AboutHayat Anne Collins Osman Expertise I can answer questions about Islamic belief and practice, accepting Islam, fiqh and fatwa, women`s issues, and marriage and family matters. I will not address questions regarding political issues.
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Question asalamualikum
i know about the on plucking of eye brows but i would like to know why it is so?what are the ill effects?does it cause any haram to the skin or something like that?we want to publish an article about and need a convincing answer to persuade people who are doing it to give it up
Answer Wa aleykum us sallam
The concept is that the shape of the eyebrows has a great effect on the general appearance of the face, so that plucking the eyebrows can change Allah's creation.
However, some scholars allow limited changes in some situations. Please read the following collection of fatawa. Wa jazak-Allahu khayran.
Islam Questions & Answers
www.islam-qa.com
Question Reference Number:: 20108
Title: Women removing hair from the face
Home > Jurisprudence and Islamic Rulings > Customs and traditions >
Clothing, adornment and images > Adornments >
Question:
I know it is forbidden for a woman to remove hair from her eyebrows, but
what about the rest of the face? Is it permissable for a woman to remove
hair from the upperlip or other parts of the face? If the woman is
especially hairy?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (17/133): “It is not permissible
to remove the hair of the eyebrows because this is the namas (plucking)
for which the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) cursed those who do it, and it is a kind of changing the creation of
Allaah, which is the action of the Shaytaan. If a woman’s husband tells
her to do it, she should not obey him, because it is a sin, and there is
no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience towards the
Creator. Rather obedience should only be with regard to things that are
good and proper, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said.”
Secondly:
It is permissible to remove any hair from the face apart from the hair of
the eyebrows.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (17/130): “The evidence that it
is permissible for a woman to remove hair from her body is the basic
principle which states that it required for her to adorn herself for her
husband. There is no evidence to suggest that this is not allowed, apart
from the prohibition on al-namas (plucking), which means removing hair
from the eyebrows.”
And it also says (5/197): “What is the Islamic ruling on removing hair
that grows between the eyebrows? The Committee replied: It is permissible
to pluck it, because it is not part of the eyebrows.”
Home > Jurisprudence and Islamic Rulings > Customs and traditions >
Clothing, adornment and images > Adornments >
Question:
I know that plucking the eyebrows is haram and removing facial hair is
also but that we can remove hair above the lip and in between the
eyebrows. What about the hair that comes between the hair line and the
eyebrows down to the eyebrow?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
With regard to removing hair or not removing it, the scholars divide hair
into three categories:
1 – Hair which we are commanded to remove or shorten. This is known as
Sunan al-Fitrah, such as removing the pubic hairs, trimming the moustache
and plucking the armpit hairs. That also includes shaving or cutting the
hair of the head during Hajj or ‘Umrah.
The evidence for that is the hadeeth of ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased
with her) who said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: “Ten (actions) are part of the fitrah [natural
inclinations of man]: trimming the moustache, letting the beard grow,
using the siwaak (tooth-stick), rinsing the nose with water, clipping the
nails, washing the finger joints, plucking the armpit hairs, shaving the
pubes and washing oneself with water after relieving oneself.”
Zakariyya said: Mus’ab said: And I forgot the tenth but it may have been
rinsing the mouth with water.
Narrated by Muslim, 261
2 – Hair which we are forbidden to remove, which includes the eyebrows.
The action of removing the hair of the eyebrows is called al-namas. It is
also forbidden to remove the hair of the beard.
The evidence for that is the hadeeth of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may
Allaah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “Allaah has cursed the
woman who does tattoos and the one who has them done, the woman who plucks
eyebrows (al-naamisah) and the one who has it done (al-mutanammisah), and
the one who files her teeth for the purpose of beauty, altering the
creation of Allaah.”
(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5931; Muslim, 2125)
And it was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar said: I heard the Messenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “Be different
from the mushrikeen: let your beards grow and trim your moustaches.”
(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5892; Muslim, 259)
al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
The naamisah is the woman who removes hair from the face and the
mutanammisah is the one who asks to have that done. This action is haraam,
unless a woman develops a beard or moustache, in which case it is not
haraam to remove it, rather that is mustahabb in our view.
Sharh al-Nawawi li Saheeh Muslim, 14/106
3 – Hair concerning which the texts are silent and do not say whether it
is to be removed or left as it is, such as hair on the legs, hands, cheeks
or forehead.
There is some difference of scholarly opinion concerning this.
Some said that it is not permissible to remove it, because removing it
implies changing the creation of Allaah, as Allaah tells us that the
Shaytaan said:
“ ‘and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allaah’”
[al-Nisa’ 4:119 – interpretation of the meaning]
Some said that this is one of the things concerning which nothing was
said, so the ruling is that it is allowed. It is permissible to leave it
or to remove it, because whatever is not mentioned in the Qur’aan or
Sunnah is permissible.
