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Maryam Khatoon Molkara was an Iranian trans woman whose case led to the practical application of Islamic rulings permitting gender reassignment surgery in Iran.
The key religious source is a fatwa by Ruhollah Khomeini, written before the 1979 Revolution and reaffirmed afterward. In his legal text Tahrir al-Wasila, Khomeini states that sex reassignment surgery is religiously permissible when medically indicated and is not considered haram.
Molkara personally appealed to Khomeini, who confirmed that the fatwa applied to her, granting written permission for legal and medical transition. Within Shia fiqh, the ruling treats transsexuality as a medical condition distinct from homosexual acts.
As a result, Iran became one of the few Muslim-majority countries where gender reassignment surgery is religiously and legally recognised, with Molkara widely seen as the figure who turned a theoretical ruling into lived reality.
Maryam Khatoon Molkara was an Iranian trans woman whose case led to the practical application of Islamic rulings permitting gender reassignment surgery in Iran.
The key religious source is a fatwa by Ruhollah Khomeini, written before the 1979 Revolution and reaffirmed afterward. In his legal text Tahrir al-Wasila, Khomeini states that sex reassignment surgery is religiously permissible when medically indicated and is not considered haram.
Molkara personally appealed to Khomeini, who confirmed that the fatwa applied to her, granting written permission for legal and medical transition. Within Shia fiqh, the ruling treats transsexuality as a medical condition distinct from homosexual acts.
As a result, Iran became one of the few Muslim-majority countries where gender reassignment surgery is religiously and legally recognised, with Molkara widely seen as the figure who turned a theoretical ruling into lived reality.