Making tatooing a profession

Mufti Sahab, I am asking a question, please reply to it.  Nowadays, it is fashion to pierce the skin of a part of a body and make designs etc. on it.  Among girls and guys, this fashion is spreading.  Some people write their names, some get some designs drawn and some people something else.  This is called as tattooing.  Many people in the west, Africa, Europe are doing this and many, including Muslims are making this their profession.  Is getting such designs on our body and making it a profession correct.


This fashion called tattooing is as per the Shariah Haraam and forbidden.  In the previous times, it was used only for women.  The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has cursed the women who get tattooed and the women who tattoo, as given in a Hadith in Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 2, Pg. No. 805.  

Translation: Hadhrat 'Aun bin Juhaifah (May Allah be well pleased with him) narrates on the authority of his father that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) cursed the women who get tattooed and the women who tattoo.  

Muslims should stay away from this accursed fashion and should not make it a profession.  Before following any fashion or making something as a profession, it should be judged in the light of the Shariah whether it goes against any of the commands of the pure Shariah.  If it does not, then there is no problem in doing so and if it does, then the success of this world and the next lies in staying away from it.

And Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) knows best.

Mufti Syed Ziauddin Naqshbandi Qadri

[Professor, Islamic Law, Jamia Nizamia,
Founder-Director, Abul Hasanaat Islamic Research Center]