Islam prohibits certain acts related to appearance and adornment if they are intended to show off or change what Allah has created. Things like tattoos, tooth modifications, plastic surgery for beauty, plucking eyebrows, and wigs are forbidden. Dyeing hair and letting beards grow are allowed but with restrictions. Excessiveness in clothing, food, or other goods is also prohibited, as the purpose should be to benefit others not to boast or feel superior.

2. Prohibitions in Islam
In Islam, things are prohibited only because they are impure or harmful. If something is
entirely harmful it is haram, while if its benefit outweighs its harm it is halal. This principle is
explained in the Quran in relation to wine and gambling:
https://thequranblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/the-lawful-and-the-prohibited-in-islam.pdf
Meaning: They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and [yet, some]
benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit.” And they ask you what they
should spend. Say, “The excess [beyond needs].” Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of
revelation] that you might give thought. {2:219}
https://quran.com/2/219

3. Definition
1. Excessive
- Is an adjective which means more than is necessary,
normal or desirable.
- Synonyms ; Immoderate, extravagant, uncontrolled,
lavish.
Origin :
Latin
English
Old FrenchMedieval
Latin
Excedere
(surpass)
Excessivus
Exceed
Excessif-ive
Middle
English
Excessive

4. 2. Beautification
- The process of making visual improvements
to a person, place or thing.

5. Dressing for the Sake of Excessiveness and Pride
Islam have encourage us to use the good things of life such as food, drink and clothing without
extravagance or pride
Extravagance or excessiveness consists in the exceeding of the limits of what is beneficial in the use of
the halal, while pride is something related to the intention of the heart rather than to what is
apparent. Pride is the intention to look superior and above others, and as mention in the Holy Quran;
Meaning: In order that you not despair over what has eluded you and not exult [in
pride] over what He has given you. And Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and
boastful {57:23}

6. Muslims are forbidden to wear garments of “fame”
The Prophet PBUH forbade Muslims to wear garments of fame that is, clothes which are worn in order to
impress others and which generate competition in vain and idle pursuits. According to a hadith;
“ On the Day of Resurrection, Allah will clothe the one who wears garments of fame with the garments
of humiliation”
-Narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, An-Nasa’I and Ibn Majah

7. Changing What Allah Created
Islam denounces such extremes in beautifying oneself as require altering
one’s physical features as Allah created them. The Quran considers such
alterations to be inspired by Satan, as mentioned;
Meaning: and I will mislead them, and I will arouse them [sinful] desires, and I
will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle and I will command them
so they will change the creation of Allah. “And whoever takes Satan as an ally
instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss {4:119}

8. Prohibition of Tattooing, Cutting the Teeth and
Undergoing Surgery for Beautification
attooing permanently disfigures the face and other parts of the body with colourful pigments and repulsive designs. Some
people were in the habit of tattooing large portions of their bodies, while some people of certain religious sects tattooed
pictures of their deities and religious rituals.
T
utting or shortening the teeth, the Prophet PBUH cursed the one who do it and the one whom it is done. If a man does it,
he merits an even greater curse. Similarly, the Prophet PBUH prohibited widening the spaces between the teeth and he
cursed;
“… Women who widen the gaps between their own or other’s teeth for the sake of beauty, changing what Allah has created”
-Narrated by Al-Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud
C

9. Surgeries for beautification are in vogue today as the results of the materialistic outlook of Western Civilization
stressing the body and its desires.
This behaviour most certainly belongs in the category of excessive beautification, unnecessarily changing what
Allah has created and it merits the curse of Allah and His Prophet PBUH. It likewise harmful as it involves torture,
pain and an expression of an individual’s preoccupation with form rather than substance, with body rather than
spirit.

10. Plucking the Eyebrows
An-nams is among the extremes beautification prohibited in Islam which denotes removing the hair of the eyebrows by
plucking in order to thin or shape them.
According to some Hanbali scholars, if the husband approves it, the removal of facial hair (other than eyebrows’) and the
use of powder, cream and other beauty aids are permitted to women.
An-Nawawi however considered the removal of facial hair to be included in an-nams and hence forbidden.
In contrast to Abu Dawud’s statement in his Sunan that an-nams is plucking eyebrows in other to thin them, from which
we may conclude that an-nams does not include the removal of facial hair.

11. Wigs and Hairpieces
The addition of any other hair, real or artificial, to one’s own hair that is wearing wigs and hairpieces is also prohibited.
“The Messenger of Allah PBUH cursed wasilah and the mustawasilah”
Al-Bukhari on the authority of A’ishah, her sister Asma’, Ibn Mas’ud, Ibn Umar and Abu Hurayrah
“wasilah” refers to woman whose profession is making wigs and hairpieces and “mustawasilah” to woman who uses
them.
Men are also forbidden to such things to an even greater degree whether they are wasil or mustawasil.
The Prophet PBUH terming the use of false hair “forgery” indicates the reason for its prohibition. It is in fact an act of
fraud, falsifications and deceptions and Islam condemns deception and disassociates itself from those who practice either
by material or psychological means.

12. Dyeing the Hair
It was reported that the Jews and Christians refrained form dyeing the hair, regarding such beautification and adornment as
contrary to piety and devotion.
“ The Jews and Christians do not dye their hair, so be different form them”
- Al-Bukhari on the authority of Abu Hurayrah.
This is however not a command but a recommendation! as is evident from the Prophet’s companions such as Abu Bakr and
Umar who used to dye their hair.
The question now remains to what type of dye to be used and should its colour be black or can there be other colours?
Answers:
1. Man with a very advanced age, have white hair and beard – Not appropriate to use black dye. Avoid black.
2. Man with not such advanced age – There is no harm to use black dye.
3. Some scholars; Black dye is permissible during time of war, when the enemy might be impressed by the fact that all the
soldiers of Muslims army look young.
“The best thing with which you may dye gray hair is henna and katm”
- Narrated Abu Dharr
Anas :
“Abu Bakr dyed his hair with henna and katm and Umar dyed it with henna only”

13. Letting the Beard Grow
Hadith;
“Be different from polytheists; let the beard grows and trim the moustache”
-Narrated Al-Bukhari on the authority of Ibn Umar
Polytheists is in the particular instance cited were the Zoroastrians the worshippers of fire
whose practice either to clip or shave their beards.
However, letting the beard grow does not mean letting it grow wild or so long it becomes a
nuisance. One should certainly trim it in both length and breadth.
“It is makruh to shave the beard or to drastically cut or shorten it, but it is mustahabb
(commendable) to remove something from its length and breadth if it grows big.”
- Reported by At-Tirmidhi