Tattoos. Anything from the Quran regarding this.?

DaresBears

Hello.

There is one verse which might regard Tattoos, but this needs evaluating further. It's verse 4119, and it's a quotation of what Satan will mislead humans to do, so if a person does these things, they have been misled by Satan.
I will mislead them and incite vain desires in them; I will command them to slit the ears of cattle; I will command them to tamper with God?s creation.? Whoever chooses Satan as a patron instead of God is utterly ruined

Various translations of this sentence of 4119
and I will command them to distort the creation of GOD.
I will order them so they would alter and deface the nature of (a creation created by) Allah
and I will command them so they will make change to God's creation.
and I will command them and they shall change God's creature
and I will command them so that they will alter the creation of Allah
http//www.islamawakened.com/quran/4/119/default.htm

Different translations differ on the word, from change to distort to deface to alter, which isn't very helpful because in English these words have different enough meanings that deface can mean Tattoos and change cannot. So we will have to look at the Arabic word and try to make a more accurate translation, because the English ones vary too much.

http//corpus.quran.com/wordbyword.jsp?chapter=4&verse=119#(41191)
The word translated as "so they will surely change" or "so they will surely deface" is "falayughayyirunna" and the specific part according to http//corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=gyr#(4119 is "yughayyir".

Another example of the word being used is this verse.
GOD does not change a blessing He has bestowed upon any people unless they themselves decide to change. GOD is Hearer, Omniscient.
That is because God was not to change anything He bestowed to a people, unless they change what is in themselves. God is Hearer, Knowledgeable.
This is because Allah has never changed a favor which He has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition; and because Allah is Hearing, Knowing;
http//www.islamawakened.com/quran/8/53/default.htm
Thalika bi-anna Allaha lam yaku mughayyiran niAAmatan anAAamaha AAala qawmin hatta yughayyiroo ma bi-anfusihim waanna Allaha sameeAAun AAaleemun

In this case almost all translators use the word "change" with one using "withdraw" instead for the verse instance.

Verse 1311 also uses the word. I'll extract the sentence because the verse is long.
Thus, GOD does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change.
Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition
God does not change what any people may have until they change whatever they themselves have.
http//www.islamawakened.com/quran/13/11/default.htm
Allaha la yughayyiru ma biqawmin hatta yughayyiroo ma bi-anfusihim

Again almost all translators translate the Arabic word "Yughayyiry" and variants into the English word Change.

There is only one more occurrence of this word as this meaning and it's in verse 4715. It's a long verse so I'll extract the sentence with the word in it.
and rivers of milk whereof the flavour changeth not
rivers of milk of which the taste never changes
and rivers of milk whose taste will not undergo a change
and rivers of milk that does not change in taste
http//www.islamawakened.com/quran/47/15/default.htm
waanharun min labanin lam yataghayyar taAAmuhu

Nearly all translators translate this word into Change. This is the same for every instance that it is used in this format, the root word is also used to mean "Without" and "not" and "other", which i suppose is somewhat in the area of change. So in my opinion, the word "yughayyir" in verse 4119 means change, and not distort or deface. To me at least, a tattoo does not change the human body any more than a different hair style or glasses, it's just cosmetic, to change the creation of God would be body modification, plastic surgery etc. So I believe Tattoos are acceptable, if it said deface, they would not be because a tattoo is obviously defacement, but after evaluating the meaning of the word by checking it's usage in different verses, I don't believe it does say deface, it says change.

But that is just my personal opinion, if you do consider Tattoos as changing your body then Tattoos would be forbidden to you. I hope this helped.

Mikhail_Matin

Nice. Appreciate your reply.

One question. Is there any arabic word for tattoo? If there is or are, does the word exist in the time of the prophets or is the word tattoo in arabic a modern arabic word?

DaresBears

Nice. Appreciate your reply.

One question. Is there any arabic word for tattoo? If there is or are, does the word exist in the time of the prophets or is the word tattoo in arabic a modern arabic word?

Well Tattooing is older than recorded history, and it occurred in Pre-Islamic Egypt and Persia so there's no doubt it occurred in Medieval Arabia, i have read some sources which say that tattooing was done, in the form of Henna, but i dont know the word, it was probably a loan word or just the work for marking. You'll have to research further.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tattooing

unknownuser

Wa Salaams. I agree with DaresBears explanation mostly. As anyone knows, tattooing is pretty much permanent, which I view as change. I also understood tattooing to be forbidden in the Bible, as Levitcus 1928 states

Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

I believe that was part of the Mosaic Laws, but then again some make the argument that some laws were allowed to change. Not sure if that was one of them.

With Peace,

Amina

truthsearcher

So what about plastic surgery ? Is it forbidden in Quran ? Is there any topic in this forum which has discussed about plastic surgery ?

justamuslim

why would God have anything against body art/ornaments (tattoo, body piercing) as long as they are not offensive? same with plastic surgery?

unknownuser

why would God have anything against body art/ornaments (tattoo, body piercing) as long as they are not offensive? same with plastic surgery?

Just my opinion, but I think it had more to do with not doing what the disbelievers did. Then again, back then tattoing was probably a ritualistic practice. Aren't we often admonished to seperate ourselves from the disbelievers?

DaresBears

Well Tattooing is older than recorded history, and it occurred in Pre-Islamic Egypt and Persia so there's no doubt it occurred in Medieval Arabia, i have read some sources which say that tattooing was done, in the form of Henna, but i dont know the word, it was probably a loan word or just the work for marking. You'll have to research further.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tattooing

Wow ignore this post I made it's terrible and unresearched.

Henna, the most ancient form of Tattooing, is an Arabic word itself.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henna
The English name "henna" comes from the Arabic (ALA-LC inn / pronounced ) or colloquially , loosely pronounced /inna/.
But that is just the name for the plant, you're asking if there is a word for the henna art work.

This is a specific type of henna art work using in the middle east.
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehndi
Muhammad, who is said to have used turmeric dye in his beard. It's considered a "sunnah" and akin to something fortunate/good. In one narration by him, he encouraged Muslim women to dye their nails with henna so their hands could be distinguished from the hands of a male.
If we can find this hadith we can find which word was used for henna which will answer your question.

Unfortunately after searching for about 30 minutes, i can find plenty of English hadith using the word Henna, but i can't find it with alongside Arabic, and if i go on Arabic websites i can't navigate them because I can't read Arabic. How ever i assume the word would still be Henna in Arabic. Not sure if this post is any help anymore -\

Faithful-Jinn