Sweat Free?! Eye-brows and I bow!

Is it really a big deal if I get my eyebrows done? I just don’t get it. I
feel like everyone around me sweats the small stuff. At the end of the day,
am I going to go to hell for shaping my eye brows? I mean, come on.
Really?

Anonymous

Dear My Little Sweat-Free (yay, you!) Anonymous friend,

You’ve asked a great question! You might have noticed that on the side of my blog, I made sure to write that this is not a ‘fatwa blog’- however,don’t you fret your little self! Little auntie is still going to ‘answer’ this question, but I’m going to do it without damning anyone to hell or promising anyone heaven, either.

Let’s start off by taking a look at this very famous hadith:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Apostle (Sallah Allahoo alyhee wa salam) said, "A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that."
(Book #54, Hadith #538)

Haha, bet you thought I was going to put the eye brow hadith. No, not yet! I know, it might seem really strange to put that hadith- you might be thinking, “See, that’s what I am talking about. Islam is soooo easy. Why is everyone complicating it”, but wait.

Wait. Don’t be too sure.

Read this…

"You thought it to be a light matter while it was most serious in the sight of Allah."[Al-Noor, 24:15].

Chilling, isn’t it? If you don’t know what this verse is referring to, it’s discussing the people who ‘spread’ the rumors around during the Ifk incident. Those people thought it wasn’t a big deal, but Allah Subhanoo Wa’
Tala ..He thought differently.

Okay, so what am I trying to get at?

Basically that our judgments of an act is ‘incorrect’. See, most of us would imagine that the prostitute would be ‘unforgivable’…we’d also think that ‘gossiping’ isn’t such a big deal. In both cases, we would be wrong. Deadly wrong.

The truth is that sometimes, we think something is small, but it really isn’t.

The thing about eyebrows is everyone knows the hadith clearly states that the person who does their eyebrows will be thrown out of Allah’s mercy (cursed).

Yes, now it’s time for it…

Al-Bukhaari (4886) and Muslim (2125) narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: May Allaah curse the one
who does tattoos and the one who has a tattoo done, the one who plucks
eyebrows and the one who has her eyebrows plucked, and those who file
teeth for the purpose of beautification, changing the creation of Allaah.

Is that something small?

Do we really want to risk being wrong?


Let me ask you this- do you have a tattoo? Why not (if you do have one,
forget this q, LOL)? Their ruling is in the very same hadith…

The way I see it is this—a person might not go to hell simply because of ‘doing their eyebrows’ if they recognize that they are sinners/feel bad/but keep succumbing to temptation (and boy those eyebrows can really tempt aperson to do them!). But if a person has a dismissive attitude of what Allah likes/doesn’t like, then…the person might be in trouble. It shows signs of a ‘heart that isn’t that pure’- it’s like you’re putting yourself in His place, deciding what deeds matter and what don’t. We obviously do NOT have that right.

Finally, let’s imagine if you went to a restaurant and ordered a cake, and you specifically requested that they did not put icing…and then, the chef put icing. Would you have the right to be displeased? Although
Allah subhanoo Wa’ Tala is of course above Comparison and not like His creatures, my point is that He has clearly warned us/requested us to refrain from doing our eyebrows and implied He would be displeased….doesn’t that count a little? Shouldn’t we think about that?

So, to sum it up? Am I saying that 'cleaning' your eyebrows are haram? That's actually not what I am addressing here (you can check a fatwa site for that). I am addressing though the idea of 'us' dedicing what 'Allah will judge us on'...

And in the end, I say, clip your little eye brows of the r, and tell your "I-brows", to "I bow" to Allah. Ask Allah to beautify you with not perfect eye brows but true beauty and Nur from Him; ask Him to make your face radiate with imaan, inshaAllah. And remember...

Say, [O Muhammad], "Shall we [believers] inform you of the greatest losers as to [their] deeds? (103) [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work." [Surat al Kahf]