This was the view favoured by the scholars of the Standing Committee and
by Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen. See Fataawa al-Mar’ah al-Muslimah, 3/879
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah:
(a) There is no sin on a woman if she removes hair on her upper lip,
thighs, calves and arms. This is not part of the tanammus (plucking) that
is forbidden.
(Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 5/194, 195)
(b) The Committee was asked:
What is the Islamic ruling on plucking the hair between the eyebrows?
They replied:
It is permissible to pluck it, because it is not part of the eyebrows.
(Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 5/197)
The Standing Committee was asked:
What is the ruling on a woman removing hair from her body?
They replied:
It is permissible for her to do that, apart from the hair of the eyebrows
and head. It is not permissible for her to remove the hair of her head or
to remove any part of the eyebrows, whether by shaving or any other means.
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 5/194
We should comment on the questioner’s words “I know that plucking the
eyebrows is haraam and removing facial hair is also.”
As for plucking the eyebrows, this is haraam and is a major sin, because
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed those who
do it.
But as for removing facial hair, there is a difference of opinion among
the scholars as to whether it is permissible to remove it. This is based
on their various understandings of the word al-namas.
Some scholars said that al-namas means removing any facial hair, and they
did not limit it to the eyebrows. Others were of the view that al-namas
refers to removing the hair of the eyebrows only. This was the view
favoured by the Standing Committee as is clear from the fatwas quoted
above.
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah:
Al-namas means plucking the hair of the eyebrows, which is not permissible
because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the
woman who plucks eyebrows (al-naamisah) and the one who has it done
(al-mutanammisah).
Details of Fatwa
Title of Fatwa Straightening the Eyebrows
Date of Fatwa 8/ July/ 2003
Date of Reply 8/ July/ 2003
Topic Of Fatwa Manners
Question of Fatwa Dear scholars, As-Salamu `alaykum. I know that plucking
the eyebrows is haram. However, if my eyebrows are very thick and
unwieldy, can I do light shaping to straighten them out? Jazakum Allah
khayran.
Name of Mufti Group of Muftis
Content of Reply Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon
His Messenger.
Dear sister in Islam, we would like to thank you for the great confidence
you place in us and your apparent fear of contradicting Allah’s laws. We
implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for
His Sake.
As regards your question, we’d like to state that Allah wants us to look
neat and tidy, and by trying to appear neat and tidy we are not distorting
Allah’s creation, rather we are only enhancing it. Therefore, if your
eyebrows are unusually thick or unwieldy then you can straighten them out.
Elaborating on this, we'd like to cite for you the following Fatwa issued
by Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the
Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who states:
“The word used in the Hadith is nams in Arabic, which means plucking the
eyebrows. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) considered
plucking as distorting the creation of Allah. This was the practice
resorted to by prostitutes in the time of pre-Islamic jahiliyya
(ignorance) and it is still used by women of loose morals.
However, scholars who have studied the issue in detail have concluded that
if a person’s eyebrows are unusually thick or unwieldy, then he or she can
straighten them out. This is not considered nams or plucking. Allah wants
us to look neat and tidy, and by trying to appear neat and tidy we are not
distorting Allah’s creation, rather we are only enhancing it.”
Dr. Muhammad Bakr Isma`il, Professor of the Exegesis of the Qur'an at
Al-Azhar University, adds:
“It is known that plucking eyebrows is forbidden. However, some jurists
permit light shaping of eyebrows if they are thick and hairy in a way that
they harm the eye or appear so wide and thus displease the husband. If it
pleases the husband that they are shaped lightly, there is nothing wrong
in doing this just to please the husband. As for extreme shaping or
plucking, it is not permitted.”
Allah Almighty knows best.
All Fatwas published on this website (Islamonline.net) represent the
juristic views and opinions of eminent scholars and Muftis. They do not
necessarily form a juristic approach upheld by this website. Click here to
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Question #13259: Ruling on reducing the hair of the eyebrows
Question:
What is the ruling on reducing the hair of the eyebrows?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
If that is done by means of plucking, then it is haraam, and indeed it is one of the major sins, because it is the “namas” for which the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the one who does it. But if it is done by cutting or shaving, then it was regarded as makrooh by some scholars and forbidden by others who regarded it as a kind of “namas”. They said: “ ‘Namas’ does not only mean plucking, rather it is a general word which includes all ways of changing the hair for which Allaah has not granted permission, if it is on the face.” But what we think is that women should not do that unless the hair of the eyebrows is so thick that it hangs down over the eyes and affects her vision, in which case it is o.k. to remove that which is causing the problem.
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, part 3, p. 866 (www.islam-qa.com)
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