I saw the pregnant man on Oprah last night.
I expected it to be shocking, but I was suprised that I wasn't that shocked.
Anytime the topic of transgenderism is brought up, I am often reminded of the religious lesson I had in high school, where we learnt about khunsa, the malay (arabic?) word for transgendered individuals. I learnt then that Islam acknowledges the existence of transgenders. From what I remember, transgenders are expected to make a decision (when they are matured enough to make that decision) on which gender they chose to live the rest of their lives. They are then expected to follow the rules and dress codes based on the gender they chose. I also remembered my teacher mentioning about transgendered people whose gender may 'change' in time. I was confused about that bit. How does a person's gender change from time to time?, I asked. My teacher explained something about changes in their body affected by the cycles of the month and such. I still didnt understand it till I got much older and watched more Oprah.
So maybe that's why I didn't feel so shocked or offended by the pregnant man's situation.
In fact, i felt kind of in awe of Allah's greatness. I mean talk about fate and destiny... if the guy wasnt previously a woman, he and his wife wouldnt have been able to have their own baby (because his wife had no womb). Masya-Allah indeed.
And hearing this story just makes me feel amazed at the beauty in Allah's flexible design of our body. How the slight adjustment in hormones could change our body entirely, how artificial insemination and in-vitro fertilization is possible for those of us who can't have babies the usual way.
He meant it to be this way. Masya-Allah!
I wish the couple all the best.
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11 years ago
Hi, Elisa!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your great opinion in this topic.
I wasn't shocked too when I first heard about pregnant man. I think its normal thing for transexuals who leave their female reproductive organs to have children.
The nature gave us everything we need to have good life and children , and we just choose the way we use it :)
Have a nice day
Salam.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think khunsa means hermaphrodite. And Thomas is not khunsa since he was biologically female. He just didn't feel that he was female though.
Anyway, I wouldn't say mashaAllah. Because I think they're actually trying to defy the laws of Allah. First by changing from female to male. And artificial insemination (which is good in certain cases).
But everyone has their own views about this.
PregnantMan
ReplyDeleteThanx for stopping by and leaving a comment.
AbdAllah
ah.. thankyou for pointing that out. My mistake.
This then begs the question of whether there are any stipulations for people who even though are physically one gender, but psychologically feels they are of the other gender. I guess only Allah knows (Wallahu-a'lam)
I am of the opinion though, that irregardless of ones sins, there is always room for love and acceptance instead of judgement and punishment.
BTW, my "Masya-Allah" was not for the fact that Thomas changed his gender, it is for how the beauty of Allah's creation worked out. Allah is trying to teach us something from this situation and all I'm trying to do is to see what it is.
Thank you for your different point of view.
i saw that Oprah episode too!
ReplyDeletewhen the news first broke out in the media i thought the poor guy was being exploited and i felt quite sorry for him... kinda like ooh look at this freak, world!
but it turns out the couple made the choice to go public themselves, and on Oprah he came off as human (a bit nervous) and so very endearing. what's more surprising than the fact that he's a pregnant man was that he was actually very pretty as a girl! but i hope everything works out for Thomas and Nancy. "Love makes a family" and i do agree with you that there is always room for acceptance instead of judgment. even if one doesn't agree with the couple's decision, one should at the very least respect their right to make it.
Wow... and here I thought it was a real life event like the movie Junior.
ReplyDeleteI learn something new every day :) Khunsa... but I've always known that Islam doesn't reject transgenders - they're God's creation too, right. It's just the families that find them 'memalukan keluarga, etc etc', maybe more so because of their social life and activities :P But they're some wonderful people - met a few.