Abdullah said, "Allah has cursed the women who tattoo and those who have themselves tattooed, those who pluck facial hair and those who have it plucked, and those who file their teeth apart for beauty, altering what Allah created."Word of this reached a woman of the tribe of Banu Asad called Umm Yaqub, who used to recite the Quran. She came to him and said, "What is this report I have heard about you, that you cursed the women who tattoo and those who have themselves tattooed, those who have their facial hair plucked, and those who file their teeth apart for beauty, altering what Allah created?"Abdullah replied, "Why should I not curse those whom the Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed, when it is in the Book of Allah?"The woman said, "I have read everything between the two covers of the Quran and I have not found it."He said, "If you had really read it, you would have found it. Allah says, 'Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it' [Hashr 59:7]."The woman said, "But I see something of this on your own wife right now."He said, "Go and look."So she went in to Abdullah's wife but saw nothing. She came back to him and said, "I saw nothing."He said, "If that had been so, we would not have kept her with us."
لعن الله الواشمات والمستوشمات، والنامصات والمتنمصات، والمتفلجات للحسن المغيرات خلق الله. قال: فبلغ ذلك امرأة من بني أسد يقال لها: أم يعقوب وكانت تقرأ القرآن، فأتته فقالت: ما حديث بلغني عنك أنك لعنت الواشمات والمستوشمات، والمتنمصات والمتفلجات للحسن المغيرات خلق الله، فقال عبد الله: وما لي لا ألعن من لعن رسول الله ﷺ؟ وهو في كتاب الله، فقالت المرأة: لقد قرأت ما بين لوحي المصحف فما وجدته فقال: لئن كنت قرأتيه لقد وجدتيه، قال الله عز وجل: {وما آتاكم الرسول فخذوه وما نهاكم عنه فانتهوا} [سورة الحشر: ٧] فقالت المرأة: فإني أرى شيئا من هذا على امرأتك الآن، قال: اذهبي فانظري، قال: فدخلت على امرأة عبد الله فلم تر شيئا، فجاءت إليه فقالت: ما رأيت شيئا، فقال: أما لو كان ذلك لم نجامعها.
Bukhari related it in the Book of Clothing (5939), and Muslim in the Book of Clothing and Adornment (2125:120), both through the route of Jareer, from Mansur, from Ibrahim, from Alqama, from Abdullah, who mentioned it. The wording given here is Muslim's.His saying, "and those who pluck their eyebrows" is the plural of one who plucks her eyebrows, that is, one who seeks namas. Namas means removing the hair of the eyebrows (to shape them, as women do today for the sake of beautification), and this is not permissible at all. However, if the hair connects between the two eyebrows, or if it is unusually thick in a way that disfigures the face or causes harm, then there is no harm in fixing it. And if hair grows on the face, such as a beard or mustache, there is no harm in removing it, since this goes against the natural disposition upon which Allah created women.His saying, "and those who file gaps between their teeth" is the plural of one who seeks falaj. Falaj means a gap between the two front teeth, and tafalluj means creating a gap between teeth that are joined together, using a file or something similar, and this is usually specific to the front incisors and the teeth next to them.