Question:
I would like to know if eyebrow waxing is allow in Islam. I don’t know what to do because I hear two different versions. Please help me by explaining to me the background of this discrepancy.
Then I would like to know what a woman should do who has stopped waxing her eyebrows. Knowing that these have become very large. Does she have the right to refine them a little to hide the defect?
Answer:
When it comes to eyebrow waxing, there is a divergence among scholars:
1/ The majority banned eyebrow waxing based on a hadith where Abdullah son of Mas3oud (QDLA) asserts that God cursed those who do Annam’s to seek beauty by altering God’s creation. Then he said, “Why shouldn’t I curse the one whom the Messenger of Allah (SSSL) has cursed well?” (Bukhari and Muslim).
You should know that Abu Daoud also reported on Abdullah son of Abbas (QDLA) a hadith cursing the woman practicing annams without having an anomaly or an unsightly evil.
According to Abou Daoud: “Annams is an act by which a woman plucks her eyebrow to refine it”. But according to Ibnou Hajar:
“Annams generally means the removal of facial hair and in particular that of the eyebrows”.
Of course, this is manual hair removal.
The majority forbade eyebrow waxing because the Prophet (SSSL) never cursed a person for a lawful act. Then she understood that annamas is indeed a major sin since The curse does not pronounce for minor disobedience.
This majority made a connection with the Quranic verse where God says about Satan and the alteration of divine creation:
God cursed him and he (Satan) said, “I will surely take from among Your servants a pre-assigned portion. I will certainly mislead them, I will make them promises, I will command them and they will cut off the ears of the cattle, I will command them and they will alter the creation of God. Anyone who takes Satan as a tutor apart from God has indeed suffered a clear loss. He promises them and gives them hopes and all that Satan promises them is a deception. Those their refuge is Hell and they will find nowhere to flee from it” (chapter women-V119 to 121).
However, some majority scholars have allowed annams in some cases. Like Annawawi who says: “this act is illicit except in the case where a beard or mustache grows in a woman. In this case removing it is not illicit but rather recommended (for her) among us (the Chafiites)”.
2/ The minority authorized eyebrow hair removal for several reasons:
– Some have allow the woman to remove the hair between the eyebrows because it is forbidden for them to touch the eyebrows in order to refine them. They even authorized the woman to remove part of the eyebrow hair, in the event of a major anomaly, if the latter are larger than normal. For them, the prohibition according to the hadith of Abu Daoud on Abdullah Ibnu Abbas (QDLA) concerns the case of hair removal apart from the presence of an unsightly evil (which constitutes an excuse). But there is a problem (abnormal eyebrows). But they set a condition: that the woman refine them with the aim of making them normal and not to make them in the form of a thin line.
– Some Hanbalites, according to Ibnou Hajar, authorize annamas with the permission of the husband because it is part of the embellishment request. For this, they used a hadith where a woman came to Aïcha (QDLA) to ask her: “What is the status of the woman who removes the hair from her forehead for her husband! “. The answer was: “Remove the evil (that affects you) as long as you can! (Reported by Attabari).
– Some said that the prohibition of annamas in the hadith is only for the woman who lost her husband. Because any embellishment is forbidden for her.
– Others said that annamas is forbidden only for one who does it to deceive people with false or artificial beauty. That is why it is allow for the bride with permission from her husband.
– Others said that the prohibition in the hadith is depilation by pulling out the hair. On the other hand, that made with scissors or a razor is not prohibited.
– Others said that the woman can tint the part of her eyebrows, which bothers her, with the same color as that of her skin. Because hair removal is forbidden.
In the end, this minority authorizes the removal of facial hair from a woman and even authorizes her to refine her eyebrows in the event that her husband agrees.
But the majority responded to some points used by the minority like the hadith of Aisha (QDLA) which allowed a woman to remove hair from her forehead. In case this hadith is really authentic, it does not authorize the waxing of the eyebrows but only that of the hairs of the forehead. But this is not a problem.
At the same time the authorization following an agreement of the husband cannot be retain because a woman came to see the Prophet (SSSL) in order to ask him for an authorization to add hair to her newly married daughter. Knowing that the latter had lost her hair while her husband appreciated it. The prophetic answer was: “God curses the one who adds hair to herself as well as the one who does this work to her” (Bukhari and Muslim).
So if the husband’s agreement was use to do the illicit, the Prophet (SSSL) would have authorized this young bride to do it for him.
In addition, those who authorized eyebrow waxing for the husband, this was at a time when the wife did not go outside and she only did it for her husband. That’s not the case today.
3/ Conclusion:
After studying the opinions of each other, we notice that those who banned based themselves on a clear and unanimously authentic hadith. While those who authorized did so with implausible interpretations.
For this I say that:
has. If the woman has a beard, mustache, hair on her face, hair between her eyebrows or large and abnormal eyebrows. In all these cases she has the right to remove her hair or reduce the size of her eyebrows so that they become normal again without exaggeration. This is a right for her regardless of whether she is married or not.
b. If the woman has never resorted to waxing her eyebrows, it is better for her to abstain because there is the threat of a divine curse. And that no reasonable woman could run that risk.
vs. If the woman has already touched her eyebrows in the past to refine them because she did not know the prohibition or because the desire was stronger than her, it is better for her to make a sincere repentance vis-à-vis of God and refrain from doing so in the future.
d. If the woman has refined her eyebrows in the past for one reason or another and has made her regretful repentance by deciding not to do it again. But that she observed that her eyebrows became very large and abnormal following the cessation of waxing. The latter is authorize to reduce them within reasonable limits.
We say to this woman that God accepts the repentance of His servants because He is Merciful and Absoluter!
Note: we do not have the right to despise the one who refines her eyebrows too much, especially if she follows the advice of those who authorize it. Despising the other is a kind of pride forbidden in Islam.
On the other hand, we have a duty to provide him with the right advice, out of sight, with a lot of gentleness and wisdom. As we have the duty to make him sincere invocations so that God helps him to repent.
May God guide us all to the right path!
