Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
This is a very sensitive subject and this is what i know about it from various sources.
In the majority of the Arab states the ladies are seen with beautifully shaped eyebrows, and heavy make-up. Indeed it is so beautiful to see even on a lady wearing a Niqab.
Once I heard from someone that it is haraam to shape the eyebrows, and I used to do it myself, infact I learnt how to do it for others too, and used to do it.
My search for the correct guidance lead me to the following:
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.”
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Islamonline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503547124
Another view of the scholars is as follows:
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.”
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A (www.islam-qa.com)
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 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 Allaah.”
(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5931; Muslim, 2125)
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/9037
Reading all the above made me stop shaping my eyebrows, at first they repulsed me very much, but then I thought to myself I am doing this solely for Allah and Inshallah Allah (SWT) will reward me for this.
I hope this helped the ladies out there!!!
Let me know what you think.
Wassalaam
