Increasing height in teenage girls

9-8-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

Treatment for increasing height for teenage girls.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

If the questioner means to undertake a surgery to increase his/her height then it comes under the ruling of cosmetic surgery which is of two kinds:  First, surgery is performed for no purpose except to attain beauty and to increase one's attractiveness. Surgery for this reason is prohibited since it is an action to change the creation of Allaah. Allaah Says (which means): {They call upon instead of Him none but female [deities] and they [actually] call upon none but a rebellious Satan, Whom Allaah has cursed. For he had said, “I will surely take from among Your servants a specific portion. And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allaah.” And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allaah has certainly sustained a clear loss.}[Quran 4:117-119]

The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Allaah curses those ladies who make artificial spaces between their teeth in order to look more beautiful whereby they change Allaah's creation." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Second, a person needs to remove a defect or pain or something like that…. Surgery for this purpose is allowed for the narration of 'Arfajah Ibn Sa'd,  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him who said: "My nose was cut off on the day of Al-Kilaab, and I transplanted a silver nose, but it developed a stench, then the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) ordered me to transplant a golden nose."

Therefore, undertaking a surgery to increase one's height is not allowed since there is no harm and it is not considered a defect in being tall or short in height.

As for using hormones to increase height or weight or decrease it, it is allowed in Islam if they do not consist of something forbidden or cause harm. If they consist of unlawful ingredients or have harmful side effects then it is forbidden, for the saying of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "There should be no harm, nor reciprocal harming". [Maalik]

Allaah Knows best.

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