One hundred and twenty-five Islamic boarding schools or pesantren from Java and Madura island issued a fatwa banning transvestites from cutting and/or styling Muslim women's hair unless they are muhrim (related by blood or marriage).

The fatwa was issued during a meeting at Al Falah Islamic boarding school in Kediri, East Java last week. According to them, transvestites are still male, therefore it is haram or forbidden for them to see and touch a woman who is not their spouse nor a blood relative.

"Hair is part of a woman's aurat (parts of the body that should not be shown under Islamic law) that must be covered so it can not be seen, touched or cut by a man who is not their muhrim," Abdul Manan one of the instigators of the fatwa said in news portal Detik.com.

The fatwa would be implemented by banning transvestites from working in beauty salons.

"The transvestites can still give haircuts to male clients – no problem – but they must not do so for female clients," Abdul said, adding that he would bring this to the attention of PBNU (Nahdlatul Ulama National Board).

Meanwhile, the East Java's Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) refused to respond to the fatwa. "MUI doesn't have to respond to such a fatwa, it's not yet necessary for us to respond," the chairman of East Java's MUI Abdusshomad Buchori said.