Bilal Assad – Can men dye their hair black

Bilal Assad
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The speaker discusses the difference of opinion on the topic of black dyeing hair for men and women. The majority of the church's views on the topic of dyeing hair black are not unionist or liberal, but rather conservative. The speaker suggests that the church's stance on the topic is not unionist or liberal, but rather conservative.

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			Assalamu Alaikum.
		
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			A question has come to me about
		
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			the ruling of
		
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			black dye, dyeing the hair black for men
		
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			and for women, and here is my answer.
		
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			For women
		
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			there is no difference of opinion among any
		
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			of the traditional scholars past or present,
		
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			which,
		
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			said that it is forbidden for women. Therefore
		
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			for women dyeing your hair in any color
		
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			is permissible
		
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			in
		
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			in in any color that tickles your fancy.
		
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			Regarding the men there is a difference of
		
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			opinion about dyeing their hair black. Now first
		
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			of all,
		
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			did you know that it is actually a
		
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			Sunnah? It's a way of life of the
		
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			prophet peace be upon him, and recommended in
		
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			Islam for people who have grey hair to
		
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			dye it.
		
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			The common thing we see, a lot of
		
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			the traditional Muslims doing is dyeing their hair
		
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			with
		
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			henna. Henna is a reddish orangey type of
		
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			dye, which is fine and good and it
		
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			is part of what the practices of the
		
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			prophet peace of his companions
		
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			used to do. But,
		
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			they didn't just specify henna, it's only because
		
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			henna was considered to be a type of
		
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			remedy
		
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			for the hair. So it's more like a
		
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			medication
		
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			along with remedy along with,
		
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			just dyeing it and looking,
		
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			good in their, custom and cultural view. So
		
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			it's not necessarily it's not a religious sunnah
		
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			to use hinnah, even though the prophet sometimes
		
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			used it.
		
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			The second thing I wanna say is, okay,
		
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			in relation
		
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			to, other colors. So it is, good for
		
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			men to dye their hair,
		
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			if it goes gray
		
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			with, any other color that is earthy. Now
		
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			earthy is more of a,
		
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			a color that is neutral, neutral colors, and
		
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			that is because a Muslim is,
		
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			guided in Islam to look modest and to
		
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			look presentable,
		
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			but not outrageous,
		
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			or to stand out, you know, in a
		
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			crowd. That's, part of modesty in humbleness. Now
		
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			we come to the idea of black dye.
		
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			Is it permissible for men? Is it forbidden?
		
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			There is a difference of opinion among the
		
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			scholars about the color black for men.
		
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			The majority of the schools,
		
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			I'm talking about the
		
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			Hanafi,
		
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			Shafi'i, no Hanafi,
		
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			Maliki,
		
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			and the Hambali school,
		
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			and
		
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			a majority of other scholars
		
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			view
		
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			dyeing the hair black for men is Makruh,
		
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			disliked,
		
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			and there is a minority view among them
		
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			who say it is permissible, muba, neutral.
		
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			The Shafi'i school consider it to be forbidden.
		
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			What is their evidence?
		
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			The evidence for those who say it is
		
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			forbidden
		
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			is based on 2 main authentic Hadiths,
		
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			and then their interpretation of it among their
		
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			jurists.
		
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			They use the first hadith, which is authentic
		
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			about,
		
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			Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu's father Abu Khuhaifa.
		
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			When the prophet
		
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			and his companions entered Makkah and opened Makkah,
		
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			Abu Quhaifa the father of Abu Bakr was
		
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			over 90 years old and that's a keyword
		
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			here.
		
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			He came to embrace Islam
		
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			with the Prophet peace be upon him, it's
		
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			a beautiful story
		
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			and his hair
		
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			was completely
		
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			white
		
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			like a white cloud they described
		
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			it. So the prophet peace be upon him
		
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			said to his companions
		
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			go and dye his hair and cover all
		
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			that white.
		
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			And then he said, avoid
		
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			the color black.
		
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			This is the question mark. Those who said
		
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			it was haram took this to mean that
		
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			it is haram to dye black.
		
