altering the creation of Allah

Allah’s words:

 And most certainly I (Shaytan) will lead them astray and excite in them vain desires, and bid them that they shall slit the ears of the cattle, and most surely I will bid them so that they shall alter Allah’s creation, and whoever takes the Satan for a guardian rather than Allah he indeed shall suffer a manifest loss. Chapter 4 (The Women / al-Nisa) Verse 119 

 For this verse to be taken into consideration as a basis for proving the unlawfulness of the shaving of the beard, two fundamental aspects have to be taken into account:  

1.  Proving the fact that the shaving of the beard is in reality considered “altering the creation of Allah”.  

2.  Proving the fact that every “alteration” that occurs within the creation is in fact considered unlawful. Except for when the issue of “alteration” is superseded by another ruling from amongst the rulings of the Islamic Shariah which are considered exemptions to the rule.  

As far as the first aspect is concerned, there is no doubt about the fact that the shaving of the beard is looked upon as bringing about an unnatural alteration with regard to what Allah, the Exalted, has created naturally. 

As we mentioned earlier, the appearance of the beard was a specific miraculous event that Allah, the Exalted, ordained. When this is the case, no one has the authority to alter that except Allah, the Exalted, Himself and this can only be achieved by Him issuing another decree which abrogates the former. 

The reason for this would be that the beard is considered by Allah a thing of adornment and beauty for His Prophet Adam (as). Moreover, not only a thing of adornment and beauty for Adam (as) but also for his male offspring till the day of reckoning.  

Based on this any unnatural alteration to the beard would be considered forbidden and unlawful within the Islamic Shariah, except for when an exemption to the rule supersedes the former ruling.  

As for the second aspect, It would be appropriate for one to interpret the part of the verse where “alter the creation of Allah” is mentioned to mean every type of alteration.  

However, in cases where other rulings, from within the Shariah, exempt what is considered to be part of “every alteration” such as, circumcision, trimming of the nails, trimming of the hair of the head, trimming the beard and the moustache, the ruling of alteration will not be applicable here.  

Hence, the above mentioned alterations would not be considered as being part of the interpretation of the verse mentioned earlier, but rather, they would be based on the ruling of the exemptions to the rule from within the Shariah. 

Summary: 

The implications of the above mentioned verse apply to “unnatural physical alteration” and not to alteration due to the rulings of exemption. Thus, to consider the likes of tattoos or nail varnish as things that cause unnatural alteration is inappropriate, hence, for one to consider them as acts which are unlawful would also be incorrect.. The reason for this is that the verse implicitly refers to the alteration of the natural physical state and to non other. 

In Tafsir al-Qummi, Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) gives an explanation which refers to the exemptions to the rule.  

Allah’s words: 

 “Who is finer in religion than someone who submits himself to Allah while he acts kindly and follows the sect of Abraham, the Upright one? Allah adopted Abraham as a bosom friend”.Chapter 4 (The Women / al-Nisa) Verse 125 

The Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (as) explained that Allah, the Blessed, granted ten things to Abraham (p.b.u.h) (al-Hanif)[things that purify], five were for the head and five were for the body.  

Those for the head were:

1. Trimming the moustache  
2. Wearing the beard
3. Trimming the hair of the head 
4. Brushing the teeth
5. Flossing the teeth  

And those for the body were: 

1. Circumcision
2. Trimming the nails
3. Cleansing the body with water
4. Shaving the under arm and pubic hair
5. Ceremonial bath (after sexual intercourse etc.) 

These ten things which Allah, the Exalted, granted Abraham (p.b.u.h) were similar to what He granted Prophet Adam (p.b.u..h) in the form of the beard. 

The important point we should bear in mind here is, that those things which were granted to Abraham (p.b.u.h) and Adam (p.b.u.h) were not abrogated nor will they be abrogated till the day of reckoning.  

This verse is evidence of the fact that whatever Allah, the Exalted, granted Abraham (as) remained so for Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h) also. This is the reason why we as Muslims still (try to) adhere to the same practices.  

On analysing this narration and many more like it, one may find that some of the actions mentioned in one single narration may be categorised as actions that are recommended, while other actions mentioned in the same narration may be categorised as actions which are obligatory. This is only possible when a jurist refers to many other similar narrations, and after his painstaking research, he categorises them accordingly.