What is the ruling on wearing medical contact lenses?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, first of all, we welcome the one you welcomed, Your Eminence Abu Bakr al-Jazairi, may Allah reward you with good for this visit. As for my question, it is about contact lenses: if a person wears them, is his ritual purity complete while wearing them, whether for the full ritual bath or the ablution? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : First: one should ask about wearing contact lenses. Above all, medical contact lenses, if they are for strengthening the eyesight, there is nothing wrong with them, because they are a blessing Allah has bestowed upon His servants and made easy for them, and they are easier than these portable glasses, on the condition that there is no harm to the eye, even in the future.
The second thing: contact lenses worn for beautification; we do not advise a man to wear them, especially young men, except if the black of his eyes is disfigured, in which case there is nothing wrong with it, because this is removing a defect, not adding to beautification. But it is the woman who needs beautification, as Allah Mighty and Majestic said:[Az-Zukhruf 43:18] meaning the woman, there is nothing wrong with her wearing them for beautification, on the condition that they are not in the shape of animal eyes, like the eyes of cats and rabbits and the like, because an example of an animal has not come in the Qur'an and the Sunnah except in the context of condemnation, as in the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Al-A'raf 7:176], and His saying the Exalted: [Al-Jumu'ah 62:5], and the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sahih Muslim 1622g, and His saying the Exalted regarding the one who speaks while the imam is delivering the sermon on Friday: Mishkat al-Masabih 1397 So do not wear what resembles the eyes of animals.
Likewise, what resembles the eyes of disbelieving women, and this matter is less severe than the first, because the eyes of disbelieving women are not by their own doing, so in any case, this is regarding the use of contact lenses, as you have heard.
The Shaykh : First: one should ask about wearing contact lenses. Above all, medical contact lenses, if they are for strengthening the eyesight, there is nothing wrong with them, because they are a blessing Allah has bestowed upon His servants and made easy for them, and they are easier than these portable glasses, on the condition that there is no harm to the eye, even in the future.
The second thing: contact lenses worn for beautification; we do not advise a man to wear them, especially young men, except if the black of his eyes is disfigured, in which case there is nothing wrong with it, because this is removing a defect, not adding to beautification. But it is the woman who needs beautification, as Allah Mighty and Majestic said:
So is one brought up in ornaments while being during conflict unevident [attributed to Allah]?
أو من ينشّأ في الحلية وهو في الخصام غير مبينSo his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants
فمثله كمثل الكلب إن تحمل عليه يلهث أو تتركه يلهثThe example of those who were entrusted with the Torah and then did not take it on is like that of a donkey who carries volumes [of books].
مثل الذين حمّلوا التّوراة ثمّ لم يحملوها كمثل الحمار يحمل أسفاراًOne who gets back his gift is like a dog which vomits and then swallows that vomit.
العائد في هبته كالكلب يقيء ثمّ يعود في قيئهhe is like an ass which carries books
مثله كمثل الحمار يحمل أسفاراًLikewise, what resembles the eyes of disbelieving women, and this matter is less severe than the first, because the eyes of disbelieving women are not by their own doing, so in any case, this is regarding the use of contact lenses, as you have heard.