Anonymous Questions

Good question. This is actually lots of questions in one question.

First and foremost, tattoos are haram.

Hair dye is completely halal in Islam. The only thing that is generally not allowed is for men to dye their hair jet black. The reason given by scholars is that when a man is getting older and his hair is turning grey, dyeing it jet black can create deception, especially if he is trying to appear younger than he is. So it goes back to the issue of deception. We are not allowed to deceive people.

Other colours are generally fine. Blue dye, yellow dye, pink dye — colouring your hair is permissible.

Now, hair extensions require a bit more explanation.

I can only give you the Shafi'i position. You can ask other teachers for the other schools. In the Shafi'i school, hair extensions are permissible as long as they are not made from real human hair.

Anyone who has ever had extensions knows there is synthetic hair and real hair. Synthetic hair might cost a few pounds for a packet, whereas real hair is very expensive because it came from an actual person. Someone sold their hair, and it was then used for extensions.

Real human hair is not permissible to use. However, synthetic hair is permissible according to the Shafi'i position.

At the time of the Prophet ﷺ, women would sometimes extend their hair using materials, this is permissible. The scholars explain that the issue goes back to deception. If a person believes that the hair is natural when it is not, then there is a problem.

In the Shafi'i school, synthetic extensions are permitted because everybody understands that they are not real hair and there is no deception involved.

I believe the Maliki school does not permit extensions in general, but you would need to check the details of your own school. You need to know which school you follow and then look at the ruling within that school.

Now, should piercings be allowed?

The schools differ regarding piercings because the discussion relates to bodily harm. Self-harm is haram in Islam, and we are not allowed to harm ourselves.

Ear piercings are an exception where there is a difference of opinion. Many scholars permitted them because they became an accepted form of adornment and because the harm involved is very minor, but they are impermissible in some schools.

The Shafi'i school permits ear piercings. The scholars explain that the earlobe is a small piece of flesh and that piercing it does not cause significant harm. Over time, earrings became a recognised form of beautification and adornment for women.

The Shafi'i school does not permit piercings elsewhere on the body.

The Hanbali school permits piercings in the ears and the nose, but not elsewhere.

In the Hanbali school, if a woman wears a nose ring, then some scholars discuss whether this falls under beautification that should be covered from non-mahram men. The reasoning is that people generally wear nose rings to enhance their appearance and beautify themselves.

The Maliki school is generally more lenient regarding piercings. They permit piercings in other places as long as they do not cause harm.

However, if somebody chooses to get a piercing, they should go to a professional. You should not use unsafe equipment or do it yourself, because people can end up with infections and complications.

Someone asked about clear retainers or clear jewellery.

You have to ask yourself honestly: why am I wearing it? Does it make me look nicer? Does it beautify me? Even if it is clear, if the purpose is beautification, then the same discussion applies.

You have to be honest with yourself about the reason you are wearing it.

Now, girls, do we believe in evolution? We do, but only partially. Those who studied the Why Islam Is True curriculum last year will know that we can believe in the evolution of animals, but not humans. Allah did not make humans from apes. If humans had evolved from apes, we would have found tens of thousands of fossils showing everything in between apes and humans. Even Darwin predicted that, at some point, we would dig up evidence of the different stages, but we have not.

Therefore, humans did not evolve in that way. Allah created humans directly as humans. We know that Allah created Adam and Eve in the form that we recognise today. The only thing that has changed about humans is our size. According to a hadith, Adam was 80 metres in height—enormous. Over time, as humanity populated the earth, people became smaller.

That's not true. Listen, girls. Go online and look at photographs and videos of England in the 1800s. Christians, Jews, atheists—everyone was wearing head coverings. The covering of a woman's hair was always a way for women to carry themselves with dignity and self-respect. It is nothing new.

Girls, it's not about men. It's absolutely not about men.

But at the same time, you don't know what a naked body does to a man because you're not a man. Men and women often think differently. A woman might say, "That's nasty," whereas a man might react very differently. That's just reality. Allah knows how He created men, and Allah knows how He created women.

Women have desires and men have desires, but Allah has placed rules and boundaries for both. Yes, hijab does help protect society on a larger scale, but I'm not wearing it to protect a man from going to Hell. I'm wearing it because Allah commanded me to do it.

This idea that nobody wore head coverings until religion came along is not historically true. Women have covered their hair throughout history. Noble women covered their hair for centuries. It has always been a part of many cultures.

Now, just because you live in England, and just because people dress differently today, doesn't mean that is how things have always been.

Sometimes you just have to walk the walk, and then you will see the wisdom behind it.

Honestly, life is very difficult. Allah has given us mechanisms that help us deal with that difficulty.

Take anxiety, for example. Prayer grounds you. It helps you put your problems behind your back. When you say, "Allah is greater," you are reminding yourself that Allah is greater than that person, that problem, or whatever issue you have in life. You stand before Allah and realise that all the worries and difficulties you have are smaller than they first seemed.

If you went to a psychologist, one of the things they might tell you is to reframe the problem and minimise it. When you focus on a problem constantly, it becomes bigger than it really is.

In many ways, this is exactly what Islam teaches us, and what salah teaches us.

