The sea is just a wetter version of the skies.

st3pintoreality:

This man was a mercy for all mankind,this is my Nabi Muhammad. صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ
Jumuah mubaruk

partytilfajr:

Salaam alykum,

I’m so sorry it took me so long to answer this message, I missed it, and just discovered it today.

Note to those who have asked me anon question: many times, I don’t get your questions (people have complained) or I might have missed it. I am trying to get much better about this in the future, insha Allah.

From the get-go I’m going to say this: there’s nothing in The Qur’an about eyebrows. Honestly, nothing. So, this becomes a Hadith throw-down.

Now, there is a strong Hadith, narrated by Abu Daoud, in which The Prophet cursed women who pluck their eyebrows and those who do the plucking (that’s an awk sentence).

That should put that to rest, so everyone who has touched their eyebrows is going to Hell. Right?

Er. Hold up. While various internet Muftis will cite this Hadith, they forget the context of what The Prophet was saying. This is critical. The reason why Muhammad was not so excited with these women, was because at the time, women who did this (plucking) were usually prostitutes.

So, the issue is clearly not about the plucking, the issue is that during The Prophet’s time, this act represented something VERY different to what it means to us today.

Plus, there is the Al-Tabari report of the wife of Abu Ishaq, who loved to beautify herself, going to Aisha, and she asked “What if a woman removes the hair from her forehead to please her husband?” Aisha replied, “Remove what is harmful from yourselves whenever possible.”

So, instead of taking this to mean (like other scholars) that it’s okay to do things to your eyebrows for your husband, I think we should look at this as, its fine, as long as you’re not looking to become a prostitute, etc. 

I think a firm limit would be to tattoo eyebrows on (which I’ve heard is done) and to tattoo your eyelids, in lieu of mascara (or is it eye-liner?) These are forbidden because they are tattoos, and because there’s no way for your body to return to its original, which is central towards determining whether something is permissible or not.

As far as the arguments that say that shaping your eyebrows changes your appearance, and thus is on par with tattoos, this is dubious at best. As you girls know, your eyebrow hair is going to grow back, and, even so, there are various suggestions within the Islamic discourse, to remove body hair as is hygienic. So, it’s clearly not about “changing your natural appearance,” because we do that constantly, the question is about the limits of this practice.

We cut our hair on our heads, men cut their beards, shape them, even the most Sunnah of Sunnah beards, ultimately are shaped somewhat. Again, the critical point here is that Muhammad’s condemnation was not about the practice itself, but because of what it meant at the time.

I think this question is a perfect example of why we need more female scholars. There are absolute ballers, like Souad Saleh (Dean at Al-Azhar) or, one of my favorite Shariah scholars, Intisar Rabb. Why women go to some dude scholar to ask them about menstruation or nail polish is beyond me, they’re not going to understand it, because they’ve never had to deal with it personally.

Most male scholars have no idea how to handle these sorts of questions, and the only reason I have a chance is that I have lots of sisters, cousins, and nieces, so, as a green card holder in the United States of Estrogen, I’ve picked up a thing or two. Plus, in college, I started a Men’s Style Magazine, so, I really look at clothing and fashion in a very different way to the scholars of today.

Whenever you look at an Islamic injunction that is about your physical appearance, please think about what the purpose behind the injunction is and what the context regarding that is. If you don’t do that, you will actually be missing out on the bigger concept and be worse off as a result. If you take a look at my answer to the question of shortened pants, you will see what I mean.

In sum, I think that it would be permissible to shape your eyebrows, because I do not think that people associate eyebrow shaping with prostitution anymore. Furthermore, when you look at the fact that we groom ourselves in many different areas, and that the issue of limits on our grooming is the ability for the body to return to its original state, I think the evidence is pretty strong to allow this.

Insha Allah, I hope I answered your question, and that if you or anyone else has any questions about this, or another topic, that you please do not hesitate to ask me.

nowandthehereafter:

Author: Yoosuf ibn Abdillaah ibn Yoosuf al-Waabil 

A. The Minor Signs

1. The Prophethood of Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
2. The death of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wasallam)
3. The conquering of Bait ul-Maqdis
4. The Plague of Amwaas (in Palestine)
5. The increase in wealth so that sadaqah is not needed
6. Trials and civil strife:
   (i) The appearance of troubles in the east
   (ii) The killing of Uthmaan (ra)
   (iii) The battle of al-Jamaal
   (iv) The battle of Siffeen
   (v) The appearance of the Khawaarij
   (vi) The happening of al-Harrah
   (vii) The appearance of the saying that the Quran is created
   (viii) The following of the ways of the previous nations
7. The appearance of claimants to Prophethood
8. Widespread safety
9. The appearance of fire in the Hijaz
10. Fighting the Turks
11. Fighting the non-Arabs
12. Dissappearance of trustworthiness
13. Dissappearance of knowledge and appearance of ignorance
14. Increase in the number of police and helpers of the oppressors
15. Spread of fornication
16. Spread of usury
17. Spread of musical instruments and their being thought to be allowed
18. Drinking of intoxicants and its being allowed
19. Adorning the mosques and rivalling therein
20. Building tall buildings
21. The slave girls giving birth to her mistress
22. Increase in killing
23. Time passing quickly
24. Coming together of markets
25. Appearance of Shirk in this Ummah
26. Appearance of wickedness, cutting off of relations and ill treatment of neighbours
27. Dying of grey hairs with black dye
28. Increase of extreme miserliness
29. Increase in trade
30. Many earthquakes
31. Appearance of sinking into the earth, transformation into animals and false-accusations
32. The passing away of the pious
33. The raising of the despicable people to positions of importance
34. That greeting is given only to those the person knows
35. That knowledge is sought from other than the scholars in truth
36. Appearance of women in clothes which do not cover them
37. The truthfulness of the dreams of the Believers
38. Spread and increase in writing
39. Laxity with regard to the Sunnah
40. Increase in size of the new moons
41. Increase in falsehood and having no concern to check reports
42. Increase in false testimony and witholding true witness
43. Large number of women and small number of men
44. Sudden death being common
45. Hatred amongst peoples hearts
46. The return of the land of the Arabs to being pastures and rivers
47. Increase in rain but decrease in produce
48. The revealing of a mountain of gold by the Euphrates river
49. The talking of wild animals and inanimate objects to people
50. Wishing for death because of the severity of trials
51. Increase in the number of ‘Romans’ and their fighting the muslims
52. Victory over Constantinople
53. The appearance of al-Qahtaanee
54. Fighting the Jews
55. The expelling by al-Madeenah of its wicked people, then its desolation at the end of time
56. The sending of a pleasant wind to take away the souls of the Believers
57. The attacking of the Sacred House and dismantling of the Ka’bah

B. The Major Signs

1. The Mahdee
2. The Anti-Christ [Maseeh ud-Dajjal]
3. The descent of Eesaa (as)
4. Yajooj and Maajooj
5. The three great sinkings of the earth
6. The appearance of smoke in the sky
7. The rising of the sun in the west
8. The beast of the earth [Daabbat ul-Ard]
9. The fire which brings the people together