I have a question concerning the beauty of women. Is it permissible for women to have plastic surgery for beauty? A friend's daughter has normal ears but for beauty she wants to have surgery of the ears to make them more beautiful. She wants to know if it is permissible because in Canada it is kind of free for the kids, and she wants to take the advantage of the free charge. Please reply as soon as possible.

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

Cosmetic surgery is of two kinds: First, to remove a defect which is caused by an accident or the like, or a defect which is by birth such as an extra finger or the like. Removing this kind of defect is permissible in Shariah for the Hadith that the Prophet permitted for a person whose nose was cut to replace it with a nose of gold.

Second, surgery is not carried out to remove a defect, but to attain beauty and to increase one's attractiveness. Surgery for this reason is prohibited. The Prophet said: Abdullah (bin Masood) said, "Allah curses those ladies who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those ladies who remove the hair from their faces and those who make artificial spaces between their teeth in order to look more beautiful whereby they change Allah's creation." [Reported by Imam Al-Bukhari] In addition, it is a kind of Satanic handiwork since it is not for necessity as Allah Says of Satan (interpretation of meaning): {…and indeed I (Satan) will order them to change the nature created by Allâh. …….}[4:119]. If the ears are unusual in a manner that disfigures the structure, and if removing that defect does not have any side effects then performing cosmetic surgery is permissible.

However, if the abnormality of the ears is minimal, in this case, it is not permissible to under-take a surgery since it comes under the rule of changing Allah’s creation.

Allah knows best.