Answered by: Maulana Muhammad Asadullah Anwar Adam
Question:
I’m a 14-year-old Muslim girl and I’ve found out it’s haram to shape/pluck the eyebrows. I’m not sure if cleaning around it is as well, but if it is what do I do? I look like a boy if I don’t do anything about them. (Same problem with my upper lip)
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Plucking the eyebrows is prohibited in Islam and it comes under the heading of changing the creation of Allah.
Iblees says “And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah. And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss.”[1]
However, in the Hanafi Fiqh, if the eyebrows have become linked then it is permissible to remove the hair from above the nose. It is also permissible to clip off one or two stray hairs from around the eyebrows and to clip off very bushy eyebrows to their normal size. [2]
Allahmah Ibn Abideen Shami (RA) has written, “It is possible that the prohibition mentioned in the hadith is if it is done to beautify oneself for strangers. Otherwise, if she has some hair on the face which causes dislike for the husband then it will be recommended to remove it for the sake of her own chastity…” [3]
[1][Surah Nisa verse 119]
[2][Ahsanul Fatawa p.76 v.8]
[3][Raddul Muhtar p.239 v.5]
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Muhammad Asadullah Anwar Adam
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham