The Nexus between Gender-Confirming Surgery and Illness/Some Islamic Approaches

What is it about?

Islamic fatwās on gender-confirming surgery (GCS) have been critiqued for conceiving of intersex and transsexual individuals as diseased people who need treatment for an illness. This article investigates the nexus between GCS and illness by closely examining the legal-hermeneutical arguments behind four widely cited fatwās on GCS. It argues that although the objection to medicalisation of the agents of GCS in such fatwās is mostly correct, it is not always accurate. Relying on the legal-hermeneutical reasoning established in Islamic scholarship, I propose a discursive space within Khumaynī’s fatwā suggesting that these individuals do not suffer from illness, although they are permitted to undergo GCS if they so wish.

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