Further on 'Plucking Eye Brows'
Last Updated on Saturday, 06 August 2011 17:33
Question:
Salam alikum,
Can you you please interpret the hadith regarding plucking of eye brows. Here is the link:
Please check it out.
Regards
Sahabia
Answer:
Salaam sister
Many thanks for your query. On the basis of the following Hadith, it is believed that women are not allowed to pluck their facial hair:
حدثنا محمد بن يوسف حدثنا سفيان عن منصور عن إبراهيم عن علقمة عن عبد الله قال لعن الله الواشمات والموتشمات والمتنمصات والمتفلجات للحسن المغيرات خلق الله فبلغ ذلك امرأة من بني أسد يقال لها أم يعقوب فجاءت فقالت إنه بلغني أنك لعنت كيت وكيت فقال ومالي لا ألعن من لعن رسول الله ومن هو في كتاب الله فقالت لقد قرأت ما بين اللوحين فما وجدت فيه ما تقول قال لئن كنت قرأتيه لقد وجدتيه أما قرأت ] وما آتاكم الرسول فخذوه وما نهاكم عنه فانتهوا [ قالت بلى قال فإنه قد نهى عنه قالت فإني أرى أهلك يفعلونه قال فاذهبي فانظري فذهبت فنظرت فلم تر من حاجتها شيئا فقال لو كانت كذلك ما جامعتنا
‘Abdullah Ibn Mas‘ud has reported: ‘Allah curses those ladies who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those ladies who remove the hair from their eyebrows and faces and those who make artificial spaces between their teeth in order to look more beautiful whereby they change Allah’s creation’. His saying reached a lady from Bani Asad called Ummi Ya‘qub who came [to ‘Abdullah] and said: ‘I have come to know that you have cursed such-and-such (ladies)?’ He replied: ‘Why should I not curse those whom Allah’s Apostle has cursed and who are [cursed] in Allah’s Book!’ Ummi Ya‘qub said: ‘I have read the whole Qur’an, but I did not find in it what you say’. He said: ‘Verily, if you have read it [i.e. the Qur’an], you have found it. Didn’t you read: And whatsoever the Apostle gives you take it and whatsoever he forbids you, you abstain (from it), (59:7)’. She replied: ‘Yes, I did’. He said: ‘Verily, Allah’s Apostle forbade such things’. She said: ‘But I see your wife doing these things?’ He said: ‘Go and watch her’. She went and watched her but could not see anything in support of her statement. On that he said: ‘If my wife was as you thought, I would not keep her in my company’. (Bukhari, No: 4604)
One must always keep in consideration two fundamental principles while studying and interpreting Ahadith:
Firstly, to determine, as far as possible, the context and the background, all Ahadith on a particular subject should be collected and then analyzed as to ascertain the overall picture which emerges.
Secondly, they must be related to the Qur’an and Sunnah. This means that they must have a base in these two primary sources of Islam. They cannot and must not be taken independently.
Applying these principles to the above quoted Hadith shows that there were a number of practices (only some of which have been mentioned in this Hadith) which the Arab ladies used to undertake which entirely changed their natural physical appearance and some of which actually gave a false impression of their outward looks.
Almost all the major books of Hadith mention the various texts in which these practices have been narrated. The initial part of the Hadith mentioned above ‘... whereby change Allah’s creation’ itself suggests the relationship of this Hadith with the Qur’an: Verse 31 of Surah Rum, reads thus:
فِطْرَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ (٣٠:٣٠)
Follow the nature upon which Allah has created mankind. It is not proper to change this nature. (30:30)
It is in accordance with this principle mentioned in the Qur’an that the Prophet (sws) forbade a number of such practices. In other words, the nature – physical as well as spiritual – of a human being must be preserved in the shape Allah has created. Consequently, anything which may become a means of changing or modifying this nature is undesirable. However, a fine distinction exists between beautification to quench one’s aesthetic sense and alteration, the former being a permissible thing.
These Ahadith also mention a practice called ‘Tannamus’, which means removing the hair which extends on to the forehead in a particular style. This again was forbidden by the Prophet (sws). The Hadith you have mentioned contains this word; however it has been erroneously translated as ‘to remove hair from the face’.
In the light of this analysis, it is evident that removing hair from the face is something which the Prophet (sws) never forbade.
I enclose link from our sister site that provides further information on this issue.
http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=154If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Best regards
Waseem Aslam
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