Ini haram itu haram, anak haram, haram jaddah!

I reckon many pairs of eyes might pop out of their sockets by just reading the title of my this post. To gain some sense and volume on what I'm about to say, go read my brother's blog but I'm quoting him anyway:

"21st century, and guess what? There are still women who need “permission” from their significant others to do even the simplest task on earth. What rights? There’s virtually no rights in society such as the one advocated by some people in this society. When the women breaches the “permission”, first thing that comes to mind in those kind of people is that they will disown their partner. Are women equatable to objects? Are they some kind of baby making machines that they can be “disowned” so easily? It’s not like we are talking about big issues such as cheating or some big financial decision, but a small task of plucking eyebrows."

- http://www.noorhidayatnoordin.com/

What a petty issue, some may think. Isn't eyebrow-plucking just that- plucking a few strands of hairs from one's eyebrows, just like shaving one's beard, moustache and all other hairy what nots ? (think really hairy, bushy and thick!) So why is there so much hoo-haa over the whole thing?

Doesn't Islam promote cleanliness, hygiene and tidiness? Doesn't Islam promote gender equality? If so, why are the men allowed to shave their facial hairs and not the women? Why must muslim women suffer the same fate as Frida Kahlo? Oh, I forgot.. Muslim women have after all been denied of their rights of existence by way of covering them up from head to toe in ugly rag-like cloths so there's no question as to whether the need of shaving arises. So much for gender equality! And oh, again, I forgot muslim men are, after all allowed to take on four wives should the first, second and third wives' eyebrows beat those of Frida's!

I see a plethora of opinions pertaining to the hairy issue. Some muslims are of the opinion that once it's haram, it will always be haram no matter what. I'd like to categorize this sort as those who are incapable of cognitive thinking and are encapsulated in the jahiliyah era when humans were clueless about many things in life namely religion thus resorting to many silly doings (namely killing their baby daughters) and questions on the simplest of matters. Funny that it should happen again in this modern age of technology!

I have friends who can't even recite a word of The Holy Qor'an let alone understand it, yet more often than not they are they same people who would jump to the defense of their 'supposedly' holy religion when the reasonings are slightly questioned. I used to have a friend (we are no longer friends for obvious reasons) who was rarely seen parted with his bottle of whisky but would bite one's head off should the person went anywhere near his Islam. bah!! There was another one who was a porn junkie but at the same time tried to exercise his so-called executive rights on me by asking me to wear the veil! Talk about jahiliyah!! I'm saying this because this aptly illustrates many overly keen muslims who feel that's it's their right to impose things on others and to pry their nose into the privacy of others (such as whether one prays, plucks one's eyebrows or not) so that they're ensured a place in heaven (my foot! for all we know they'd be the ones waving to us from hell!) .

All's not lost for there are still those who use their brains and logic in their daily life and I thank God daily for that! I have noticed that I have a penchant for non-conformists. The world needs more of them for they are the people who, in my opinion, are truly capable in bringing back the glory of Islam. I take my hats off to them (I can't possibly take off my veil as firstly, I don't wear one and don't intend to wear one and taking off my veil might probably be a sin as it invites men to feast their roving eyes on me thus helping them to accumulate their sins by looking at certain parts of my anatomy which will in turn be regurgitated as a captured image in their heads when the need to masturbate arises! :P).

Before I deviate any further from the eyebrow issue, let me just quote this:

“It is known that plucking eyebrows is forbidden. However, some jurists permit light shaping of eyebrows if they are thick and hairy in a way that they harm the eye or appear so wide and thus displease the husband. If it pleases the husband that they are shaped lightly, there is nothing wrong in doing this just to please the husband. As for extreme shaping or plucking, it is not permitted.”

-Dr. Muhammad Bakr Isma`il, Professor of the Exegesis of the Qur'an at Al-Azhar University

See? Who says women have to endure the misery of looking ugly just because men say so? I know of a few staunch muslims whose similarly staunch husbands have not disowned their wives even though they have their eyebrows plucked. A few names like Wardina Safiyah, Nor Diana Naim (of the Mawi fiasco) and Bienda come to mind. Funny I seem to dislike Diana less now that her overall look seems to have taken the turn for the better, thanks to her trimmed eyebrows. I'm sure many are with me on this one as looks, after all, does matter in many people's books.

So to the estranged girlfriend, go have your eyebrows trimmed NOW, girl! Another word of advice would be to drop the Osama wannabe!