Okay, so I was talking to my sister-in-law and also got inspired by a comment on one of my favorite blogs called "The Life of a Hijabista". Now in this blog, the sister was talking about how she learned how to thread her eyebrows. Also, my sister-in-law was told by one of her friends that women are forbidden to pluck, thread, shave, wax, burn off (okay, I'm taking it far with that one, lol)... basically grooming eyebrows are unlawful in Islam. Now, I have personally heard it from all angles. I've heard people say everything from this scholar to this sheikh to that hadith or ayat of Qur'an about whether a woman is or is not allowed to alter the shape of her brows.
Now personally, I have been getting my bi-weekly eyebrow wax since I was 16 years old. I know that I happen to have darn near a uni-brow otherwise and absolutely feel just pure mannish without having nice, shapely, feminine brows. Not to mention the fact that I think I might scare my husband by looking like the pic on the top left!!! Islam is my religion that I love so much and has been since birth. Sometimes I feel as though people take it a bit far to the left side of this and hardly ever come up with any valuable proof, or dalil regarding certain matters. I have no intention of purposely defying what Allah makes halal or haram but I would like to hear your opinions regarding this matter.
I think wearing a hijab and clothing that does not show off the shape of my body is taking a huge step. Not to mention not wearing polish, perfume (as some say), high heels (as some say) or wearing makeup (as some more say, lol). Now after I am stripped of all of my feminine vices, can I not just go and enjoy having my big, manly eyebrows waxed??? Am I asking too much here??? Okay, sorry... Comments please?
As-Salaamu-Alaikum,
Najwa
Lol, those are some SCARRY eyebrows! That or Tamer Hosny's monobrows! Yeah, I'm afraid I'll scare my dh if I let the whole thing au natural, lol! After my youngest daughter was born I was so flustered, that I let it all go, then my dh is like "Where is my wife? What did you do to her?" LOL!
ReplyDeleteI will keep my laissez faire opinion about shaping brows to myself (you know the haram police are watching) but I just wanted to say LOL @ pure mannish!
ReplyDeleteNaj I love this because I know just how serious your are about those eyebrows!!!! I put fabulous eyebrows right up there with gorgeous earrings, upgrade!!!
ReplyDeleteNadira
I thank Allah The Most High for giving me the most beautiful natural eyebrows! I have never plucked it. Not even once. :) There are some Muslims who have accused me of getting my eyebrows done and the truth is I never have touched my eyebrows. The reason they accuse me of it is because it is thin and has an arch and I guess it's hard to grasp that? lol
ReplyDeleteAnyway, there's a well known hadeeth of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas'ood (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: “Allah 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 Allah.”
But we as Muslims have to understand that no one is perfect, we are only human and we make mistakes and let's not treat a sister who does pluck her eyebrows bad or call her names and bark at her for shaping her eyebrows. There are far greater sins than the sin of shaping the eyebrows. May Allah guide us all and increase our iman. Ameen.
Assalam Alaikum :)
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
ReplyDeleteThat hadith that Anonymous related has be viewed in context when it was made. If one reads it your clearly see it is related to extreme things women used to do in 6th century to beautify themselves. As well as Aisha was once asked by Married woman if she could trim her eyebrows.
ReplyDelete====
The narration of Bukra bint ‘Uqba was used as evidence, when she asked ‘Aisha may Allah be pleased with her about plucking her eyebrows, ‘Aisha responded:
If you are married, and by plucking your eyebrows you will make them attractive, then do it”. Ahkam al-Nis’a Ibn al-Jawsi p.49
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Al Azhar's Dar al Ifta has released a fatwa and Shaykh Suhiab Webb has posted it on his blog about this matter.
http://www.suhaibwebb.com/blog/general-fiqh/plucking-the-eyebrows-egyptian-house-of-fatwa/
as salaamu alaikum.
ReplyDeletei love your blog and vlog, alhumdullilah.
i wear make up, groom my eyebrows, and sometimes show my ear lobes as well, but as i grow in my deen, i understand that in my intention i desire only what is pleasing to allah (swt), not man.
i agree with the sis above who said that one muslimah should not judge another muslimah, for we should all know who is the only valuable judge. if you are perfect, than ridicule; otherwise, alhumdulliah.
masha allah for your beauty, insha allah you forever be pleasing to allah (swt) and the man he places over your care.
salaams.
Salaams. Shaping your eyebrows is haram - period. No ifs, ands, maybes about it. You can remove your unibrow, or a moustache, or cheek hairs, or any hairs that would cause someone to stare. So many ppl try to justify threading over plucking or sugaring over waxing - it's haram. Period. That being said, we all make our own choices. You chose to do the haram or not. You chose to justify it to yourself or just accept that you're plain out sinning.
ReplyDeleteI got my eyebrows threaded one time for a graduation and I know the hadith, I know that its haram but in that moment, I was arrogant and vain and more concerned about being as pretty as I could. No excuses, no "Oh well I heard many opinions on the hadith". It was vanity and I concsiouslly chose to disobay Allah swt. It still bothers me to this day. Of course I have done the haram before but I never had done something that was 100% stated as a curse or a major sin.
I cannot understand the denial that so many of my sisters are in over this issue. InshaAllah they are guided to the correct path and can put their vanity asside and stop doing this. Arched eyebrows mimic a very passionate expression and they evoke a hormonal response in a man. Allah has ALWAYS known best, and in His infinite wisdom, He knew this way before scientists ever studied what red lips and cheek blush and plucked eyebrows do to a mans hormones. It's provoking a biological response to prepare for intercourse on some level.
