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| Not my Business, But -- Eyebrows and stuff |
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| lucid9 |
| 07/19/03 at 16:23:41 |
| [slm] I didn't know plucking eyebrows were considered haram, until someone on this site told me. I mean its something I don't have any great need to know either. But the women in my family do it. So, although there must have been discussions about this kind of thing, ad naseum, what is wrong with the following opinion, which says plucking is ok as long as it is not bizzare or lead to disfigurement? http://www.understanding-islam.com/related/text.asp?type=question&qid=900 [color=Blue] Title: Hadith Condemning Women who Style their Eyebrows by Shaving or Trimming their Edges Question: by Ahmad Nadeem, USA Shaping the eyebrows by trimming, shaving or plucking their edges in order to appear beautiful, as is done by some women nowadays, is haraam because it involves changing the creation of Allaah and following the Shaytaan in his tempting of mankind to change the creation of Allaah. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): "Verily! Allaah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom He pleases sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allaah, has indeed strayed far away. They (all those who worship others than Allaah) invoke nothing but female deities besides Him, and they invoke nothing but Shaytaan, a persistent rebel! Allaah cursed him. And he [Shaytaan] said: 'I will take an appointed portion of Your slaves; Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allaah.' And whoever takes Shaytaan as a wali (protector or helper) instead of Allaah, has surely suffered a manifest loss." [Al-Nisa' 4:116-119] In al-Saheeh, it was reported that Ibn Mas'ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: "Allaah has cursed the women who do tattoos and those who have this done, the women who pluck eyebrows and those who have this done, and the women who file their teeth and change the creation of Allaah." Then he said: "Should I not curse those whom the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed, when it says in the Qur'aan (interpretation of the meaning): '... And whatsoever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain (from it)...' [al-Hashr 59:7]" Ahmad Nadeem United States of America [/color] [color=Red] Answer: I agree with you that if plucking, for the purpose of shaping, eyebrows is considered by someone as 'changing the creation of Allah', then for that person, such an action would be extremely abhorrent. However, the problem really is to draw the line between where the allowable level of beautifying oneself ends and where the boundaries of changing one's nature are crossed. Is piercing of the ears to wear earrings allowed for a woman? Should such an act be considered as 'changing one's nature', or should it be considered within the allowable limits of beautifying oneself? Would a man's trimming his beard, to make his appearance clean and tidy, be considered within the ambit of allowable level of beautification or would it be construed as 'changing one's nature? In my opinion, there are certain beautification activities that give an appearance, which is generally considered as perverted and weird. These activities are obviously outside the scope of allowable beautification, as they attempt to give a look which is against man's natural appearance. For instance, consider a person dyeing his hair with shocking shade of red or green. In my opinion, as shall be explained in the following paragraphs, it is, in fact, this category of activities, which have been condemned by the Prophet (pbuh), in the referred narrative. Other activities, which do not give a perverted or a weird appearance, as for instance, keeping one's hair trimmed and combed, keeping one's moustaches and beard trimmed and properly kept, a woman's wearing earrings or removing hair from her lips, chin or shaping her eyebrows and the likes, not only fall within the allowable limits of beautifying oneself, but can sometimes be highly desirable to give a fresh, clean and tidy look. Keeping the foregoing explanation in perspective, let us now try to understand the implication of the referred verses of the Qur'an and the cited narrative ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh). As far as the verses of the Qur'an are concerned, keeping their context in perspective, they clearly refer to those deviations from nature, which are a result of pohytheistic beliefs. Thus, it, in fact, refers to the changes that satan has lured people to make in God's prescribed paths. Ibn Abbas (ra), Sa`eed ibn Jubair, Sa`eed ibn Musayyab, Hassan, Dhahhaak, Mujahid, Suddiy, Nakh`ee and Qatadah are cited to have the same opinion (See: Raziy's commentary of the referred verse). However, as an extension of the implication of the verse, it would also cover all such other alterations, which are against the nature on which God has created man. Thus, it would, in its expanded application, also cover all such physical perversions, which man knows to be against his natural physical and biological framework. Thus, we know that the verse is, in fact, condemning perversions in God's guidance, in particular, and those in one's physical and biological makeup, in general. However, the verse does not earmark the practical boundaries as to where the allowable limits of beautification end and where the condemnable activity of 'changing one's nature' begins. In my opinion, the reason for this lack of definition of these boundaries is simply because it is in itself remained clearly distinguishable for man. Just as we can clearly understand that going to a surgeon to alter one's gender, should fall within the framework of 'changing one's nature', while visiting the same surgeon to relieve oneself of a swollen appendix should not; just as it is easily determinable that a woman's wearing clothes designed for men (and vice versa) is against her nature, but beautifying her clothes through innovative designing is not, it is as just easily determinable what constitutes an acceptable level of cosmetic change and what