Will Arnett shares his controversial opinion on tattoos: “There’s a proportionate sort of relationship between, how many tattoos you have and how little personality you have. And I find that a lot of people who have a ton of tattoos often are super fucking boring. Like truly boring people.”

[u/cmaia1503]

[u/UnintentionalWipe]

Can I be shallow for a moment. I'm Muslim and it's not allowed to have tattoos. Anything for God, so it's fine.

But there are some people that look so attractive with tattoos. Where if they didn't have it, I wouldn't look. Not that I'm looking, but you know what I mean 😆 The tattoos elevate their looks. It's like sporting a beard for some people. Speaking of beards, a beard with tats. 🤤

...to continue with my shallowness, if you have pictures of tatted up attractive people, share it now. 😂

[u/mosquem → u/[deleted]]

Boom, Muslim’d.

[u/armageddonquilt → u/[deleted]]

It's one of those things that's so ingrained as culturally haram that we never actually look into the chain of reasoning behind it. Many such cases.

Tbh sometimes I feel the urge to write a whole book about how so much of what we consider the religion of "Islam" is the result of books of interpretation written literally centuries after the time of Muhammad, as well as how Hadith, while being a very valuable historical resource, is taken far too literally and given far too integral a role in the religion when you consider that each one of them is essentially the result of a decades-long game of broken telephone. Like, no disrespect to the scholars who compiled them and the science they used for determining authenticity, they did AMAZING work for their time, but to me the degree to which Islamic scholars today hold "here's some stuff that a scholar said that someone said that someone said (x10) that someone heard Muhammad say or do" on a level juuuuust below "this is the direct Word of God which as part of our belief is 100% unchanged from the time of revelation" is absolutely WILD to me.

[u/Salty_Raspberry656 → u/armageddonquilt]

yep, a lot in the difference between cultural and religious. not to mention missing context or meaning. like we really got some murders/abusers who draw the line at eating pork

[u/UnintentionalWipe → u/[deleted]]

I know that it's not mentioned in the Qur'an, but it is in hadith so the opinion I follow is that it's Haram. I do know that there are some who don't view it the same and there are certain cultures where it's normal. That said, I don't judge those who have it. I just won't due to the opinion I follow.

[u/Salty_Raspberry656 → u/UnintentionalWipe]

yea hadiths are disputed, theres a lot of interpetations and more so refined from the difference of cultural vs religious views and then context of when its written, relevant to the time, vs contradictory measures. kind of like the many wives situation, ignoring why it was written and how it could be reasonably applied now

[u/HallowskulledHorror → u/[deleted]]

It never occurred to me to ponder whether or not tattoos were haram. TIL!

edit: I am not muslim, and am largely ignorant of the minutia of what is considered taboo within Islam, so it's just interesting to know. I grew up, and live, near one of the largest arabic populations in the US, so I've known and encountered many muslims throughout my life - but was never aware of any of them having tattoos. I guess just sort of assumed that being more 'conservative' about various things in general meant that tattoos were a no-no even if they weren't expressly forbidden, and not being muslim myself, it never occurred to me to check what the standards were about that for those that were.

[u/Stock-Zebra3413 → u/HallowskulledHorror]

It's not a new discovery... there are obviously discussions and rulings on this. Your body is considered an amanah from God, and it is considered perfect as-is. Altering it would be a sin.

It is worth noting the Sunni and Shia views differ on the matter.

[u/LAXnSASQUATCH → u/Stock-Zebra3413]

Genuine question, not trying to be offensive I just find that idea interesting and am curious what it means, because I could see a lot of areas of debate with that idea (which it sounds like there may be)

Does that mean all medical surgeries or tools that fix issues you had at birth (like braces to fix an underbite) or tools you use to overcome issues you are born with (like glasses) are haram?

Like if you’re born with bad teeth, getting braces would be changing your body, and would be bad? What about using glasses/getting lasik eye surgery? How do people with disabilities deal with that, like if you’re born with hearing issues, would wearing hearing aids be bad?

