What is the ruling on shaping or trimming the eyebrows (nams)? What is the ruling on microblading and permanent and semi-permanent make-up? What is the ruling on applying artificial eyelashes? And is there any leeway to correct the eyebrows at the husband's wish? Please guide with limits and detail.

Nams means plucking the eyebrow hairs to make them thin or give them a particular shape. It is haram, indeed a major sin, because the curse has come upon the one who does it and the one who gets it done. It is narrated from 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, that Allah cursed: "the women who tattoo and the women who get tattooed, the women who pluck eyebrows and the women who get them plucked, and the women who create gaps between their teeth for the sake of beauty, who alter Allah's creation" (Sahih Bukhari: 5931; Sahih Muslim: 2125). Al-Lajnah al-Da'imah has given this very definition of nams (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 5/195). Threading also enters into this, because by it hairs are plucked from the root. Shaving the eyebrows or cutting them to reduce them is also not permissible according to al-Lajnah al-Da'imah (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 5/194, 5/196). Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy on him, says that plucking is explicit nams, and many scholars have also placed cutting and trimming in this same ruling, so the preponderant position is prohibition itself.

(a) Cleaning the hairs between the two eyebrows (the part above the nose) is permissible, because those hairs are not part of the eyebrows, as al-Lajnah al-Da'imah has said (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 5/197). (b) If unusual hairs like a moustache or beard appear on a woman's face, removing them is permissible, because this is a form of defect for a woman; likewise there is no harm in cleaning the ordinary hairs of the upper lip, arms and legs (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 5/194–195). The limit is that there be no addition or reduction in the original structure and shape of the eyebrows.

Nams does not become permissible even by the husband's wish or consent, because the hadith of the curse is general and there is no obedience to a creature in disobedience to the Creator. The noteworthy point is that al-Lajnah al-Da'imah was asked about this very case: a girl's eyebrows were very thick and she wanted to reduce them for her husband; the Committee said: "Shaving the eyebrows or reducing them is not permissible, because this is the very nams upon whose doer and the one who gets it done the Prophet ﷺ pronounced the curse" (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 5/196). Shaykh Ibn Jibrin, may Allah have mercy on him, has also said that this is not correct even with the husband's consent. However, it is transmitted that some Hanafi and Maliki scholars, on the basis of a report from 'A'ishah, may Allah be pleased with her, spoke of leeway for the husband's sake; but the preponderant position, due to the generality of the explicit hadith, is prohibition itself. There are many other permissible means of adornment for the husband; attention should be turned to them.

Microblading is the modern form of washm (tattooing): pigment is put into the skin with a fine blade, which remains for approximately eighteen months to two years. The period being temporary does not change the ruling; this too is washm and altering the creation, so it is not permissible — as has come in the detailed fatwa of Islam Question & Answer (no. 297588). And if, for it, the eyebrow hairs are also plucked, the sin of nams is additionally combined. The only exception is correction of a defect: for example, if the eyebrows have been lost due to burning or illness, a measure to bring them to the normal form can be permissible, as there is an indication in the narration of Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, that this curse is for when there is no ailment or defect (Sunan Abi Dawud: 4170). As for surface make-up — a pencil or colour that is applied on the surface of the skin and washes off, neither plucks hair nor puts pigment into the skin — that is neither washm nor nams.

Applying artificial eyelashes is also not permissible, because it comes under the ruling of joining hair (wasl), upon which the curse has come: a woman sought permission to join hair because her daughter's hair was falling out, and he ﷺ said: "Allah has cursed the woman who joins hair and the woman who gets it joined" (Sahih Muslim: 2122). Al-Lajnah al-Da'imah has explicitly said: "Using artificial nails, artificial eyelashes and coloured lenses is not permissible, because in them there is harm to that place as well as deception and altering the creation" (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 17/133). Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy on him, was asked about applying artificial eyelashes for the husband and said that this is a form of wasl itself, not permissible; however, colouring natural eyelashes with mascara is not haram, because that is not joining, it is colouring (Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb). Yes, if the eyelashes have been lost due to illness or burning, the case of correcting a defect is separate from this.

Maqasid-based caution: The Shariah has not prohibited adornment; it has fixed its limits: adornment is so that man values the form granted by Allah, not that he changes it and adopts another form. Avoiding the acts upon which a severe warning like the curse has come, and being content with permissible adornment, is the glory of a believing woman.

Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.