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Muslim Beards 101Are Muslims allowed to dye their facial hair?
By Michelle TsaiPosted Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, at 6:53 PM ET
Days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden appeared in a new video message urging Americans to embrace Islam. Bin Laden sported a trimmed, dark beard instead of his bushy, gray trademark. Some analysts suggest that he has dyed the beard as a sign of war; others think he now shaves to avoid detection and is just donning a wig. Can a Muslim dye his beard?
Yes, although many imams believe it should be discouraged. Islam emphasizes modesty and simplicity, but some of Mohammed's sayings (or hadith) recommend covering up gray hair with henna or a dye called katam. According to the hadith of Sahih Bukhari, this would set Muslims apart from Jews and Christians, who (according to Mohammed) didn't dye their hair. The prophet said to avoid black hair coloring, however, probably because you weren't supposed to try to mimic a natural hue.
The Quran says nothing on the subject of keeping beards, but believers are urged to follow the example of the prophets, who all had them. Mohammed in particular maintained a neat, groomed appearance, and scholars believe he trimmed his facial hair. The general guideline from Sahih Bukhari boils down to "Trim the mustache, keep the beard." Followers should cut their mustaches short enough that the skin above the upper lip is visible, and grow beards to at least a fistful in length. A longer beard isn't automatically better, though. According to one account in the hadith of Malik's Muwatta, the prophet sent a man with disheveled hair out of the mosque to groom his beard. Muslims must also refrain from trimming their hair during the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca—at least until they've walked seven times around the Kaaba.
In the view of modern, mainstream Islam, growing a beard is recommended but not always required. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a respected Sunni scholar in Egypt, says beards are optional. Taha Jabir al-Alwani, who helped found the International Institute of Islamic Thought in the United States, believes Muslims don't need to wear beards if it interferes with daily functioning—like if facial hair is prohibited at your place of work or if beards are uncommon in the country where you live. Relatively few Muslims wear big beards in places like Turkey, Algeria, and Morocco, where such an outward display of being Islamic might invite scrutiny from government authorities. Imams in Northern Africa also don't tend to have much facial hair.
On the other hand, you won't find too many sheiks or imams without impressive beards in the Sufi tradition. The reasoning here is that the worshippers are concerned only with their inward selves and not with outward appearances—thus the careless beards and mops of hair. Religious men in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh also prefer to signal their religious devotion with their beards. Muslims from Salafism, the literalist tradition to which Bin Laden is believed to subscribe, have also adopted the big beard.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Imam Johari Abdul Malik of Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid of the Council of the Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, and Vernon Schubel of Kenyon College.
Muslim Beards 101: Are Muslims allowed to dye their facial hair?
Michelle Tsai is a Beijing-based writer working on a book about Chinatowns on six continents.
Photograph of Osama Bin Laden by AFP/Getty Images.
COMMENTS
Remarks from the Fray:
"Hello. I'm Osama bin Laden, international terrorist, mastermind of the obliteration of pre-9/11 thinking, husband, father, singer/songwriter. You may remember me from when I hosted Saturday Night Live back in the Fall of 1980. Or not, since only about 14 people were watching the show by that point. But surely you'll recognize me from the wonderful wedding video Michael Moore made for me. Hmm...
I'm here to talk to you about Just For Men.
When I'm not out blowing up buildings or teaching some swarthy goat roper how to fire a machine gun into a target made out of humus and pita bread in the middle of nowhere out in the desert, one of my favorite pastimes is to color my beard so that I can look younger and more menacing when I'm taking money from the Saudi Arabian Royal Family or chopping off the heads of foreign nationals who've been contracted to not finish building schools, and splitting infinitives.
That's where Just For Men comes in. Aging men with grey in their beards just aren't terrorfying enough. Santa Claus, Colonel Sanders, Jesse from The Dukes Of Hazard, Yahweh, Uncle Ben, Linda Evans -- all of them: not scary.
When I look in the mirror, I see a man full of destiny; a wise man; a man who would rather see my own loyal subjects catch on fire than enjoy the freedom to play Halo all afternoon while eating Nutter Butters in the basement.
But I also see an aging Middle Eastern nemesis with a little bit too much "snow on the front porch". But when I dab some Just For Men on my "whiskers of fear", by the time I've put the marinated sheep intestines on my George Forman Grill... Wait, the sheep intestines go in the Ronco rotisserie thingie. My stuffed camel gonads go on the George Forman Grill... I think.
Anyways, by the time I've set it and forgotten it, Just For Men has worked its magic, and my beard has the oily black sheen of a man dedicated to leveling the playing field for radical Islamofascicans by blowing up the playing field itself. Remember, death and dismemberment are the ultimate Great Equalizers. (And Edward Woodward, of course.)