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			But the response from the majority of the
		
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			scholars and those who said especially that it's
		
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			just permissible
		
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			and not just disliked,
		
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			was that they said what the prophet peace
		
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			be upon him meant over here was because
		
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			Abu Quhaifa was very old and had he
		
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			dyed it black
		
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			then it would look like a it would
		
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			subject him to insults.
		
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			So example, children, other people pointing and talking
		
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			about a wrinkly old man with a dark
		
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			black beard did not look like a presentable
		
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			form. Therefore he said, avoid the black to
		
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			safeguard him from being insulted.
		
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			The second hadith they used to say that
		
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			it is haram, that is forbidden,
		
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			is the hadith of the prophet Salih al
		
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			Salih which is also in, Sahih Muslim,
		
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			where he talks about the future where a
		
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			group of people, a movement will come out
		
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			of men who were called later on the
		
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			Khawarij.
		
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			And these are it was an extremist group
		
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			who came out, and he describes their characteristics
		
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			by saying that they used to,
		
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			shave their hair completely,
		
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			other than the time of Hajj and they
		
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			would dye their hair
		
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			dark black.
		
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			So those scholars who said it was haram
		
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			took this to mean that the prophet SAW
		
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			is saying this is haram, but the majority
		
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			of the view took this to mean that
		
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			this is just merely
		
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			describing their features. It doesn't mean that if
		
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			you have those features you're going to halify
		
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			or you're an extremist.
		
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			It's just describing what they would look like
		
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			because we also shave our heads, our hair
		
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			in, in Hajj and Umrah and no one
		
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			says that you're being extreme and no scholar
		
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			said that shaving your hair is haram at
		
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			all in other circumstances.
		
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			Some had the view that it is better
		
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			to do it only in Hajj and Umrah,
		
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			but there's nothing to say that it's haram
		
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			for men to shave their hair at all.
		
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			So that was the reply to that. To
		
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			add to,
		
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			to this, the scholars who say that it
		
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			is permissible to dye your hair black, which
		
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			is the majority,
		
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			and as I mentioned some say disliked, better
		
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			to avoid it,
		
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			is that some of the companions of the
		
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			prophet, peace be upon him, used to dye
		
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			their hair black. Among them were Al Hassan,
		
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			Al Hussein,
		
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			Sa'd ibn Abi Waqas,
		
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			Jareer,
		
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			Rookba, Ibno Amir. All of these are great,
		
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			highly respected companions as you know.
		
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			And Uqba 'Abnu'Aamir actually has a poem in
		
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			which he says,
		
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			We dye our hair black from the outside,
		
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			but its roots
		
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			refuse
		
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			to stay black. In other words, when the
		
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			hair outgrows a little bit, you start seeing
		
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			the white hairs showing up. So this is
		
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			an indication of course, how we knew from
		
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			their narrations and their stories that dyeing your
		
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			hair black is more correctly viewed as permissible,
		
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			or disliked if there is no need to
		
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			do it. For example, you might have a
		
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			job in which you need to look more
		
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			professional, or there is a uniform,
		
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			I mean white hair can also be professional,
		
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			I'm not saying that it's not, but in
		
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			some instances you may need to look a
		
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			bit more presentable and it's required,
		
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			to be for example with with with hair
		
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			that that is dyed, or you are a
		
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			person who
		
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			travels a lot, or is,
		
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			just has some maybe,
		
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			personal
		
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			habits, or or or can't,
		
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			you know, or or it motivates you to
		
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			have your hair black, and so on. So
		
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			these
		
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			common reasons that makes you dyeing your hair
		
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			either permissible or disliked.
		
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			So my brothers and sisters,
		
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			obviously, it if if you're not comfortable with
		
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			that and you still want to go with
		
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			your school of thought or the views of
		
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			the scholars that you follow, then the safer
		
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			option for you is to avoid the black.
		
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			However, once again there is, as you heard,
		
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			valid opinions, valid evidence
		
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			that dyeing the hair black for men is
		
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			not necessarily forbidden, it's only one minority view,
		
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			and that if you do see someone doing
		
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			that or you hear that, do not impose
		
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			upon them your view or say that they
		
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			are sinful that would be haram because there
		
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			is a valid difference of opinion about it.
		
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			That's my answer, I hope that,
		
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			answers your question. Wase salaam Alaikum Warahmatullahi wa
		
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			barakatuh.