Part Three – The Islamic Ruling on Tattoos
The Hadeeth of Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood
-RadhiAllaahu anhu–
Researched by
Shaykh
Muhammad Nasir uddeen Al-Albaani
Translated
by
Abbas Abu Yahya
Abdullaah bin Mas’ood said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam saying:
لعن اللهُ الواشِماتِ، والمُسْتَوْشِماتِ،]والواصِلاتِ[،
والنامِصاتِ، والمُتَنَمِّصاتِ، والمُتَفَلِّجاتِ لِلْحُسْنِ؛
المُغَيِّراتِ خَلْقَ اللهِ.
‘Allaah’s curse is upon women who get tattoos, and those who request tattoos, those who wear hair extensions, pluck hair off their faces, request for hair to be plucked off their faces, those who request for gaps between their teeth for beautification, those who change the creation of Allaah.’
[Collected by Bukhari, Muslim and the collectors of the Sunnan (Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, Nisa’ee and Ibn Majah) and others from the Hadeeth of Ibn Mas’ood RadhiAllaahu anhu.]
It has been researched in ‘Adaab az-Zafaaf’ p.203.
I only presented this Hadeeth due to the extra wording (الواصلات -those who wear hair extensions), since this has been hidden from some of the current day scholars, so as a result there is a ruling which differs with the ruling of tattoos and other matters associated with tattoos as will be mentioned.
This Hadeeth is narrated by all of them from the narration of Alqama from Ibn Mas’ood, and the extra word mentioned is by Abu Dawood with an authentic chain from Jareer from Mansoor from Ibrahim from him.
This narration has a strong following narration collected by Bukhari by way of Sufyan (ath-Thawari) who said: I mentioned to AbdurRahman bin Aabis about the hadeeth of Mansoor from Ibraheem from Alqama from Abdullaah RadhiAllaahu anhu who said:
” لعن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم الواصلة “،
‘The Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam cursed the woman who wears hair extensions.’
AbdurRahman bin Aabis said: I heard it from the woman who was called Umm Yaqoob from Abdullaah the like of the hadeeth of Mansoor.’
I say: the hadeeth which is being researched is the hadeeth of Mansoor. So this is another authentic chain to Alqama -other than the chain of Abu Dawood- which strengthens it, and relieves from it the possibility of what some of those who follow their desires say that it is weak.
It increases the strength of the narration of AbdurRahman bin Aabis from Umm Yaqoob.
Al-Hafidh said in ‘Fath al-Bari’ : (Point) : The name of this Umm Yaqoob is unknown, and she is from Bani Asad bin Khuzaimah, I have not come across her biography, but her checking with Ibn Mas’ood indicates that she was known.
And Allaah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala knows best.’
I say the story of the woman coming to confirm as is in Bukhari and Muslim at the end of the Hadeeth:
Abdullaah bin Mas’ood said:
‘This hadeeth reached a woman from the tribe of Bani Asad who was called Umm Yaqoob, and she was able to read the Qur’aan, so she came and said: ‘It has reached me that you cursed such and such.’
Ibn Mas’ood replied: ‘How can I not curse the one whom the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam cursed and is also cursed in the Book of Allaah?’
She replied: ‘I have indeed read what is between the two covers of the Book of Allaah and did not find in it what you say.’
He said: ‘If you had read it, you would have indeed found it, did you not read:
{وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانْتَهُوا}
《Whatever the Messenger gives you then take it and whatever he prohibits you from keep away from it.》[al-Hashr: 7]?
She said: ‘Of course.’
He said: ‘Indeed the Messenger prohibited these matters.’
She said: ‘Indeed I see that your wife does these things. ‘
He said: ‘Go and take a look.’ she went and looked, and she could not see anything of these matters’
So he said: ‘If that was the case I would not continue being with her.’
Then I found a third narration for the extra wording from way of Masrooq: that a woman came to Abdullaah bin Mas’ood,
She said I am a thin-haired woman, would it be correct for me to put extensions in my hair?
He said: ‘No.’
The woman said: ‘Is this something which you heard from the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam or did you find it in the Book of Allaah?’
He replied: ‘No, rather I heard it from the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam and I found it in the Book of Allaah……’ Then the Hadeeth continues.
Collected by Nisa’ee, Ahmad and Tabrani in ‘al-Mua’jam al-Kabeer’ with the complete narration like the Hadeeth of Alqama.
What is apparent is that this woman is Umm Yaqoob who is mentioned in the narration of Alqama.
Likewise, she is the same woman in the narration of Qabeesah bin Jabir (who is trustworthy and a Mukhadram, someone who was in the time of Jahileeyah then became Muslim but never met the Prophet) said: ‘We would partake in learning with this woman of the Soorah from Qur’aan,
I went with the old woman from Bani Asad to Ibn Mas’ood to his house with three people.
