Pakistani clerics issue fatwa in favour of transgender marriages

LAHORE: At least 50 Pakistani clerics have issued a fatwa stating that transgender marriages are lawful.

The clerics affiliated with the little known Tanzeem Ittehad-i-Ummat issued the religious edict here yesterday.

The fatwa stated that a transgender person having "visible signs of being a male" may marry a woman or a transgender with "visible signs of being a female" and vice versa, Dawn News reported.

The fatwa, however, decreed that a transgender person carrying "visible signs of both genders" may not marry anyone.

It declared that robbing transgender people of their share in inheritance was unlawful and that parents who deprive their transgender children of inheritance were "inviting the wrath of God".

The clerics called upon the government to take action against such parents.

The decree also dwelt upon societal attitudes towards transgenders.

It went to the extent of terming 'haraam' (forbidden) any act intended to "humiliate, insult or tease" transgenders.

The fatwa ended with a word on last rites, declaring that all funeral rituals for a transgender person will be the same as for any other Muslim man or woman.