Sally Mursi ( ar: سالي مرسي, born March 30, 1968) is an Egyptian entertainer and transgender woman. Her

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...

in 1988 was a source of controversy and lawsuits in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Transition

Prior to pursuing medical operations, Mursi consulted with psychologist Salwa Jirjis Labib and underwent three years of

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

, after which Labib referred her to a surgeon. Mursi was further referred to plastic surgeon Ezzat Ashamallah, who affirmed the diagnosis of "psychological hermaphroditism" and prescribed

hormone replacement therapy Hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also known as menopausal hormone therapy or postmenopausal hormone therapy, is a form of hormone therapy used to treat symptoms associated with female menopause. Effects of menopause can include symptoms such ...

for one year prior performing surgery on January 29, 1988. At the same period,

Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy (; 28 October 1928 – 10 March 2010), also referred to as ''Tantawi'', was an influential Islamic scholar in Egypt. From 1986 to 1996, he was the Grand Mufti of Egypt. In 1996, president Hosni Mubarak appointed him as ...

also released a Fatwa, recognizing that Sally Mursi needed the surgery for her health and that it was spiritually legal to change sex for transgender people, if their doctors said they needed it. But said that before Mursi could get the surgery, she had to follow all the rules of Islam for women during a year, except the one about marriage.

Legal battle

Mursi studied medicine at

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

when she was suspended, pre-transition, for wearing women's clothing. When she returned post-transition, she was expelled and the university initiated a legal battle against her physician, Ashamallah, causing him to be removed from the Physician’s Syndicate. The Syndicate requested a

fatwa A fatwa (; ; ; ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia) given by a qualified Islamic jurist ('' faqih'') in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist issuing fatwas is called a ''mufti'', ...

on the case from Sheikh

, who designated the issue as a medical condition and subject to physician's discretion. Al-Azhar brought the case against Ashamallah to court, in which process Sally was subjected to a full body examination. The examiner confirmed the diagnosis and Ashamallah was acquitted.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mursi, Sally 20th-century Egyptian women Transgender women entertainers Egyptian LGBTQ dancers Egyptian transgender women Egyptian belly dancers 1968 births Living people Egyptian female dancers Al-Azhar University alumni Transgender dancers 20th-century Egyptian LGBTQ people 21st-century Egyptian LGBTQ people 21st-century Egyptian women

Transition

Legal battle

See also

References