Quote:
Originally Posted by SoSoHalalish
Bruinab,
I really enjoyed your input on this topic of plastic surgery, a very interesting and insightful perspective. "Altering Allah's creation" is not the only factor that scholars are considering.
I agree about the psychological factor.
I believe most Islamic scholars will try and divide plastic surgery into two categories- those which are only for beautification, and the other for more "necessary" alterations, like fixing a hare lip, or grafting skin.
But I don't think its that simple. I know some people cite the hadith about women putting spaces between their teeth as a sign of beauty, and how this is wrong because you're altering what Allah created. So then, are braces wrong?
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No.. braces is fixing a defect. And often times it's not even merely cosmetic.
The problem I have with the psychological argument is that it's only going to blur the line further. I mean this might sound harsh, but as I said before, we really need to get over our own vanity and obsession with perfection sometimes.
In law, we use "public policy" because if you apply a rule to everyone, the effect on society overall is going to be detrimental. Nitpicking at your body and not learning to accept you for who you are is frankly, vain. Why should the shari'a (or any law for that matter) condone such a mindset? Not only that, but it makes people ungrateful for what they do have because all they want to do is obsess over their alleged deficiencies. And the more people you have taking the easy way out, the more badly those who did not opt for that route have to struggle and feel more imperfect. It becomes a cycle.
I'll use the example of calf augments for men (and you can make the analogy for women). If a man is really feeling just sooooo depressed about his calves and that's just his genetic predisposition no matter what he does, is he going to go under the knife if there's no health reason? I mean having small calves or "chicken legs" doesn't exactly make you a freak show.
Yes, I'm sure there are real psychological problems, but is going under the knife really the solution? I think the problem there is more pyschological and the cosmetic surgeries are just a band-aid of the underlying problems-- namely the vanity disease in our society an the individual's inablity to realize his/her own self-worth. When Islam has a huge element of tawakkul and unwordliness, why should this be accepted?
We don't need to look farther than Hollywood to see the example. Those people have access to the best nutrionists, personal trainers, and plastic surgeons and how happy are they?
I have several gripes about myself so it's not like I'm speaking off of some pedestal. In fact, I had to put up a lot with psychological problems when I was a kid as a result of my being overweight and having acne (amongst other things, wasn't particularly popular). I was, very often, the target of my classmates' taunts and jibes. But I worked on myself, physically and psychologically. Now alhamdulillah, even though I have my bad days (who doesn't?) I know I have a lot going for me. Sometimes we just need to aspire to the best we can, take control of our own lives, accept ourselves as we are, and count our blessings.