Briefly, I read your fatwa having to do with intercession (21672), in which it says that there are some people whose intercession will not be accepted, and I immediately wondered whether I would be one of these people or not?
Please note that, praise be to Allah, I pray, but sometimes I pray and sometimes I do not, then I go back to praying, then I stop again, and so on. But this time in sha Allah I will be one of those who persist in it. I do not listen to music, praise be to Allah. I watch Turkish soap operas, but I do not look at provocative scenes. But my fear is that I may be cursed because of my eyebrows, because I pluck my eyebrows and I remove excess hair from them. Will this form an impediment to the intercession of Ahl al-Bayt and of Sayyiduna Muhammad, or the mercy of Allah, may He be glorified and exalted?
Firstly:
We ask Allah to guide you and enable you to offer the prescribed prayers regularly and not to slacken in that at all, and to enable you to do that in the manner with which He is pleased, for prayer is very important, to such an extent that it is the thing that stands between a person and disbelief (kufr), as the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Between disbelief and faith there stands giving up the prayer.” Narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2618); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani. It is also narrated by Muslim (82) as follows: “Between a man and shirk and kufr there stands his giving up prayer.”
Abu Dawood (429) narrated that Abu’d-Darda’ said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “There are five things; whoever does them with faith will enter Paradise: whoever regularly offers the five daily prayers with their wudoo’, bowing, and prostration, and offers them on time; fasts Ramadan; goes on pilgrimage to the House if he is able to do so; gives zakaah willingly and happily; and fulfils trusts.” Classed as hasan by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.
Secondly:
Watching soap operas and movies is haraam and is not permissible. Claiming that you do not look at provocative scenes indicates that these productions may contain provocative and haraam scenes, so it is not permissible for a Muslim, man or woman, to expose himself or herself to that which will provoke temptation and cause them to fall into haraam, especially since most of what is shown in movies and other productions inevitably contains things that are contrary to Islam, such as uncovering ‘awrahs and listening to music, as well as being a waste of time in worthless pursuits. For further discussion of the prohibition on watching movies and other productions, and the negative impact they have on people’s beliefs and morals, please see the answers to questions no. 114707 and 125535.
Thirdly:
Cutting the hair of the eyebrows, or trimming it by cutting the edges, shaving them or plucking them for the purpose of beautification is haraam, because that is changing the creation of Allah and following the Shaytaan in his deceit of man and instructing him to change the creation of Allah.
For more information on that, please see the answers to questions no. 2162 and 22393.
With regard to cutting the hair between the eyebrows and excess hair that may be bothersome, such as that which may fall over the eyes and block the vision, that is permissible and there is nothing wrong with it. Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
The namas that is mentioned in the hadith refers to plucking the hair and thinning it. As for merely removing excess hair so that it does not block one’s vision or in order to avoid harm it may cause by falling onto the eye, there is no doubt that this is permissible.
End quote from Liqa’ al-Baab al-Maftooh (81/31)
Please see also the answers to questions no. 3928 and 9037
Fourthly:
You should not entertain the notion that you are cursed because of what you have fallen into. Yes, the one who plucks the eyebrows or stops praying is exposed to that risk and deserves that because of his or her action, unless he is forgiven. But what you should do, and what makes sense for you to do, is to hasten to give up that which may bring the curse or the wrath of Allah upon the one who does it, and you should hasten to correct any faults you may have, and make up for any shortcomings you may have, whilst also repenting sincerely to Allah from what you have done in the past, and hastening to do good.
Please see the answer to question no. 36674.
Fifthly:
Intercession on the Day of Resurrection will be of avail to whomever Allah wills of those who committed sins, acts of disobedience and major sins, among the people who affirmed His Oneness. We cannot be certain that intercession will be withheld from anyone except those who disbelieved and ascribed partners to Allah. There may be some sinners among those who affirmed Allah’s Oneness who will enter Hell for their sins until Allah brings them forth from it when they have been cleansed from their sins.
Intercession for those who committed sins and acts of disobedience will not only be granted to the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him); rather the Prophets, the martyrs, the scholars, the righteous and the angels will also have a share of intercession.
Please see the answers to questions no. 21672 and 26259.
Based on that, we cannot definitively say that plucking the eyebrows or other actions that may result in a curse or punishment – Allah forbid – will rule out the intercession of those who intercede on the Day of Resurrection, whether that is the intercession of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) or the intercession of others such as the righteous, good people of Ahl al-Bayt or others, especially since the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “My intercession will be for those among my ummah who committed major sins.”
Narrated by Abu Dawood (4739); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood
Conclusion:
What you should do, instead of making yourself anxious, doubtful and confused, and perhaps despair of the mercy of Allah or of attaining intercession, is to hasten to put things right between you and your Lord, think positively of Him, and turn to Him in sincere repentance, in the hope that He may turn your bad deeds into good deeds.
And Allah knows best.