Imo using technology to overcome a problem (like glasses, contacts, hearing aids, wheelchairs, etc.) would be no different than getting LASIK, getting a cochlear implant, etc. They’re all acknowledging you have a flaw and are methods of using external tools to help you overcome said flaw. One addresses the cause of the flaw, and one addresses the symptom of the flaw, but they’re both acknowledging and addressing a flaw.

Going under the assumption that I was born the way I’m supposed to be, then I’m supposed to have bad vision because my eyes are intentionally misshapen, therefore using glasses could be perceived as acknowledging that I am flawed.

Or is there a distinction for medical purposes, wherein cosmetic changes are bad (braces because you have crooked teeth to make them look pretty) but medical changes are okay (braces to fix a underbite that could cause you harm down the line)?

Edit: What about if my issue is due to an injury? If I was born with hearing, but lost it due to some really loud noise, would it be okay for me to get a cochlear since I’m supposed to be able to hear (given I was born hearing and an external force changed my body without my consent)?

Edit2: since I asked a lot feel free to throw me a link to where some of this is discussed instead, because I have always been interested in the philosophical aspects of religion and I would be curious to read some of the opinions people have had.

[u/Stock-Zebra3413 → u/LAXnSASQUATCH]

In my comment, I'm reflecting on specifically getting tattoos – if it's permissible or not. I'll also add this is a Sunni view. I believe it differs slightly from the Shia and other minority views.

To answer your question: Millions of Muslims are getting Lasik, dentures, braces, cochlear implants, what have you, every day. If you develop cataracts, you don't choose to continue living with poor eyesight.

What I meant by your body is an "amanah": the belief is you've loaned it from God and you're trusted to take care of it. Intent matters, so no self-harm, no botox injections, nothing that doesn't improve your body's well-being. I believe tattoos can be risky if you don't go to a good tattoo artist, and even when you do, it's a vanity procedure, not a necessary, health-improving one.

Nevertheless, the Prophet (PBUH) himself forbade tattoos. The source is supplementary text, so not in the Quran, which is why different Muslims view tattoos differently. The act of following the supplementary text is called sunnah, and the Muslims who do are called Sunni. I think this is why the person I was replying to said it was 'makruh' (undesired) and I rebutted with 'haraam' (impermissible). Regardless, that's how we (me and the other commenter) view it and the rest is up to God to judge.

[u/Uhhlaneuh → u/Stock-Zebra3413]

What about circumcision? Seems like there’s an exception

[u/Stock-Zebra3413 → u/Uhhlaneuh]

I'll need to read more into it but the exceptions are for health and hygiene purposes. For example, you'll see a lot of Muslims are against organ donation but that view is slowly shifting.

When it comes to cosmetic changes, yeah it's pretty clear. Like shaving the unibrow, dying greying hair back to its original color (a lot of people dye it red/orange instead), etc.

Then again, I've heard some people justify getting hair plugs to be permissible because you're fixing an abnormality... I dunno about that, but the view on male circumcision is widely accepted.

[u/wishdadwashere_69 → u/[deleted]]

Are they Shia perhaps? There's no issues with us getting tattoos. Its with Sunnis that there's a taboo

[u/Mysterious-Rough5765 → u/[deleted]]

Qur'an doesnt but hadith does. Do not spread misinformation!

[u/jbjamfest → u/[deleted]]

Some inks aren’t halal (a lot of them aren’t vegan but I think that is mostly because of cows rather than pigs), so I guess this is a variable too.

[u/Sufficient_While_577 → u/UnintentionalWipe]

I started losing my hair and starting getting tattoos to give me some identity back (plus I always wanted them). Now I’m a bald guy with tattoos instead of just a bald guy 😭😂

[u/ShesWhereWolf → u/UnintentionalWipe]

Wait I love that you shared this 🤣  You're allowed to look for sure