Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamoalikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,

May Allah give you Ajr-e-Azeem for your tremendous work Insha Allah.Brother i have a question as we all know that plucking the hairs of eye brows (shaping eye brows) is Haraam in Islam, but can we bleach them as the we bleach the other areas of the face (face bleaching) and our intention is not to change our look but just to hide the extra hair grown around the eye brows.Will that also be considerd Haraam? Actually for marriage when the bride does for make-up, the beauticians insist to remove the hairs for the make-up purpose.As i know its Haraam so can i bleach those extra hairs just to have an excuse for not removing the hairs and doing something haraam? please send the answer as soon as possible as i need it immediately. Jazakumullahu khairan 

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Answer:

Bleach eyebrow

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Dear and Beloved Sister in Islam, every law has two aspects:

The ‘letter’ of the law.

The ‘spirit’ of the law.

It is a condition of belief and faith, and of total and absolute obedience and submission that when one who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day receives a command or guidance from Allah and His Messenger (saws), it would be absolutely obligatory upon him/her to obey the commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws) totally, in letter and in spirit.

If one strives to circumvent the laws of Allah and His Messenger (saws), and connives and invents a way which would enable them to follow the ‘letter’ of the law alone without obeying the ‘spirit’ of the law; it would be termed as a ‘heela’ in Islamic terminology.

To narrate a simple worldly example of the ‘letter’ of the law, the ‘spirit’ of the law, and heela….Say there is a highway where the government has imposed a fine on anyone driving more than 100km/hr and has placed radars and cameras at specific points to catch those who break the speed limit. The ones who choose to obey the law in letter and in spirit, would make sure to drive below the speed limit to avoid breaking the law. But the ones who have no intention to obey the law, but do not want to be fined, devise a plan that they would speed beyond the speed limit on the highway, and everytime they approach the radar and the camera, they would reduce their speed to be below the speed limit, thus avoid being caught! Although they would have followed the letter of the law, they would be guilty of transgressing the ‘spirit’ of the law, which was to drive below the speed limit on this highway. This process of intentionally devising a plan or method to circumvent the law is what is known as ‘heela’.

It is the obligatory duty of the believer who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day to obey His Laws, Commands, and Guidance in ‘letter’ and in ‘spirit’; and it does not behove and befit a believer to devise a plan or method by ‘heela’ to intentionally circumvent the laws of Allah and His Messenger (saws) only so that the ‘letter’ of the law is obeyed, but the ‘spirit’ of the law is violated.

Your Question: but can we bleach them as the we bleach the other areas of the face (face bleaching) and our intention is not to change our look but just to hide the extra hair grown around the eye brows.Will that also be considerd Haraam?

Sahih Al-Bukhari 7.815 Narrated by Abdullah

Allah has cursed those women who practice tattooing and those who get themselves tattooed, and those who remove their eye-brow hairs, and those who create a space between their teeth artificially to look beautiful, and such women as change the features created by Allah. Why then should I not curse those whom the Prophet (saws) has cursed?

Although the ‘letter’ of the law and guidance is for the believing women to abstain from removing their eye-brow hairs, the ‘spirit’ of the guidance is clearly to leave these hair untouched! And although there is no specific prohibition on bleaching the eye-brows, it is evident that the bleaching would change the look and appearance of the eye-brows, and thus violate the very ‘spirit’ of the law!

Because there is no prohibition specifically stated by Allah and His Messenger (saws) regarding the bleaching of the eye-brows, one does not have the authority to say that it is prohibited or ‘haraam’; but in our humble opinion, the bleaching of the eye-brows is only a ‘heela’ and a method to circumvent the law of Allah and His Messenger (saws), and it would be best if one would fear Allah and not try to make a mockery of His guidance by inventing ways to obey the ‘letter’ and disregard the ‘spirit’ of His guidance.

Your Question: Actually for marriage when the bride does for make-up, the beauticians insist to remove the hairs for the make-up purpose

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 82 Surah Infitaar verses 6-8:

6 O man! What has seduced thee from thy Lord, Most Beneficent?

7 Him Who created thee. Fashioned thee in due proportion, and gave thee a just bias;

8 In whatever Form He Wills, does He put thee together.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verses 118-121:

118 Allah did curse him (the Shaitaan) but he said: "I will take of Thy servants a portion marked off.

119 "I will mislead them and I will create in them false desires; I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and to deface the (fair) nature created by Allah." Whoever forsaking Allah takes Satan for a friend, hath of a surety suffered a loss that is manifest.

120 Satan makes them promises and creates in them false desires; but Satan's promises are nothing but deception.

121 They (his dupes) will have their dwelling in hell, and from it they will find no way of escape.

The beautician ‘insists’ on removing or re-shaping the eye-brow hairs of the bride and Allah and His Messenger (saws) insist that the eye-brow of the believing woman be left untouched! The believing woman has to decide whether she wishes to obey the insistence of her beautician or the Commands and Guidance of Allah and His Messenger (saws)!

If one trusts, obeys, and follows the guidance and commands of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of never ever being misled; but if one believes, obeys and follows any other guidance, other than that of Allah and His Messenger (saws), one can be assured of being led astray.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan