Is it haram for women to pluck, thread or modify their eyebrows ?

Salamwalaikum sister, I have read online that it is haram for women to pluck/ thread/ modify their eyebrows. Is that correct? And also read that it somebody has very bushy eyebrows it can be reduced to a 'normal thickness'. Is that also true? Jazak

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh

"One of the great jurists of the twenty first century Mufti Rashid Ahmad Ludhyanwi issued the following fatwa:

[…] However, if the eyebrows have become so dense that it is unseemly for a woman and incites abhorrence in her husband, it is permissible to trim it to a more appropriate and normal size (Ahsan al-Fatawa Vol.8 pg. 76; Zakariyya Book Depot).

Taking the hadith and the various statements of the Hanafi jurists into consideration the following could be concluded:

1. It would be permitted for a woman to remove a beard or a mustache 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 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.

5. Great caution has to be exercised in this regard, since the hadith is very strict and there are some Hanafi scholars who have taken more strict position. For instance, Mullah Ali al-Qari (R.A) comments [relating from Imam Nawawi] that plucking of the facial hair is haram (unlawful) for a woman with the exception of moustache or beard hairs (Mirqat al-Mafatih 8:218). The concessions mentioned above are for the removal of a defective appearance and not for purely beautification purpose, hence, caution in this matters is the way.

And Allah knows best.

Abdurrahman Ibn Yusuf”

The Quranic verse and hadith regarding hair removal of the eyebrows and the like are as follows:

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

“Abdullāh cursed those women who practiced tattooing and those who removed hair from their faces and those who created spaces between their teeth artificially to look beautiful, such ladies have changed what Allāh has created. Um Ya’qūb said, “What is that?” ‘Abdullāh said, “Why should I not curse those who were cursed by Allāh’s Messenger and are referred to in Allāh’s Book?” She said to him “By Allāh, I have read the whole Qur’ān but I have not found such a thing. ‘Abdullāh said, “By Allāh, if you had read it (carefully) you would have found it. (Allāh says:) ‘And what the Prophet gives you, take it and what he forbids you, abstain (from it).” ( Sahīh Al-Bukhārī, Vol.7,Pg.83, Dār al-Fikr)

• “They (all those who worship others than Allaah) invoke nothing but female deities besides Him (Allaah), and they invoke nothing but shaytaan (Satan), a persistent rebel!
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• Allaah cursed him. And he [shaytaan (Satan)] said: ‘I will take an appointed portion of your slaves.
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• Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allaah.’ And whoever takes shaytaan (Satan) as a Wali (protector or helper) instead of Allaah, has surely, suffered a manifest loss”[Al-Nisa’ 4:117-119]

Insha’Allah the above quotes have answered your question <3