The Eyes Have It---the eyebrows don't

This is a total re-post from my old BM blog but someone asked and the topic aaaaaaaaalllllwaaaays comes up. Is plucking the eyebrows haraam? If it is pleasing to one's husband may one do it anyway, even if it is generally cursed? Does waxing or threading count as plucking? On and on we go.

Removing hair from the eyebrows is haraam no matter what means you use to dispense with that hair. This is because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said: Allah has cursed those women who modify their eyebrows or ask others to do it for them (Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim). That means shaping the brows into pretty arabic eyes like these...
is haraam. Not hijab. What does it matter if you are wearing hijab, but you are cursed anyways? subhanAllah. I shake my head sometimes. Some girls seem to think it is okay to shape the brows (but not too much) because Aisha R.A said to remove what is harmful (unnatural) to one. Here is what she said in context, may Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala be pleased with her:

Dr. al-Qaradawi in his book, The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam has mentioned that "Al-Tabari reports a narrative concerning the wife of Abu Ishaq, who loved to beautify herself. Once she visited 'Aisha -may Allah be pleased with her- and asked, 'What if a woman removes the hair from her forehead to please her husband?' 'Aisha -may Allah be pleased with her- said, 'Remove what is harmful from yourself whenever possible.' " (see p. 90)
Note, the woman said forehead. Scholars have taken that to mean you may remove a unibrow---something that is unnatural for you to have. Also any hairs that make you resemble a man, such as chin hairs, or a mustache. Not the brow itself, which the Prophet sallalahu alahi wa salaam told you to keep and was beautiful for you---part of Allah's creation not to be altered by men---in the same category as tatooing or filing the teeth.Ladies, please don't go growing a mustache because the kafirun want you to, the same way I beg you please don't thin your lovely brows because some kafirun have deemed it "en Vogue". This is a major source of fitna for our Muslim sisters! Especially, in the traditionally Muslim countries, where you see girls in perfect hijab, but accursed altered brows.
Natural brows are lovely brows. See celebs like Rachel Weisz wearing them. They suit a woman. For more on the subject http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view_print.asp?ID=55




Comments

on345667755 said…
alhamdulilah im so glad u brought this up! i think alot of sisters are confused about it due to others saying "oh its ok, its not that bad"
but come on,
'Allah has cursed those women who modify their eyebrows or ask others to do it for them (Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim).'
is pretty clear to me!
Anonymous said…
Dear Pixie

Lol! Thanks so much for the informative post. Its a topic that came up recently in a conversation I had the other day. And we werent clear on what is "thinning" etc. I wanted an explanation with pictures saying: THIS is what is ALLOWED, THIS is NOT ALLOWED.

you've done just that! Shukran. No more plucking eyebrows for me. Even though I shaped mine coz i believed it made it look thicker. I've got the sort of eyebrow that is sparse and doesnt really need plucking, but shaping makes it appear thicker. wierd hey? anyways i'm done with it.

May Allah bless you with greater knowledge insha Allah.
-Fatima
wow... why would a woman want to grow a mustache?? weird... alhamdulillah I stopped touching my eyebrows when I first converted (came across something and thought ok.. enough!) I did used to bleach the edges but havent done that for awhile.. all in all mine seem quite tame compared with other people who I know. Alhamdulillah
CareMuslimah said…
Salam Alaykum sister!..

I used to wax my eyebrows and stuff, until I converted and discovered that it's haraam. Really nice post.

Sisters stop plucking your eyebrows, you look like scared rabbits :P haha
Anonymous said…
Assalamu alaikom,
I always wonder about the stray hairs, the ones that are not in the eyebrows, but near it... Not all of us have neat and tidy eyebrows. :)
A said…
I love the last two women eyebrows, it just perfect!
A said…
I forgot to add that we have to keep in mind that Allah has created some people with naturally thin eyebrows. For example my sister has natural thin eyebrows (yes even as a kid).
Anonymous said…
Thing is that many of the women you show with full eyebrows have fixed them too, to make them look tidy. I have medium thick eyebrows - of course much fuller than the drawn eyebrows you show here, but not as full as the individual thick eyebrow pics... It's not right to call only the thickest eyebrows natural...
Pixie said…
Anonymmous: any brows can beshaped perfectly without plucking with an eyebrow pencil. ANY plucking Jennifer Connelly does to "shape" her thick brows would be haraam too. C'mon, they were the best pics I could find, lol, give me a break:D
NeverEver said…
super thin, super plucked eyebrows don't look good to me... i dunno... it kind of makes me cringe.

they look really harsh. not good.
Anonymous said…
thanks for the great post :) could you make a post of sport wear, and for example how you would dress for jogging. really love your blog and it have helped me alot and made me open my eyes more :) keep up the good work!
Nina
Pixie said…
Nina: I'll try. I usually job wearing a very thin tunic pajama top from Jacobs lingerie and regular pants (I always wear Jacobs trousers---I am not a sweat pants girl) and an open abaya and a hijab stule that we should make a vid for I suppose. and I jog. I often wear niqab because people in my city like to try and take my picture when I am rollar blading or running on the boardwalk. I don't want my face all over the internet for creeps to see!:D
UniMuslimah said…
Salaam,
Thank you for posting this!

