Men applying henna to their hands and imitating women
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: In some countries, men apply henna to their hands, and this is a custom among them. Is this imitating women?
Answer:
Henna is permissible to use for treatment if it is in the category of treatment, whether applied to the legs or to... hmm... or to the head. I mean, using it for the sake of treatment is fine for men.
As for using it for other than treatment, if it is the custom of the country that they do this, then there is no harm. But if it is not the custom of the country for men to apply henna and kohl to their hands or feet, if it is not the custom of the country, then it is not permissible for him to do so.
Because he would be imitating the women; in this society, only women use henna, and if he does so, he is imitating them in this society.
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: In some countries, men apply henna to their hands, and this is a custom among them. Is this imitating women?
Answer:
Henna is permissible to use for treatment if it is in the category of treatment, whether applied to the legs or to... hmm... or to the head. I mean, using it for the sake of treatment is fine for men.
As for using it for other than treatment, if it is the custom of the country that they do this, then there is no harm. But if it is not the custom of the country for men to apply henna and kohl to their hands or feet, if it is not the custom of the country, then it is not permissible for him to do so.
Because he would be imitating the women; in this society, only women use henna, and if he does so, he is imitating them in this society.
Source
شرح عمدة الأحكام، باب الحيض — islamhouse.com (1:19:49)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.