Fatwa

Acting as the opposite gender in plays

Fatwa #724 Category: Miscellaneous Country: Zambia Date: 15th December 2021
Fatwa #724 Date: 15th December 2021
Category: Miscellaneous
Country: Zambia

Question

Assalamu Alaikum mufti saheb, hope you are very well. I had a question:

In our school, for certain english lessons we are told to get into groups and prepare a play for the rest of the class and then perform when ready. The plays we do are for different story lines and events.

So, we act like different personalities and people and remember their lines etc, sometimes a girl group member may have to impersonate a man character, and similarly a boy group member may have to impersonate a woman character etc.

I have heard men and women who do tashabbuh with each other have been cursed in the hadith, my question is mufti saheb, does these plays we perform also mean we are cursed? When we perform these plays we do not intend to actually be the opposite gender, it is only for a play and our english lessons for education, my sister who is younger than me also is sometimes told to do different plays for her class. Jazakallah for your precious time mufti saheb!

 

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

If by ‘impersonation’, what you mean is that a male merely takes the character of a female without actually dressing the part or altering any other aspects in order to appear feminine, then doing so will not be considered tashabbuh as one is not imitating the opposite gender, rather one is assuming a character.

However, if it includes adapting one’s physical appearance or mannerisms to suit the gender being impersonated, then doing so will not be permissible and will fall under the ambit of tashabbuh.

The above notwithstanding, if the people involved in the play are all adults, then it is not permissible for males and females to mix freely without proper Shar’i barriers and Hijab. Therefore, the ruling of impersonation would be secondary, as one is still primarily guilty of free mixing with the opposite gender.

However, if the people involved are children, then the gender segregation can be overlooked. Nevertheless, the initial ruling of impersonation will still be applicable. 

 

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

 

Mufti Bilal Pandor

Checked and Concurred By:

Mufti Muhammad Patel

 

Darul Iftaa Mahmudiyyah


Lusaka, Zambia

daruliftaazambia.com