Ibn Mas’ood saw that the area of her brow was shining! So he asked: ‘Do you shave it?’
She became angry and said: ‘The one who shaves her brow is your wife!!’
He said: ‘Go visit her and if she does shave her brow then she is free of me.’
The woman visited Ibn Mas’ood’s wife then came back to him and said:
‘No, I swear by Allaah I saw that she does not shave her brow, Abdullaah bin Mas’ood said, I heard the Messenger of Allaah sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam…’ and he mentioned the Hadeeth.
Collected by al-Haytham bin Kaleeb in his book ‘Musnad’ with a Hasan Isnaad as in the book ‘Adab az-Zafaaf’.
A benefit:
Al-Hafidh said in his book ‘al-Fath’:
‘The Messenger said: ‘and the woman who puts a gap in her teeth for beautification’
What is understood from this is that the woman who is despised is the woman who makes a gap in her teeth for the sake of beauty, if however, she is need of doing so due to medical reasons for example then this is allowed.
As for the saying: ‘those who change the creation of Allaah’ this is an essential description of the one who gets tattooed, and plucks her facial hair, puts gaps between her teeth and also the one wears hair extensions as is in one of the narrations.’
Al-Ayni said in the book ‘Umdatul Qari’:
‘Those who change the creation of Allaah Ta’ala’ is the reason for the obligation for the curse.’
When you come to know what has just preceded it becomes clear to you the mistake of the statement of Shaykh al-Ghamari in his book ‘Tanweer al-Baseerah bebayan Alaamat al-Kabeerah’:
‘I say: changing the creation of Allaah is when the affect/sign remains like the tattoo and putting a gap between the teeth, or is erased slowly like plucking hair, as for shaving the beard then this is not changing the creation of Allaah because beard hair appears the second day after shaving it…’
I say: this speech is false and that is from the following points:
First:
That what he said is a mere claim there is no proof for this from the Book or Sunnah or Athar, in the past there used to be an Arabic proverb : A claim for which there is no explanation then those who claim it are mere claimants!!
Second:
What he said opposes what the extra wording in the hadeeth mentions, ‘those who wear hair extensions’ since hair extensions are not like tattoos etc which cannot be removed or can be removed slowly, especially if it is the type which is known nowadays as ‘wigs’ then it can be removed quickly like a hat.
Third:
That Ibn Mas’ood RadhiAllaahu anhu criticised shaving the brow and used the hadeeth and used the previous hadeeth in the narration of al Haytham. This shows that there is no difference between shaving and plucking since both of these are changing the creation of Allaah. Also, in this is evidence that plucking is not specific to just the eyebrows as some people claim, so reflect on this.
Fourth:
His understanding also opposes the scholars of the past, and you have seen previously the clear saying of Al-Hafidh of how hair extensions and tattoos etc are connected.
What is clearer than that and more beneficial is what he conveyed from what Imam at-Tabari said:
‘It is not permissible for a woman to change anything of her creation upon what Allaah created her upon, either with adding anything extra or taking it away seeking beautification.
She cannot do so for her husband or anyone else. This is for the woman whose eyebrows are connected and she removes the hair between them assuming beauty or doing the opposite. Also, the woman who has an extra tooth and has it taken out, or a long tooth and has it cut, or a beard or a mustache or a few hairs between the lower lip and the chin so she removes it by plucking them, or the one whose hair is short or has few hairs so she lengthens them, or insert someone else’s hair other than hers, all of that enters under the prohibition and it is from changing the creation of Allaah Ta’ala.’
Imam at-Tabari also said: ‘What is an exception to that is what occurs of harm and pain for example, she has an extra tooth, or a long tooth which is an obstacle in eating…..etc.’
I say: So, reflect over the saying of the Imam: ‘or doing the opposite’ and ‘or a beard,’ and his saying: ‘All of that enters under the prohibition, and it is from changing the creation of Allaah Ta’ala.’
You will affirm the invalidity of al-Ghumari’s mentioned statement.
And Allaah Ta’ala is The Guider.
On another point, when it mentions ‘the brow of the old woman was shining’ in the narration Ibn Mas’ood, then this is a proof that ‘The face of a woman is not Awrah’.
There are many Athaar about this in statements and actions, I presented some of them in the book, ‘Jilbaab al-Maraata al-Muslimah’.
As for what some people claim that there is no evidence for that in this narration because the old woman is from women past child-bearing!
So therefore, it is that which has no proof for, however, it is not necessary that just because she is an old woman for her to be from women past child-bearing as is not hidden, but rather we mentioned this as supporting evidence and what we mentioned in the book from evidences is sufficient.’
[From ‘Silsilah Saheehah no. 2792’]