Does Using Kohl To Line One’s Eyes Affect The Validity of Wudu?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question

I have been using kohl (surma) on my eyebrows to make them look a little fuller as they are very short. The kohl stays on for days, and I am wondering will my wudu be valid? It is powdered rock, and it will naturally mix with the oils produced in the brows, and may it will not allow water to penetrate.

Answer

Walaikum Assalam,

I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah. 

No, using kohl or the like as eyeliner doesn’t affect the validity of one’s wudu. This is because it isn’t considered a perceptible barrier, and its use has been permitted by Allah and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) within the limits of modesty.

[Understood from Ref: Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar; Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiyat Maraqi al-Falah]

And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation. 

[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani 

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus and Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), and his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.