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Turkey Issues Fatwa Against Tattoos

Woman with tattooed arm
Woman with tattooed arm / AP

Turkey’s top religious body issued a fatwa urging Muslims to remove their tattoos and repent for getting them, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.

Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, otherwise known as Diyanet, recently issued that fatwa, which decrees that tattoos are banned by the Islamic prophet Mohammed, the paper reported.

"A person who has tattoo on his/her body should erase it, if possible. He/she should repent to God if the tattoo cannot be erased," according to the Diyanet’s fatwa as reported by Hurriyet.

"Our religious bans tattoos, making images on the skin by injecting paint under the skin," it said. "Our prophet has said, ‘Allah has cursed the people who change their shape created by God, such as a woman who tattoos on someone else or has a tattoo done, those who remove hair from their face or eyebrows or those who remove their teeth or make them thinner.’" Having a tattoo is banned, but it does not prevent making ablutions."

Turkey’s government last year changed public regulations to ban make-up, tattoos, and piercings for students.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was caught in July of last year yelling at an 18-year-old for having tattoos.

Published under: Turkey