Question Summary:
Transgender performing Nikah

Question Detail:

 
Recently we witnessed a wedding and were not comfortable with the way the nikah ceremony was conducted by the Imam. Later when we researched we found out that the person claiming to be the Imam was a transgender (female turned to male) and LGBTQ activist. Since he was conducting the ceremony our question is that is this nikah  valid? 
My next question is what does Islam say about transgender people changing their gender(female to male or male to female) through surgeries?

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
If the basic conditions of nikāh were fulfilled, the nikāh was concluded. These conditions are: ījāb (offer) from one party and qabūl (acceptance) from the other in the presence of a minimum of two male witnesses or one male and two female witnesses.
It is a major sin for a person to undergo surgical procedures to “change” his or her gender. Ibn ‘Abbās (radiyAllāhu ‘anhumā) said:
لعن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم المتشبهين من الرجال بالنساء والمتشبهات من النساء بالرجال
“Rasūlullāh (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) cursed those men who imitate women and those women who imitate men.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī)[1]
A person who is physically male or female is not permitted to alter his/her behaviour or appearance in a way that makes him/her resemble the opposite gender. People who do so are under the curse of Rasūlullāh (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam).
Rasūlullāh (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam) said:
لعن الله الواشمات والومتشمات والمتنمصات والمتفلجات للحسن المغيرات لخلق الله
“Allāh curse those who practise tattooing and those who get tattooing done…and those who have their teeth separated for beautification, those who alter Allah’s creation.” (Sahīh al-Bukhārī)[2]
If simply making artificial gaps between one’s teeth amounts to altering Allah’s creation and, as a consequence, incurring the curse of Allāh and His Rasūl (sallAllāhu ‘alayhi wasallam), imagine the curse of Allāh on a person who undergoes such drastic surgery as a “sex-change.”
And Allah Ta‘ālā Knows Best
Zameelur Rahman
Student Darul Iftaa
UK
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net