Oh and to add... you two sisters are so naturally beautiful mashaAllah... do you think it pleases Allah to see you plucking that beauty off of yourselves and leaving it on the floor of a salon? Sisters we all struggle with this - please, lets leave the arched eyebrows for the non believers. It looks so Playboy Bunny on us.
ReplyDeleteSister Amiya,
ReplyDeleteWe agreed with everything you said until you added:
"You can remove your unibrow, or a moustache, or cheek hairs, or any hairs that would cause someone to stare."
Causes people to stare??? People stare at us everyday because of our Hijab... does that mean we should take it off? And some people that know me would stare if I ever let my eyebrows grow out... I wouldn't say that things are suddenly made permissible just because someone stares at you. If that was the case, sooo many thngs would be different. LOL... Shukran for your efforts, sis! May Allah reward you for being steadfast! Ameen!
LoL. Yeah that reasoning behind being able to remove the unibrow hair or cheek hair or mustache hair was a little different from what Ive learned. I was told that any hair that grows on a women that makes her look manly or isnt usually found on a women(maybe due to hormonal issues or extreme hairyness) can be removed. I was told the eyebrows can be tamed but not shaped. and Allah knows best.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian (and when I say Christian, I don't mean someone who just goes to a service on a Sunday then lives a secular life during the week) I'm finding this entire site an interesting read. I'm especially interested in this discussion. The Bible teaches us [read Christians] about modesty, it teaches us about the inappropriateness of 'provoking' sexual responses in the opposite gender (yes, modesty goes BOTH ways), yet the Bible explains that Christianity or the Christian 'deen' (to borrow a word you may understand/appreciate a little more) is an intensely personal one (between one's self and God) and that its expression should rightly differ depending on culture. The Bible also teaches us that we should avoid doing anything which may cause another brother or sister-in-faith to go against his or her conscience. To paraphrase, it's not what goes into or onto the body that defiles it, but what comes out of the heart. To this end, because I know it is offensive to my mother, I don't drink alcohol with or around her - even though I consider it permissable for myself. I understand that you want to please Allah - a most admirable intention. Do you beleive that Allah has prescribed a way to do *everything*, or has he provided guidelines? I think that a lot of the more 'negative' misunderstandings non-muslims have about Islam comes from this basis. That, apparently, everything has a single *ok* [halal?] way to do it, and anything else is simply no allowed [haram?] and the arguments/discussions about what is halal and haram over seeming minutiae just cause to confuse and frustrate..? (Do I even make sense here? It's so hard to articulate this in such a short space).
ReplyDeleteSalamz Sisters
ReplyDeleteSurely Islam is the complete code of life. The commands of Islam have to be followed strictly,and the issues where our holy prophet(PBUH) has neither denied nor endorsed are flexible, but what has been deemed haram is HARAM. Allah best knows his creation and every order is full of hikmah. Our personal lives are completely guided by Allah in all aspects.
And finally, true,our personal actions are between Allah and the individual, but every person with the knowledge and information has been ordered not to restrict the flow of the Gods word and spread it to the benefit of all men and women.
With reference to the Christian commentary, if there were no guidelines, then anything goes and evil as well as good is accepted.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I understand, the hadith saying its haram to pluck is very clear and gosh...I don't want to be cursed by Allah. I read a while ago that the hadith on Aisha's saying it's okay for married women if its okay with the husband is a weak hadith...(also we can't put our husbands' laws over God's laws)I have to look it up again though.
I used to pluck and then stopped. It does make me feel uglier, but so does wearing the hijab. That is the point, btw, so we don't show our beauty. I'm not an Islamic apologist. Like it or not, it is what it is. I do it because its the right thing to do. Islam's about submission, not living for the dunya.
what is dr zakir naiks opinion as he is one of the only scholars i trust
ReplyDeleteAs salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barkatuh. My name is Khadijah bint Costello, I am for sure not the haram police. I want to make sure my sisters get the right information about certain topics. I have taken the information from the book: Islamic Fatwa Regarding women, compiled by Muhammad bin Aabdul Aziz Al Musnad, page 272 and 273. These questions were answered by Sheikh Ibn Baaz.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the ruling concerning extra eyebrows hairs?
It is not allowed to remove or shorten eyebrow hairs. It is confirmed that the Prophet sal allahu alahim wa salam cursed the one who removed them. Such hadith have been recorded by al-bukhari and Muslim.
What is the Islamic ruling concerning wearing high heeled shoes?
Is basically disliked. By health reasons we should know how bad they are for our back, knees and posture.
Shaykh ibn Jibreen’s answer to this question will shed light on plucking part of her eyebrows as beautification for her husband?
It is not allowed to remove some of the eyebrow hairs, not shave them off, nor trim them, nor pluck them, even if the husband is pleased with that. It is not a beautifying act. Instead, it is changing the creation of Allah and Allah is the best of creators. The threat of punishment concerning that has been narrated from the Prophet Sala allhu alahim wa salam, as well as a curse for the act. This implies forbidden.
I have read also that the hair that grows between the eyebrows can be plucked, because is not part of the eyebrow, but part of the bridge of the nose. Allah knows best. I have a daughter with the same dilemma, insha Allah she is able to find peace like my sisters with this small issue.
Love you all for the sake of Allah,
Sister Khadijah (not the haram police)