creation” and the Rulings on Interventions in the Body

What is it about?

“Changing the creation” is a famous expression in Islamic texts and has become textual evidence in jurisprudence and contemporary fatwās on surgical or genetic intervention in the body. What does this expression mean? Does the textual context help us understand it as a religious or ethical prohibition of alterations inflicted on the body? How was “changing the creation” understood by the exegetes (al-mufassirūn) and jurists (al-fuqahāʾ)? This article answers these questions using a historical approach to track the developments in the understanding of the relevant texts. It also traces the attempts of jurists to establish the meaning of “changing the creation” and to justify it religiously or ethically. The article proposes a new understanding of the meaning of “changing the creation” based on the context and the comparison of texts. It concludes that there is no connection between “changing the creation” as an act inflicted on the body and the prohibition associated with it; the changes inflicted upon the creation is not subject to prohibition in itself and is not suitable to serve as a legitimization for the issuing of verdicts.

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