crosses its limits and enters into the folds of 'changing one's nature'. To summarize, any alteration of the category of the removal of any deformities or of improving one's physical appearance fall within the generally allowable limits[1]; while those which belong to the category of inducing a deformity or which is clearly against one's physical, biological and social personality, fall in the category of 'changing one's nature'. However, there are few limits imposed upon the lengths to which one can go in attempting to improve one's appearance, but these limits are of a moral and ethical nature, rather than of the nature of 'changing one's nature'. In my opinion, the cited narrative ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh) is, in fact, a condemnation only of those cosmetic alterations, which belong to the category of 'inducing a deformity' or taking to a perverted appearance, which is clearly against man's nature. Thus, the Prophet (pbuh), in the cited narrative, is reported to have condemned 'Al-Waashimaat' and 'Al-Mustawshimaat', 'Al-Naamisaat' and 'Al-Mutanammisaat' and 'Al-Mutafarrijaat'. The implication of these words is explained in the following sections: * Al-Waashimaat and Al-Mustawshimaat refer to tattooing. The former refers to women who tattoo others while the latter refers to those get themselves tattooed. Getting one's arms and other parts of one's body permanently marked by large tattoos clearly gives a perverted appearance and is, therefore, disapproved by the Prophet (pbuh); * Al-Naamisaat and Al-Mutanammisaat refer to removing hair from the front of one's head. The former refers to women who removed these hairs, while the latter refers to those, who get these hairs removed. Although some people have construed these words as prohibiting the shaping the eyebrows (for instance Abu Dawood), yet grouping this activity with the others clearly implies that the referred activity entails an element of deforming one's natural looks[2]. It seems that there was a special kind of perverted style of removing hair, which some women had adopted during the time. It may either have entailed the complete removal (shaving) of the eyebrows or, as Suyuti holds, it may have entailed the plucking of hair from the front of the head. Whatever the actual situation may have been, it seems predictable, that the Prophet's condemnation is not merely for those women, who plucked unwanted hair from their faces, as a part of their natural desire to improve their appearance. * 'Al-Mutafarrijaat' refers to artificially inducing a space between the front teeth. As should be quite clear from the foregoing explanation, the referred verses of the Qur'an and the cited narrative ascribed to the Prophet (pbuh) relates to such alterations, which belong to the category of perversion. It would not be correct to bring the natural human requirement of 'looking good' under the folds of the condemnation mentioned in these sources. I hope this helps. Regards, Moiz Amjad September 7, 2001 [1] The aspect of improving one's physical appearance or the desire of looking good is a natural one for both men and women and there is clearly nothing immoral or unethical about it. It should also be remembered that even though some aspects relating the criteria of what constitutes 'improvement in one's physical appearance' may be universal, yet this criteria is significantly influenced by one's society and culture. [2] There is some difference of opinion regarding the implication of the words 'Al-Naamisaat' and 'Al-Mutanammisaat'. Ibn Hajar in 'Fath al-Baariy' says that it implies the removal of any hair from the face, with tweezers, he has cited Tabariy as having said: it prohibits women from the plucking of unwanted hair from the upper lip (moustaches) and from the chin (beard); Abu Dawood takes it to imply the removal and shaping of eyebrows; Nawawiy says that this narrative does not hinder a woman from removing a moustache or a beard, in fact, Nawawiy considers it desirable for a woman to remove such unwanted hair; Ibn Hajar has also mentioned that according to the opinion of some Hanaabilah (followers of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal), if removing of such hair from the face becomes a symbol of lewdness, then it would be prohibited, otherwise it would only be something of the category of what the pious should generally refrain from (Fath al-Baariy Vol.10, Pg. 378). According to Suyuti, it implies plucking hair from the forehead (the front part of the head). Lisaan al-Arab has explained that the phrase 'Tanammasat al-Mar'ah' is used when a woman removes hair from her forhead by way of threading. [/color] |
| Re: Not my Business, But -- Eyebrows and stuff |
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| a_Silver_Rose |
| 07/19/03 at 17:45:19 |
| [slm] I totally agree. You know now adays especially in America woman like to change the shape of their eyebrows to make it a certain way to have more of an arch or totally change theirs to maybe follow some celebrity. This is changing the way Allah (swt) has made you. And that makes sense, but if you are just cleaning the middle or threading the excess then I personally dont see anything wrong for in Islam cleanliness is very important. by the way I think understanding-islam.com is an awesome site alhumdulilah. Allah (swt) tells us in Qur'an to reflect and reason and this is what the man does Alhumdulilah and Allah (swt) knows best jazak Allahu Kair your sis |
| 07/20/03 at 18:15:37 |
| a_Silver_Rose |
| Re: Not my Business, But -- Eyebrows and stuff |
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| WhiteSomali |
| 07/20/03 at 05:36:26 |
| [slm] ;D 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. Please check the source, there's more on this including hadiths. Don't worry, it's like a 5 minute read you're not gon waste all your time :D [url]http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=9037&dgn=3[/url] I've also heard that if the sisters eyebrows are really big, then she's allowed to pluck them a lil bit, but I'm not too sure about that and I ain no Sheikh. [slm] |
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