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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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What is the ruling on dyeing and cutting hair for a woman

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The questioner : May Allah reward you. A questioner says: What is the permissible hair dye for a woman? And what is the ruling on cutting hair below the earlobe?

The Shaykh : Dyes are among the things Allah created for us on earth. Do you agree with this? What did I say?
The student: I agree.

The Shaykh : You agree.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : What did I say?
The student: Dyes are among the things He, Mighty and Majestic, created for us.

The Shaykh : Yes, well done. May Allah bless you. And whatever Allah created on earth is lawful. Everything on earth is lawful for us because Allah has bestowed that upon us
It is He who created for you all of that which is on the earth هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعاً
[Al-Baqarah 2:29]
If it is an animal, it is lawful except for what evidence has established as forbidden. Do you understand? So if you find a bird and you hunt it, and your companion says to you, "This is forbidden, do not eat it," and you say, "This is lawful, I will eat it," who is the one who must provide evidence? The one who made it lawful or the one who made it forbidden?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : The one who made it forbidden. The original ruling is permissibility. Likewise, dyes are among the things Allah created for us on earth, so the original ruling for them is permissibility. However, one is prevented from dyeing in a way that contradicts the Sunnah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. That is dyeing white hair with black. This is forbidden. It is not permissible for a person to dye white hair with black because this is contrary to the Sunnah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. The Sunnah of Allah is that when a person grows old, his hair turns white, as Zakariyya said:
My Lord, indeed my bones have weakened, and my head has filled with white رَبِّ إِنِّي وَهَنَ الْعَظْمُ مِنِّي وَاشْتَعَلَ الرَّأْسُ شَيْباً
[Maryam 19:4]
This is something that must happen. So if a person comes and tries to disguise himself as a young man by dyeing his beard black so that whoever sees him says, "This is a young man, thirty-five years old," when he might actually be seventy years old, is this permissible or not? It is not permissible:
First: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Change this white hair and avoid black. غيروا هذا الشيب وجنبوه السواد
.
And second: A severe warning was reported regarding whoever dyes with black—may Allah protect us from that—so it is forbidden. And some poets said:
"Its top turns black, but its roots refuse *** And there is no good in a branch if its root betrays it"
Is this correct or not? How are its roots? Its roots are white. Within two days, the whiteness must appear from the roots. So its top is blackened, but its bottom betrays it. Yes.
"Its top turns black, but its roots refuse *** And there is no good in a branch if its root betrays it"
In any case, the measure is strength and vigor. How many are there who are old men, but their ambition and work are like that of a young man? And how many are the opposite? So what is forbidden from dyes? Black, which is used to change white hair. If black is mixed with red, or if indigo is mixed with henna, is it permissible or not? It is permissible because it is not pure black. What about colors other than black? It is looked at. If this color is one that only the women of the disbelievers dye with, it becomes forbidden. Why? Imitating the disbelievers. If this dye is one that only the women of the disbelievers use, it becomes forbidden because of imitation, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family):
He who copies any people is one of them. من تشبه بقومٍ فهو منهم
Sunan Abi Dawud 4031Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani)
Do you know what the Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah commented on this hadith? He said: "The minimum state of this hadith is prohibition, even though its apparent meaning implies the disbelief of the one who imitates them" Because he said:
then he is one of them فهو منهم
So the minimum state is that imitation is forbidden.
As for the issue of cutting the head: Cutting the head is also distinguished. If it is a cut that is deep, such that the woman's head becomes like a man's head, this is forbidden. What is the evidence?
Narrated Asma': (the daughter of Abu Bakr) Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) has cursed such a lady as artificially lengthening (her or someone else's) hair or gets her hair lengthened. لعن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم المتشبهات من النساء بالرجال
Sahih al-Bukhari 5936
And if it is not like a man's cut, we note another matter: Is this cut in the style of the cut of the women of the disbelievers? Then it is forbidden because it is imitating the women of the disbelievers:
And whoever imitates a people is one of them ومن تشبه بقومٍ فهو منهم
Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 10:131
But if it is not similar to the cut of men nor to the cut of women, the scholars differed on that with three opinions:
One opinion: It is forbidden.
The second opinion: It is disliked.
The third opinion: It is permissible.
Do you understand? These are three opinions mentioned by the scholars in this issue.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. A questioner says: You mentioned that the Friday bath is obligatory.

The Shaykh : What time is it? No, the truth is more worthy to be followed. There are still two minutes left.

The questioner : We did not set a time today.

The Shaykh : Come on, bring it.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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