Question
I just want to ask what Islam says about the removal of facial hair… like removing unwanted thick hair from eyebrows to make it little tidy… upper lip threading… facial hair on my cheeks are increasing…. I do bleach but i don’t like it… i am very upset about it. As then i don’t feel good about my self… I want to ask is the laser therapy allowed in Islam?
please do reply… i am seriously worried.
Answer
The Shari’ah really does not have anything to say on this matter – and if it has not prohibited a thing for us then it is not for us to conjure up a prohibition. All that is forbidden is that we change the nature in which God has created us. Beautifying ourselves in order to make us look neat, tidy and presentable is actually a very natural thing to do as long is it is not overdone. So, such a thing cannot be equated to ‘changing our nature’. Therefore, I feel that there is nothing wrong with women removing unwanted facial hair or to style the eyebrows. She is not changing the nature in which she has been created, rather she is beautifying it and making it look good which as I said is itself quite natural. An example of what equals a ‘change of our nature’ would be if a person were to completely remove the eyebrows as such a thing would look quite abnormal and perverted. For men, removing the beard is against his nature, the beard being one of the distinguishing signs between a man and a woman. I dare say that it may even be sometimes quite desirable for a woman to remove her facial hair. I can definitely appreciate why she would want to do so and really cannot imagine anything being wrong with it1.
As regards to laser therapy, if it is not harmful then I cannot see what should be wrong with it. It would then just be another way of removing the hair. It presumably keeps the unwanted hair away longer (or even permanently) and therefore if it is not harmful and not too expensive for a person I can understand why they would prefer it.
And Allah (swt) knows best.
Please keep us in your good prayers,
Hischam Khan
July 28, 2005
- For more details, please see: Hadith Condemning Women who Style their Eyebrows by Shaving or Trimming their Edges [↩]