Is Kohl (Surma) a Sunnah of 10th of Muḥarram?
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Answer:
Some Ḥanafī and Mālikī scholars have suggested it is desirable to use Kohl on ʿĀshūrāʾ (10th Muḥarram) and suggest the narration in this regard is weak and not fabricated.[1]
However, the majority of scholars regard all the narrations regarding Kohl on ʿĀshūrāʾ as fabricated.[2] This is the correct position. Imam Ḥākim (d. 405/1014) explains that there is no [authentic] narration regarding this and it is an innovation started by the murderers of Ḥusayn (d. 61/680) (may Allah be pleased with him).[3] Therefore, it is not a Sunnah.
Some Ḥanafī scholars have further stated that it is necessary to avoid Kohl because it has become a hallmark of those who bear hatred and enmity against the Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet, may Allāh send blessings upon them continually).[4]
Allah knows best
Yusuf Shabbir
9 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1437 / 11 September 2016
Approved by: Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Sahib
Footnotes
[1] Hidāyah (Fatḥ al-Qadīr, 2: 346); al-ʿInāyah (2: 331); al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq (2: 302); al-Nahr al-Fāʾiq (2: 26); al-Asrār al-Marfūʿah (p. 474); Jamʿ al-Wasāʾil (2: 106); Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl li al-Kharashī (2: 241); Minaḥ al-Jalīl (2: 119).
[2] Al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā (1: 203); Minhāj al-Sunnah (4: 555, 8: 151); al-Manār al-Munīf (p. 111); al-Iʿtiṣām (1: 287); Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif (p. 54); ʿUmdat al-Qārī (11: 118); al-Bināyah (4: 42); al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah (p. 632); Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157); al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqah (2: 536); al-Iqnāʿ fī Fiqh al-Imām Aḥmad (1: 318); Ḥāshiyah al-Sharwānī (3: 455); Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ (4: 1349); Fayḍ al-Qadīr (6: 82); Kashf al-Khafāʾ (2: 234); Radd al-Muḥtār (2: 418); al-Āthār al-Marfūʿah (p. 97); Imdād al-Fatāwā (5: 289); Fatāwā Maḥmūdiyyah (5: 487); Fatāwā Raḥīmiyyah (2: 112).
[3] Al-Mawḍūʿāt (2: 204); Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157).
[4] Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157); Fayḍ al-Qadīr (6: 235).