Fatwa of the Day #9

Ladies, if you are considering converting to Islam—a decision I encourage you to make; for all the advantages you gain from being a woman in Islam—I recommend you read the following Fatwa which will make you think twice before visiting your beauty parlor again.

As always, the Egyptian Dar al-Ifta (Arabic for the “Home of Fatwa Issuing”), succeeded at making me shake my head in disbelief and laugh at the same time.
The following inquiry was submitted to their website urging them to advise on this extremely critical matter:

The Question: Is plucking one’s eyebrows considered a sin for Muslim women?

The Answer(s):

- According to one group of scholars: YES, IT IS DEFINETELY A SIN! Plucking one’s eyebrows and/or the eyebrows of another woman is absolutely prohibited in Islam. In order to back this ruling, Dr. Ali Goma Mohammed, the wise Muslim scholar who responds to these important questions—in the form of Fatwas, refers to the following saying in the Hadith:

Allah curses the women who perform tattoos, get tattos, the women who pluck the eybrows of others, and those women who get their eyebrows plucked, and part their teeth for adornment, who change Allah’s creation.

- the other group advocates for the following: If a woman is unmarried she is prohibited from plucking her eyebrows. On the other hand a married woman is permitted to do so on the conditions that her husband gives her permission, and that she does it for adornment purposes only (i.e. she plucks her eyebrows to make herself prettier and more attractive to her husband).

Having read that, I believe that unmarried young Muslim women who are going to remain celibate for quite some time, and who dislike their bushy eyebrows should simply get used to it. And who knows, maybe one day “unibrowness” might become the next fashion sensation!