Is cosmetic surgery permitted in Islam?

Yes, when it restores a person’s natural appearance after an accident or illness. But whatever changes the nature God has created is not right.

Plastic surgery is neither good nor bad in itself. It depends on what it is used for. The standard is the nature God has given to human beings.

If someone has lost their features through an accident, a fall or an injury, restoring them is an excellent thing. The same is true when someone has lost the hair on their head through illness and wants it to grow back. Here medicine helps a person regain their original form.

It is different when surgery creates something that contradicts nature. If a doctor were to make hair grow where a person naturally has none, such as on the belly, that would go against creation. The second verse above warns against this.

This applies to doctor and patient alike. Whatever helps to preserve the nature God has created is important and is clearly encouraged by the Holy Qur’an. Whatever works against it is wrong. So it all depends on how we use modern knowledge.

Humility belongs here too. Human knowledge of the consequences of such interventions is limited. Those who heal and restore stand on safe ground. Those who want to remodel nature venture into territory whose consequences they often cannot foresee.