UAE | General
'If cosmetic operation is to deceive someone it is a crime'
Lawyers and scholars have criticised the intent behind unmarried women undergoing surgery for restoration of their virginity saying that it was a crime if the aim had been to deceive another person.
- By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 January 29, 2007
Dubai: Lawyers and scholars have criticised the intent behind unmarried women undergoing surgery for restoration of their virginity saying that it was a crime if the aim had been to deceive another person.
Dr Khalifa Al Sha'ali, Dean of Faculty of Law at the Ajman University of Science and Technology said any crime is based on three factors: materialistic, moralistic and legal.
The material factor is the action of doing the crime (the surgery). The moral factor is the intention behind doing the action (deception). And the legal pillar is that if the law had specified, without any doubt, that it is a criminal act and specifies its punishment.
The law in the UAE and most GCC countries does not define such practices as a crime. However, the UAE Supreme Court has set a law that prohibits touching the female's private parts in any way except with permission of the woman's guardian such as the father or husband.
He said such surgeries could be classified as cosmetic surgery and could be legal if the purpose of doing it is not to cover up a crime or to deceive a third party. If the surgery aims at deceiving and cheating others, then there is an intention of committing a crime.
According to advocate Abdul Hamid Al Kumaiti, it is "an act of deception" if a girl who is about to get married undergoes such a surgery.
"When a girl is about to get married, dupes her husband-to-be by claiming that she is still a virgin, then this is considered an act of cheating. Deception and cheating are punishable by the UAE law."
However, he added, it is very difficult to prove that a girl has done a hymen restoration surgery. "We should leave behind the traditional marriage contract and come up with a new kind of contract, which I believe must contain all the information required on the couples' premarital history," Al Kumaiti said.
Prominent Islamic scholar Dr Ahmad Al Kubaisi told Gulf News that when other people's rights are concerned, such operations are considered as deception and covering up of a crime, which is prohibited in Islam.
He said those who are involved in doing such surgeries are covering up a crime and that itself is a crime.
He said Muslims are ordered by Allah to shelter themselves and others from any harm and not to scandalise and bring others to disgrace.
Sensitive issue in Arab and Islamic world
Virginity is a vital and sensitive issue in the Arab and Islamic world where girls are expected to remain a virgin until marriage.
Otherwise they risk annulment of the wedding or being killed by relatives to restore 'family honour'.
Such killers usually receive very light sentences in some Arab states. Honour killing is prevalent in Muslim countries such as Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine, Egypt and in some rural areas in Syria.
However, it is not common in the UAE and other GCC countries. Some Islamic scholars say that if the loss of virginity was due to rape, hymen restoration surgery was acceptable.
But others disagree and say that even if the girl was raped, hymen restoration surgery is considered a fraud.
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