I never understood people who remove their entire eyebrow and then draw it on- it always reminds me of a comedian I used to watch who joked about having to redraw them every time you wanted to show a different expression. XD

Another sister asked this question and I'm also curious: what if there's a stray hair that isn't creating a unibrow but is obviously seperate from the actual eyebrow? Do you know if it's allowed to remove those few stray hairs?

Cheers.
Salaamualaikum girls!!!

Great post pixie!!! im so glad u touched this topic.

well i have a secret for shaping brows in a halal manner. BLEACHING CREAM!! there is bleach specifically for hair that does not burn or irritate the skin, and most importantly does NOT remove hair!!

I use it, and regaurdless ur skin color it will turn ur brow hair to the same color as ur skin, (trust me i do this all the time) and it looks like u have a arch and looks even better when u fill in the arch!! but even better EVERY hair is still on ur face.

u can buy it from walmart for 6 dollars int sally hansen, test it on ur skin and follow directions,

oh and dont forget to re0touch!! becuase u will start to look like you have highlighted brows lol.

just thought id share!

Salaamualaikum warahmatuaallah
Anonymous said…
Seriously now, sisters! Muslim or non-muslim... those super "stylish" eyebrows are just ugly! they look awful! Eeeeks! they are not pretty. Period. sorry. it looks fake and... *sigh* my sister-in-law is an arab girl and she just plucks her eyebrows with no mercy... I just can't get it. why does she do it? it's haram and it looks so bad, so fake.

why?

- sohara
Hanan said…
a great topic that should be brought up more often!
it truely saddens me whenever i see one of my muslim sisters with her eyebrows plucked within an inch of their lives.. and yet they claim to be faithful to Allah and to islam..
all i can do is raise my hands and pray to Allah that their hearts are guided to the right path

~wishing you all the best from saudi arabia
Anonymous said…
I hate to break it to you. But some of those women you mentioned as being natural browed, aren't. The shape them using the natural brow. But they still are plicking them to attain that shape. Great article though. Thank you for posting.
Anonymous said…
Assalamu alaikum

The first two pics in your post are of a NON-muslim girl. I know her from a different forum. She's not a Muslim, that's why she does not follow the islamic prohibition of plucking the eyebrows. She's Ukrainian. She likes Arabic culture, that's why she took many pics of herself in "arabic" style - in niqab... those pics can be found on flickr and that's from where people take it and then use everywhere the internet referring to her as an Arab and Muslim woman while she's not...
Anonymous said…
I do appreciate all of the information you provide us women- especially when not residing in a Muslim country. Kudos! And I really believe that this discourse you conduct should be taken to a higher level. The problems I find most of the time are not usually involving frivolous things like plucking eyebrows, BUT the hijabi girls with full eyebrows not upholding moral standards of Islam which, I believe, holds a much heavier weight. Also, I believe that many Muslims focus too much on issues of appearance and deter themselves from the bigger picture. For this reason, the world has come to antagonize us as being merely absorbed with covering ourselves and walking behind our husbands. If we take the initiative to elevate our discourse to a higher level, I think the world will do the same.

Jazak Allahu Kheir
Anonymous said…
Muhammad and Aisha must have had nothing to do but tocomment on a few hairs in the forehead. No wonder Islam has no relevance in the modern world. As for Qardhawi, he is a pedophile and a sectarian quasi wahabi biggot. Wake up you fool!
sisterUmmMaryam said…
Assalamu Alaikum sis,
Thanks for posting. Alhamdulillah I dont pluck but i used ot in my jahil days. I think by plucking it i really stuffed it up. I compared my natural brow before i started plucking, after plucking and now in my photos and subhanAllah, a few things to note sisters please read on this:
the hairs came out thicker and came out with no sense of direction, whereas my natural brows sort of flowed in a direction that gave a naturally shaped brow.

I started getting spider veins around my brows, im soo glad i stopped, its not there anymore but i can imagine what would have happened if i didnt.

After plucking especially, the skin on the brow would swell and sag a little. By the time a woman hits 50 you can be sure of a saggy brow. Ah im so glad i stopped. I also know that its really not good for the nerves of the eyes. It can lead to unnatural blinking problems and such.

Allah swt gave rules that only benefit us and harm us in no way, but protect us from harm.
Anonymous said…
ASALAMUALALAIKUM,

I wish i knew about this hadeeth when i first started shaping my brows now im trying to get them back to normal but not all hair are coming back so im stuck with bald eyebrows with everyday use of eye pencil, dont know wat to do, and they are abviusly lot thicker than my natural brows.
may ALLAH forgive us and guide us all, ameen.
malika shamsi said…
asalaamu alaykum sis,
happy to see ur post.iam satisfied with d hadith u referred n inshallah will try to stop making eyebrows frm today itself n i'll try my best to convince others too to stop them frm making eye brows love u dear.
allah hafiz
Anonymous said…
assalamu alikum
i found recently found out that plucking eye browz is haram in islam i want to stop but my eye browz look horriable when thy r grown my whole face looks wired what should i do....bleach dosent quite cut it my hair r too dark for that can any one help me...