Then when I look in the mirror, I no longer see Kris Kringle looking back at me in the looking glass. No. I see a man on a mission impossible. I see an old man with inappropriately black hair. And what's creepier than that!? Aside from my clear lack of eyebrow maintenance skills.
But I'm not all work and no play. After a long day of exploding children and bombed out mosques, I like to throw down at the cave and entertain "the ladies". And the only thing that gets in the way of romance faster than my Depends Undergarment bunching up at the sides and becoming visible beneath my mandress is grey hair.
Just For Men to the rescue! Those women won't suppress themselves. With a little help from this little miracle in a bottle, I'm able to convince man and woman alike that we're created different for a reason. And that reason is to die, taking as many with us as possible.
So whether you're driving airplanes into The Superdome, endorsing Democratic candidates for president, or giving your favorite "flavor of the month" a foot massage, do it with confidence. Do it with style. Do it with flare. Do it with Just For Men. Because the only way to look young is to feel young. And the only way to feel young is to not have grey in your beard, and to kill Jews.
Just For Men is just right for me."
This message brought to you by the Syrian Department Of Insurgency Maintenance And Procurement. And our State Department, turns out.
Days before the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden appeared in a new video message urging Americans to embrace Islam. Bin Laden sported a trimmed, dark beard instead of his bushy, gray trademark. Some analysts suggest that he has dyed the beard as a sign of war; others think he now shaves to avoid detection and is just donning a wig. Can a Muslim dye his beard?
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Remarks from the Fray:
"Hello. I'm Osama bin Laden, international terrorist, mastermind of the obliteration of pre-9/11 thinking, husband, father, singer/songwriter. You may remember me from when I hosted Saturday Night Live back in the Fall of 1980. Or not, since only about 14 people were watching the show by that point. But surely you'll recognize me from the wonderful wedding video Michael Moore made for me. Hmm...
I'm here to talk to you about Just For Men.
When I'm not out blowing up buildings or teaching some swarthy goat roper how to fire a machine gun into a target made out of humus and pita bread in the middle of nowhere out in the desert, one of my favorite pastimes is to color my beard so that I can look younger and more menacing when I'm taking money from the Saudi Arabian Royal Family or chopping off the heads of foreign nationals who've been contracted to not finish building schools, and splitting infinitives.
That's where Just For Men comes in. Aging men with grey in their beards just aren't terrorfying enough. Santa Claus, Colonel Sanders, Jesse from The Dukes Of Hazard, Yahweh, Uncle Ben, Linda Evans -- all of them: not scary.
When I look in the mirror, I see a man full of destiny; a wise man; a man who would rather see my own loyal subjects catch on fire than enjoy the freedom to play Halo all afternoon while eating Nutter Butters in the basement.
But I also see an aging Middle Eastern nemesis with a little bit too much "snow on the front porch". But when I dab some Just For Men on my "whiskers of fear", by the time I've put the marinated sheep intestines on my George Forman Grill... Wait, the sheep intestines go in the Ronco rotisserie thingie. My stuffed camel gonads go on the George Forman Grill... I think.
Anyways, by the time I've set it and forgotten it, Just For Men has worked its magic, and my beard has the oily black sheen of a man dedicated to leveling the playing field for radical Islamofascicans by blowing up the playing field itself. Remember, death and dismemberment are the ultimate Great Equalizers. (And Edward Woodward, of course.)
Then when I look in the mirror, I no longer see Kris Kringle looking back at me in the looking glass. No. I see a man on a mission impossible. I see an old man with inappropriately black hair. And what's creepier than that!? Aside from my clear lack of eyebrow maintenance skills.
But I'm not all work and no play. After a long day of exploding children and bombed out mosques, I like to throw down at the cave and entertain "the ladies". And the only thing that gets in the way of romance faster than my Depends Undergarment bunching up at the sides and becoming visible beneath my mandress is grey hair.
Just For Men to the rescue! Those women won't suppress themselves. With a little help from this little miracle in a bottle, I'm able to convince man and woman alike that we're created different for a reason. And that reason is to die, taking as many with us as possible.
So whether you're driving airplanes into The Superdome, endorsing Democratic candidates for president, or giving your favorite "flavor of the month" a foot massage, do it with confidence. Do it with style. Do it with flare. Do it with Just For Men. Because the only way to look young is to feel young. And the only way to feel young is to not have grey in your beard, and to kill Jews.
Just For Men is just right for me."
This message brought to you by the Syrian Department Of Insurgency Maintenance And Procurement. And our State Department, turns out.
--switters
(To reply, click here.)
(9/14)