the milāʾ coiffure, the hairstyle of prostitutes; other women also adopt it. It is likewise the hairstyle of European women and of those Muslim women who follow their lead (1).

Just as a Muslim woman is forbidden to shave her head or cut her hair without a valid need, she is also forbidden to attach other hair to her own or to increase its length with someone else’s hair. The two Ṣaḥīḥ collections record: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed the waṣila and the mustawṣila.” The waṣila is the woman who joins her hair with that of another, and the mustawṣila is the one for whom this is done, for it is a form of deception.

Included in this prohibited attachment is wearing the wig that is common nowadays. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim, among others, relate that when Muʿāwiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived in Madinah he delivered a sermon, producing a tuft—indeed, a lock—of hair, and said, “What is the matter with your women that they place something like this on their heads? I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: ‘No woman adds to her head hair that is not her own except that she is guilty of falsehood.’” A wig is artificial hair made to resemble natural hair, and wearing it is deception.

b) It is unlawful for a Muslim woman to remove her eyebrows, or any part of them, by shaving, trimming, or using a depilatory substance—