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Is the ruling on tattoos that are removed and do not function like permanent tattoos permissible, applying to young men as it does to young women, and is there a recognized duration for a tattoo to be considered permanent or not?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Adorning oneself is permissible for males as long as it does not involve imitating women or immoral people. If the tattoo is merely a dye on the surface of the skin, it is permissible as long as it does not cause harm, imitate immoral people, or involve anything forbidden by Islamic law. However, if the tattoo involves injecting dyes into the skin, it is a forbidden tattoo (washi), and its doer is cursed, because it is an alteration of Allah's creation. Furthermore, anything that covers the skin and has a tangible body must be removed during ritual purification (tahara); otherwise, placing it would be forbidden.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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