What is the ruling on undergoing cosmetic surgery?

The questioner : Is it permissible to undergo cosmetic surgery, whether it is for the original creation or for something incidental, such as an accident, for example? And is there a difference between adding a body part and removing another?

The Shaykh : I have answered this before.

The questioner : Undergoing cosmetic surgery, whether it is for the original creation or for something incidental, such as an accident? And is there a difference between adding a body part and removing another? And does this include changing the creation of Allah the Exalted? Also, the plucking of eyebrows that is prohibited, and the removal of hair from the eyebrows and the face—is the intention the eyebrows and the face, or the whole body for a woman? And naturally, in the case where the latter is prohibited, which is the removal of hair from the whole body, it may cause the husband to be repelled by his wife because of the presence of this hair. Is it permissible for her to remove this hair or not?

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. You are gathering many questions in one question, and I know what is behind the veil...
Al-Halabi : He is asking, meaning, where does one start eating the pudding?

The Shaykh : Let us return to the first part of the question. What is it?

The questioner : Cosmetic surgery.

The Shaykh : Cosmetic surgery. If the cosmetic procedure is for a creation that is not beautiful—do not drink with your left hand, my brother—or if it is beautifying what has befallen the general appearance, there is no doubt that a distinction must be made between the two types of beautification. One is permissible and the other is not permissible. The one that is not permissible is... changing the creation of Allah the Mighty and Majestic. Let us suppose a person has a flat nose. What does flat mean? It means he does not like it, so he undergoes a surgical operation to raise it a little. If this flatness is as it is supposed to be from the creation of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, it must be left as Allah created it. Why? Because Allah the Mighty and Majestic did not create anything in vain. This opens up for us a broad jurisprudence in the area of what is permissible to change in the creation of Allah and what is not permissible. A person whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic created white does not want this whiteness because there is a suspicion of leprosy, for example, so he intentionally tans his skin to a brown color. What do they call it? Bronze? I do not know what to put. He does not like Allah's creation; he does not like the whiteness. Another person is the opposite; he has brown skin, a brown complexion, and he does not like it either, so he uses means that science may have reached or may not have reached, wanting to change his brown skin to white. There are many chapters, types, and examples, and very many indeed. So, if the beautification is for something that is the creation of Allah, this is not permissible, due to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): May Allah curse the women who pluck their eyebrows, and those who have it done, and the women who tattoo, and those who have it done, and the women who file their teeth الواصلات the women who join hair And in another narration: والواصلات والمستوصلات والفالجات المغيرات لخلق الله للحسن and the women who join hair, and those who have it done, and the women who file their teeth, who change the creation of Allah for beauty The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). You find in this hadith the prohibition of changing anything of the creation of Allah the Mighty and Majestic by any means. Either by tattooing the skin that our Lord created with one color, so he changes it with a tattoo, or by changing the hair He created, or by creating it. Let us speak now about the hadith. He created it with thick eyebrows or joined eyebrows, so she does not like Allah's creation. She takes the tweezers or the razor or something similar and separates between one eyebrow and the other and refines them. She likes her creation and does not like Allah's creation. This is forbidden, and by that, you should judge. لعن الله النامصات والمتنمصات والواشمات والمستوشمات والفالجات May Allah curse the women who pluck their eyebrows and those who have it done, and the women who tattoo and those who have it done, and the women who file their teeth. Tattooing is known to you all... The women who file their teeth means the woman has teeth that are aligned, arranged next to each other like pearls. She does not like that, so she takes from this tooth and the second tooth, and a gap becomes between them. This is what she likes, but Allah's creation is not what she likes. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said at the end of this hadith: المغيرات لخلق الله للحسن Those who change the creation of Allah for the sake of beauty. The end of the hadith is very great. He did not say "those who change the creation" and stop. He said: "those who change the creation of Allah for beauty." So, if a woman has an eyelid that prevents her from seeing, and she undergoes a surgical operation to raise the eyelid, this is not for beauty, but for sight. And so we return to the beginning of the hadith لعن الله النامصات May Allah curse those who pluck their eyebrows because this relates to some of the questions...