All of these things are in place to make society better. Imagine a society with no laws and no rules, where everyone simply does whatever they want. It would be chaos.

The laws of the state are there for a reason, and Allah's laws are there for a reason. My business is not to question every wisdom before I obey. My business is to do what Allah has asked me to do.

This depends on the different schools of thought, but I’ll tell you the general rule. Traditionally, many scholars said that you are allowed to draw something that could not live if life were breathed into it.

For example, if I draw a complete person, could life be breathed into it? Yes. But if I draw just a hand, or just a face, would it live by itself? No. So some scholars allowed drawing parts of a body that could not exist independently.

If I draw a man up to his torso, could that live by itself? This is where scholars differed.

Some scholars also allowed drawing for educational purposes. For example, a children's book teaching people how to make wudu or how to pray. They would often recommend not drawing complete facial features. However, there is a difference of opinion on this issue.

Some scholars say that drawings of living beings should be avoided, whilst others make allowances for educational purposes and modern forms of illustration. Photographs are generally permitted according to the dominant contemporary opinion, but there remains scholarly discussion regarding hand-drawn images of living beings.

The problem is that some people are completely against it, while others allow it very freely. Islam is in the middle. So what does that mean?

In Islam, if a woman cannot continue a pregnancy because there is a serious medical reason, or if the child is expected to have a severe condition that would make life extremely difficult, then abortion may be permitted before 120 days of pregnancy. The 120-day mark is significant because it is generally understood in Islamic tradition to be when the soul is breathed into the fetus.

Even before 120 days, abortion is not something that is taken lightly. It is considered extremely serious and is only allowed under specific circumstances.

On one side, some Christian denominations, particularly the Catholic Church, oppose abortion in almost all circumstances. On the other side, there are societies where abortion is treated as a simple personal choice without much moral consideration. Islam does not take either extreme position.

For example, there are tragic cases involving very young girls who become pregnant through rape, such as in Brazil and the girl is not allowed to abort even if there is risk of harm to the mother physically or mentally. Islam recognises that such situations can be complex and difficult and does not approach them without compassion or consideration of the circumstances.

The Islamic position is that life is sacred, but there are specific situations in which abortion may be permitted, especially before 120 days and when there are serious reasons. After 120 days, the matter becomes much more serious because that is when the soul is believed to have been breathed into the fetus, and it generally becomes haram.

That is the balanced position that Islam takes on the issue.

Subhanallah, I’ll tell you something. I used to think guys were better than girls because the girls had all the drama.

It was one of the hardest things when I started to actually practice Islam properly and started wearing hijab. I had to make a decision, and I lost so many of my friends. I just made the intention that I’m doing this for Allah, and I’ll replace them with better friends. And that’s exactly what happened.

But what also cannot happen is that men and women can become emotionally attached to each other, even if it starts off as “just talking.”

Now I know that, because years later I went to college as a full hijabi. I was always someone talking about Islam—“Islam is the truth.”

There was this guy I got on really easily with. We were on the same table, and sometimes it wasn’t even my table, it was just group work. And you know how it is in college with group work, guys and girls together.

We would talk about the Day of Judgement, and I would be speaking about these things, and they’d be like, “Wow, that’s amazing, I want to learn about your religion.” And I would tell them about Islam, and one of them even said he wanted to go to the mosque to see what it’s like.

And I’m thinking, yeah, I’m doing all this for the sake of dawah.

Then one day he says, “I’ve got two tickets to the cinema.”

And I remember thinking, “Oh my God, all this time I thought I was just talking.”

So I learnt a lesson from that.

And years later when I got married, I was talking to my husband about situations like this, and he said: a man always has something else in his mind. You’ve got to be careful, because sometimes what starts as just talking can naturally lead to emotional attachment on both sides.

So are we allowed to talk to men? Yes, we are allowed to interact, as long as there is no desire and it remains appropriate and within boundaries.

But the problem is, when you live in a hyper-sexualised society, where everything is everywhere—in music, in adverts, in social media—how can interactions between genders remain completely neutral?

I think it becomes very difficult.

I’ve even seen real situations where this becomes very difficult. For example, I knew of a young woman who became very close to a non-Muslim partner. Over time, the relationship became serious, and she eventually married him. As the relationship developed, she began questioning aspects of her faith and struggled with her religious identity. Later on, it led to major challenges in her life, including tension with family and difficulty balancing her beliefs with her relationship.

These situations are very emotional and often very complicated, and they can affect a person’s connection with their religion, family relationships, and sense of direction in life.

This is also why the teachers emphasise that it is important for the girls to understand their ‘aqeedah properly, and to understand why Islam is true. When a person is clear about their beliefs and confident in their faith, it helps them stay grounded when they face different influences or difficult situations in life. Remember we are on truth!

Not because every interaction is bad, but because hearts become attached without us realising it.

So no—you don’t need to marry someone just to talk to them. But you do need to be careful that casual interaction does not turn into emotional attachment outside of marriage.

And especially in college and university, this becomes very real for people.

So the advice is: keep interactions respectful, keep boundaries clear, and be mindful of where things could lead.