Prayers: Women's
makeup
Q500 :Some of the substances which a woman uses as
part of her makeup, such as perfume, hair spray, anti-deodorants and
facial and body powder may contain alcohol. What should she do, if she
wants to offer her prayer? Some women pray wearing their full make up,
including lipstick. How far is this correct.
A500 : What seems to be the point at issue in the
first part of your question is the fact that alcohol may be an
ingredient of the substances used. It is well know that intoxicants,
all of which are alcoholic drinks, are described as impure. The
question is whether such impurity is imparted to other substances in
which alcohol is an ingredient. To answer, I would like to point out
that the weightier opinion is that the impurity of alcohol is not
physical. In other words, if alcohol is dropped on someone's clothes
and then it dries up, the person concerned need not wash his clothes to
remove the impurity. He may use them in prayer without having to wash
them first. Hence, if a man or a woman uses perfume or after-shave or
anti-deodorant spray or any similar substance which includes alcohol,
they need not worry about offering their prayer in the normal way just
on account of having used such substances. In matter of using makeup,
Islamic rulings appear to take account of the fact that women need to
use such substances more than men. For example, it is not possible for
a man to offer prayers, if he has used saffron over any part of his
body. There is no such restriction on women. A man, however, may use
saffron over his clothes and offer his prayers. The Prophet used to do
that, because saffron gives clothes a better appearance. If a woman
wants to go to the mosque to offer her prayers, she may not go wearing
perfume, unless its smell has disappeared. This restrictions is not
made on account of the substance of perfume itself, but on the basis of
the fact that its smell may attract attention to her. As you realize,
when a Muslim woman goes out, she must dress in a way which does not
attract passers by. If she is praying at home alone or with a group of
Muslim women, she may offer her prayer without removing her makeup
first. If she removes some of her makeup which stands out as
particularly noticeable, such as lipstick, this is preferable according
to some scholars.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News - Jeddah )