Laser Treatment Hair Removals

﷽ A questioner inquires regarding the permissibility of hair removal methods, including modern treatments such as laser therapy. They refer to the Prophet’s ﷺ teaching that one of the qualities of those who will enter Paradise without reckoning is avoiding cauterization. The question posed is whether employing modern hair removal techniques, such as laser treatment, would affect this virtue or result in exclusion from the distinguished group of 70,000? Response: Shaikh Ibn ʿUthaimīn stated: The removal of hair falls into three categories: commanded, prohibited, and unaddressed. What is commanded includes the pubic hair, the underarms, and the mustache. These should be removed without doubt. [T.N: Abū Hurairah -may Allāh be pleased with him- reports the Messenger said: 《الْفِطْرَةُ خَمْسٌ: الِاخْتِتَانُ، وَالِاسْتِحْدَادُ، وَنَتْفُ الْإِبْطِ، وَتَقْلِيمُ الْأَظْفَارِ، وَقَصُّ الشَّارِبِ》 “The fitrah consists of five things: circumcision, shaving the pubic hair, plucking the armpit hair, trimming the nails, and shortening the mustache.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (5889), Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (257).] What is prohibited is the beard for men, and namṣ (plucking) for both men and women. Namṣ refers to plucking the hair of the face, whether from the eyebrows or otherwise. [T.N: The Prophet ﷺ said: 《أَعْفُوا اللِّحَى، وَقُصُّوا الشَّوَارِبَ، وَخَالِفُوا الْمَجُوسَ》 “Let the beards grow and trim the mustaches; differ from the Magians.” Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (260). He ﷺ also warned from namṣ (removing the eyebrows): 《لَعَنَ اللَّهُ النَّامِصَةَ وَالْمُتَنَمِّصَةَ…》 “Allāh has cursed the woman who plucks eyebrows and the one who has it done…” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (4886), Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (2125). Abū Dāwud, after narrating this ḥadīth in his Sunan (Hadīth no. 4170), said: An-Nāmiṣah: is the woman who plucks or shapes the ḥājib (eyebrow) until it becomes thin. Al-Mutanammiṣah: the one, the procedure is performed by her.] As for what has no explicit ruling, the scholars -may Allāh have mercy on them- differed regarding it: is it permissible, disliked, or forbidden? Some said: it is permissible, because whatever Allāh has remained silent about is a pardon. Since we have been commanded with some things and prohibited from others, what remains unaddressed lies between being commanded or prohibited; and when the two sides are equal, both are lifted, and it is considered permissible. Others said: it is forbidden, because it is a form of altering the creation of Allāh, and the basic principle regarding altering the creation of Allāh is that it is not allowed, since changing the creation of Allāh is from the commands of Satan. Allāh said about him: {وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ} [an-Nisā: 119]. Thus, it would be prohibited. Others said: it is disliked, due to the balance between the evidence that permits and that which prohibits. What I see is that there is no harm in it, because it is unaddressed, but it is preferable not to remove it unless it is causing disfigurement. For Allāh did not create anything except with wisdom. So do not think that Allāh created anything without a purpose, even if you may not know that wisdom." Ash-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ (12/403). With these categories clarified, the central question remains: does laser hair removal fall under the legal definition of al-kayy (cauterization)? A practice from which the Prophet ﷺ cautioned his Ummah in the following ḥadīth: 《الشِّفَاءُ في ثَلَاثَةٍ: شَرْبَةِ عَسَلٍ، وشَرْطَةِ مِحْجَمٍ، وكَيَّةِ نَارٍ، وأَنْهَى أُمَّتي عَنِ الكَيِّ》رَفَعَ الحَدِيثَ. Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas -may Allah be pleased with them-: “"Healing is in three things: a drink of honey, a cut from cupping, and cauterization with fire — but I forbid my nation from cauterization." He attributed the ḥadīth to the Prophet ﷺ. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5680. Some of the people of knowledge have clarified that laser treatment is not considered al-kayy in the Sharʿī (legal) sense. Shaikh Sa'd ash-Shithrī stated: