Fatawa

Ruling on plucking the face not including the eyebrow? – Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen

Question: Is plucking the facial hair, not including the eyebrows, forbidden?

Answer: Yes, it is haram. Plucking the facial hair is from the plucking which the Prophet cursed its doer, Peace be upon him and his family and him.  It is a major sin, whether it is the eyebrows or on the cheeks or otherwise.

[Taken from Nur ‘ala Darb no. 562 found here: https://audio.islamweb.net/audio/downloadmp3_.php?audioid=314229 ]

Translated by Abu Jaafar Ahmed Eldaour

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2 thoughts on “Ruling on plucking the face not including the eyebrow? – Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen

  1. So what if a woman has hair on her chin or face, should she leave it? Am not talking about eyebrows here, Doesn’t having facial hair resemble men? If she cant pluck off the face, excluding the eyebrows, than how should she remove it to look feminine? Or should she leave a beard if she has one? Or hairy face?

    1. The Shaikh’s verdict above is one of many other verdicts that he has given on the topic. In the abovementioned verdict, the Shaikh is prohibiting a woman from plucking her facial hair because the act of plucking the eyebrows is prohibited [al-Bukhari and Muslim]. Some Scholars, like Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, hold the view that the act of plucking is not only prohibited for the eyebrows but the entire face. And so, the Shaikh in the above fatwa is saying that it is prohibited to pluck the eyebrows, the cheeks, and other parts of the face. 

      With that being said, Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy upon him) did not prohibit a woman, if she grows a beard, or moustache, or hair on her chin etc, to cut it off because this is a form of distorting her image. And like you said, it would make a woman resemble a man which is prohibited. Shaikh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (d. 1421 H.)-may Allah have mercy upon him-said: “As for the woman, if hair grows in the place of a beard or moustache that is clear. If someone sees it, then she removes it with any removal agent possible. If it is one hair or two hair, and there is no distortion, then she lets it remain. It is not allowed to remove it. And there is no difference between this and the eyebrows and other than that because the Prophet (ﷺ) cursed the woman who plucks and the one who plucks her hair” [Noor ‘ala Darb (2/22)].

      In another fatwa, the Shaikh said that if a woman grows hair on her face that she removes it but without plucking [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfz39kW18Zc]. And so, we can see the view of the Shaikh revolves around the prohibition of plucking, which is not allowed, and he did not prohibit a woman removing facial hair. This is also the view of other Scholars as well.

      And Allah Know Best

      Translated by

      Faisal bin Abdul Qaadir bin Hassan
      Abu Sulaymaan

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