eyebrow removal: haram or halal?

Halal Honey wants to know if plucking the eyebrow is haram or not:

Ok the basic answer: its haram to pluck the eyebrows because you are changing the shape of Allah's Creation... as the prophet says:

Allah has cursed those women who modify their eyebrows or ask others to do it for them (Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim)

There are a few different fatwa's and scholar's opinions- some are very similar some are disagreeing in some aspects. Some say you cant pluck your eyebrow but is it halal to shave or clip them. Some forbid touching them at all in anyway. it all really depends on what they take the arabic word NAMAS to mean. some take it to mean plucking, some say shaving, some say removing, some say modifying - so of course if they take it to mean plucking then they will say you cant pluck but you can shave it. those who say Namas means modifying will take it to mean you cant touch the hair at all.... get the picture?

here is just one of the many that i read:

Can we pluck our eyebrows?

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (17/133): “It is not permissible to remove the hair of the eyebrows because this is the namas (plucking) for which the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed those who do it, and it is a kind of changing the creation of Allaah, which is the action of the Shaytaan. If a woman’s husband tells her to do it, she should not obey him, because it is a sin, and there is no obedience to any created being if it involves disobedience towards the Creator. Rather obedience should only be with regard to things that aregood and proper, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said.”

What is the Islamic ruling on removing hair that grows between the eyebrows:

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (5/197): "It is permissible to pluck it, because it is not part of the eyebrows.”

What about other body or facial hair?

Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (17/130): “The evidence that it is permissible for a woman to remove hair from her body is the basic principle which states that it required for her to adorn herself for her husband. There is no evidence to suggest that this is not allowed, apart from the prohibition on al-namas (plucking), which means removing hair from the eyebrows.”

Another point of view:

Shaykh Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf (a Hanafi jurist) studied the Hadith and claims that:

1. It would be permitted for a woman to remove a beard or a moustache that appears on her face. Even though it is facial hair, but since it is to stop women from resembling men, it is permitted. This is the opinion of the majority of scholars, in fact they have said it is recommended, not just permitted. The same will be to bleach this hair instead.

2. If the eyebrows are linked in between, it would be permissible to remove the excess hair from in between to separate them [i.e. the hair above the nose]. The reason for this is that linked eyebrows are looked upon as a defect, hence it would be permissible to remove it.

3. A 'few' stray hairs around the eyebrows would be permissible to remove by clipping them off, if it looks defective, or for married women creates abhorrence in their husband. This does not mean it is permitted to remove a whole line or two of fine hair from around the eyebrows [as is the case nowadays].

4. Dense bushy eyebrows may be trimmed down to a more normal size. However, one must exercise great caution in this regard, since one does not want it to fall under the warning of the hadith. If one is not sure how to determine the normal size they should not act on the benefit of the doubt, but rather follow the more cautionary approach and trim less. What so called 'regular' [especially non-Muslim] people consider nowadays as the norm i.e. eyebrows that are shaped in particular unnatural or reduced to thin lines can not be considered as acceptable in Islamic law due to the severity of the hadith.

So basically if you have a monobrow then it is halal for you to remove that hair, or the hair that resembles the look of a man - beard - moustache, etc.

some people say that you can remove a few stray hairs from the eyebrows by clipping/shaving, because that isnt plucking and you are not actually shaping the eyebrows - just removing the strays - which doesnt affect the shape in anyway. Others try bleaching dark eyebrow hairs in order to not get into possible haram by removing the hair. The whole subject seems a bit 'iffy' because of what people take NAMAS to mean.

Look.. we all know grooming ourselves in Islam is important... looking presentable is a part of our responsibility and is a form of Da'wah...

anyway it is up to you. if you feel in your heart that it is wrong then don't do it. Just read abit more and decide what is best.