Question:
I am doing a project on Muslim women and would like to know
what is the ruling concerning a Muslim�s hair. Is she allowed to cut it as much
as up to her shoulder or not/ what about facial hair? Is it harem to get rid of
it or not. Please answer and pray my imam is strong.
Answer:
Praise be to
Allaah.
We ask Allaah Almighty to increase you in faith and to make you
content with the truth.
Your question includes two issues:
1 � the
ruling on cutting women�s hair. Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said:
We do not know anything (to disallow) cutting women�s hair. What is
forbidden is shaving it. You should not shave your hair but you may cut it and
reduce its length or volume; we know of nothing wrong with that. But that should
be done in a proper manner which will please you and your husband. You should
come to some agreement with him on a kind of haircut that does not resemble
kaafir women, because if you leave it long, it will be a lot of trouble to wash
it and comb it. So if the hair is very long or thick, and the woman cuts it to
reduce its length or volume, that doesn�t matter. Cutting some of it will make
it more beautiful, which will please both the woman and her husband. So we do
not know of any reason to disallow that. But shaving it altogether is not
permissible, except in the case of sickness. And Allaah is the Source of
strength.
See Fataawa al-Mar�ah al-Muslimah, part 2, p. 515
It was
narrated in Saheeh Muslim that Abu Salamah ibn �Abd al-Rahmaan said: �The wives
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to cut their
hair until it came just below their ears.� (al-Hayd, 481)
Al-Nawawi said:
this indicates that it is permissible for women to cut their hair short.
But
women should avoid resembling kaafir women or immoral women when they cut their
hair
Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan said:
It is not permissible for a woman to
cut her hair short in the back and leave the sides longer, because this involves
disfiguring and fooling about with her hair which is part of her beauty, and it
also involves imitating the kaafir women. This prohibition also applies to
haircuts which are named after kaafir women or animals, like the �Diana� cut,
named after a kaafir women, or the �lion� cut or �mouse� cut, because it is
haraam to imitate the kaafirs or to imitate animals, and because that involves
fooling about with a woman�s hair which is part of her beauty.
Fataawa al-Mar�ah
al-Muslimah, 2/516,517
2 � Removing facial hair.
Shaykh Muhammad al-Saalih
ibn �Uthaymeen said:
With regard to hair which is abnormal, because it grows
in places where hair does not usually grow, such as a woman having a moustache
or hair growing on her cheeks, there is nothing wrong with removing this,
because it is abnormal and is disfiguring to the woman.
The Standing
Committee was asked about women removing facial hair, and they replied as
follows:
It is OK for a woman to remove hair on the upper lip, thighs,
calves and arms. This is not the same as plucking (eyebrows), which is
forbidden.
�Abd al-�Azeez ibn Baaz, �Abd al-Razzaaq �Afeefi, �Abd-Allaah ibn
Ghadyaan, �Abd-Allaah ibn Qa�ood
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa�imah, 5/194, 195
The Standing Committee was also asked:
What is the ruling on a woman
removing hair from her body; if it is permissible, then who is allowed to do
that for her?
They answered:
It is permissible for her (to remove)
everything except her eyebrows and the hair on her head; it is not permissible
for her to remove those, or to remove anything from the eyebrows whether by
shaving or any other means. She, her husband or one of her mahrams may do that
for her, with regard to the parts of the body that they are permitted to see; or
another woman may do that, with regard to the parts of the body that she is
permitted to see
�Abd al-�Azeez ibn Baaz, �Abd al-Razzaaq �Afeefi, �Abd-Allaah
ibn Ghadyaan, �Abd-Allaah ibn Qa�ood
Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa�imah, 5/194
The hair of the private parts and the thighs may not be seen by either another
woman or a mahram.
It is forbidden for a woman to remove her eyebrows or
part of them by any means, whether it be by shaving, cutting, using a depilatory
substance, because this constitutes the plucking for which the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the one who does it, i.e., the women
who plucks all or part of her eyebrows, claiming that it is for the purpose of
beautification, or the woman who does that for her. This is changing the
creation of Allaah which the Shaytaan promised to enjoin upon the sons of Adam.
See the answer to Question No. 2162, 1172, 1192
See also al-Fataawa al-Jaami�ah
li�l-Mar�ah al-Muslimah, part 3, p. 877-879
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