Question
What is the ruling on women permanently removing hair such that it will not grow again, by means of cosmetics such as creams and herbs? Is that regarded as changing the creation of Allah ?
Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bāz:
There is no problem or sin in doing so. It is not considered a form of changing the creation of Allah that is forbidden. There is nothing wrong in permanently removing hair from the armpits or the pubic region. Rather, it is sunnah to do so. The Prophet Muḥammad commanded that a person should not allow more than forty nights to pass without removing the pubic and armpit hair, trimming the nails, and trimming the moustache. Therefore, if a man or a woman removes hair from the armpits or the pubic region using a permanent method that prevents it from growing back, there is nothing wrong with that, and there is no sin in doing so.
Supporting evidence
The forty-night limit mentioned in the answer is reported by Anas ibn Mālik:
وُقِّتَ لَنَا فِي قَصِّ الشَّارِبِ وَتَقْلِيمِ الأَظْفَارِ وَنَتْفِ الإِبْطِ وَحَلْقِ الْعَانَةِ أَنْ لاَ نَتْرُكَ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً.
“A time limit was set for us for trimming the moustache, clipping the nails, plucking the armpit hair and shaving the pubic hair: we were not to leave them for more than forty nights.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, no. 258)
References
- Ibn Bāz, ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Allāh (d. 1420 AH/1999 CE). Ḥukm Izālat al-Marʾah lil-Shaʿr Ghayr al-Marghūb Fīhi [The ruling on a woman removing unwanted hair]. Recorded fatwa. Official website of Shaykh Ibn Bāz, fatwa no. 17611. Recording date not stated.
- Muslim, Abū al-Ḥusayn Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj al-Qushayrī an-Naysābūrī (d. 261 AH/875 CE). Al-Musnad aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Mukhtaṣar bi-Naql al-ʿAdl ʿan al-ʿAdl ilā Rasūl Allāh . Edited by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Cairo: ʿĪsā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1374 AH/1955 CE. Book of Purification, chapter on the characteristics of the fiṭrah, no. 258.
