Acting in a play
Assalamu Alaikum mufti saheb, hope you are very well. I had a question:
In our school, for certain english lessons we are told to get into groups and prepare a play for the rest of the class and then perform when ready. The plays we do are for different story lines and events.
So, we act like different personalities and people and remember their lines etc, sometimes a girl group member may have to impersonate a man character, and similarly a boy group member may have to impersonate a woman character etc.
I have heard men and women who do tashabbuh with each other have been cursed in the hadith, my question is mufti saheb, does these plays we perform also mean we are cursed? When we perform these plays we do not intend to actually be the opposite gender, it is only for a play and our english lessons for education, my sister who is younger than me also is sometimes told to do different plays for her class. Jazakallah for your precious time mufti saheb!
Answer
Wa ʿAlaykumus Salām Wa Raḥmatullāhi Wa Barakātuh
The Prophet ﷺ cursed those men who imitate woman and those women who imitate men.” [Bukhārī]
Based on the above, Ibn Ḥajar (may Allah ﷻ have mercy on him) explains that this is a prohibition that includes the aspects of dressing, adornment, speech, and walking irrespective of whether it is done with such intent or not.
Therefore, it is something that should be avoided.
If one’s participation in a play is mandatory, then to take up a role that conforms to his/her own gender.
However, if the one’s role has been made mandatory by the teacher in that it is per the opposite gender, then the ideal would be to relax such decisions by some valid forms of intervention that are mutually agreed upon on the grounds of one’s religious freedom and expression.