Kohl (Surma) on 10 Muharram

Kohl (Surma) on 10 Muharram

Kohl (Surma) 10 Muḥarram

Question

Is Kohl (Surma) a Sunnah of 10th of Muḥarram?

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Answer

Some Ḥanafī and Mālikī scholars have suggested it is desirable to use Kohl on ʿĀshūrāʾ (10th Muḥarram) and suggest the narration in this regard is weak and not fabricated.[1]

However, the majority of scholars regard all the narrations regarding Kohl on ʿĀshūrāʾ as fabricated.[2] This is the correct position. Imam Ḥākim (d. 405/1014) explains that there is no [authentic] narration regarding this and it is an innovation started by the murderers of Ḥusayn (d. 61/680) (may Allah be pleased with him).[3] Therefore, it is not a Sunnah.

Some Ḥanafī scholars have further stated that it is necessary to avoid Kohl because it has become a hallmark of those who bear hatred and enmity against the Ahl al-Bayt (the family of the Prophet, may Allāh send blessings upon them continually).[4]

Allah knows best

Yusuf Shabbir

9 Dhū al-Ḥijjah 1437 / 11 September 2016

Approved by: Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Sahib

Footnotes

[1] Hidāyah (Fatḥ al-Qadīr, 2: 346); al-ʿInāyah (2: 331); al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq (2: 302); al-Nahr al-Fāʾiq (2: 26); al-Asrār al-Marfūʿah (p. 474); Jamʿ al-Wasāʾil (2: 106); Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl li al-Kharashī (2: 241); Minaḥ al-Jalīl (2: 119).

[2] Al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā (1: 203); Minhāj al-Sunnah (4: 555, 8: 151); al-Manār al-Munīf (p. 111); al-Iʿtiṣām (1: 287); Laṭāʾif al-Maʿārif (p. 54); ʿUmdat al-Qārī (11: 118); al-Bināyah (4: 42); al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah (p. 632); Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157); al-Ṣawāʿiq al-Muḥriqah (2: 536); al-Iqnāʿ fī Fiqh al-Imām Aḥmad (1: 318); Ḥāshiyah al-Sharwānī (3: 455); Mirqāt al-Mafātīḥ (4: 1349); Fayḍ al-Qadīr (6: 82); Kashf al-Khafāʾ (2: 234); Radd al-Muḥtār (2: 418); al-Āthār al-Marfūʿah (p. 97); Imdād al-Fatāwā (5: 289); Fatāwā Maḥmūdiyyah (5: 487); Fatāwā Raḥīmiyyah (2: 112).

[3] Al-Mawḍūʿāt (2: 204); Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157).

[4] Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah (2: 157); Fayḍ al-Qadīr (6: 235).