Daily Times

The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) on Friday ruled that it was not for the transgenders to decide their identity as male or female, and they were not allowed to change their gender based only on their self-proclaimed feelings and desires. The order was announced by the Acting Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court Dr Syed Muhammad Anwer and Justice Khadim Hussain Shaikh on a petition challenging the Transgender Act.

The court made it clear in its order that gender was related to a person’s biological sex, and that it has a specific bearing on how various forms of worship, including daily prayers, fasting, Hajj, etc are performed in Islam.

“A person’s gender cannot be determined by their feelings,” said the ruling and added: “Shariah does not permit anyone to have their gender reassigned because of impotence as the gender remains the same as it was at birth”.

“No one can be declared transgender based on physical features and self-made identity,” said the verdict and added that the gender of an individual would be determined by their dominant physical features or secondary sex characters.

The court stated that those exhibiting dominant male features would be considered male transgenders and those having dominant female secondary sex characters would be deemed female transgenders. The court, however, ruled that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure the rights of transgender persons as “Islam provides them will all human rights”. “If a man or a woman calls themselves transgender outside of their biological sex then it is against Shariah,” said the verdict. The verdict stated that Section 7 and Section 3 of the Transgender Protection Act were against Islam and Shariah. The court also struck down Section 2F of the Transgender Act. The court also declared that the rules made under the Transgender Protection Act as “illegal”.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act was passed by Pakistan’s Parliament in 2018. The law prohibits discrimination against transgender people in schools, workplaces and public spaces, as well as ensures their right to vote, inherit property and run for public office. In 2022, politicians from religious political parties, including the Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Pakistan-Fazl, kicked up a row, insisting that the law is against Islamic tenets and should be immediately amended. Social media users and conservative politicians accuse the law of permitting gender-reassignment surgeries, same-sex marriages, and cross-dressing. They also claim that since 2018, when the law was passed, over 23,000 people have changed their genders.

The claim that the law will allow men to change their gender to female and women to male on official documents is incorrect.