notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
Peace be upon you, dear teacher. Please explain this hadith. Imam al-Baqir (peace be upon him) said:
النسآء یحببن ان یرین الرجل فی مثل ما یحب الرجل ان یری فیه النسآء من الزینه ؛
“Just as men like to see their women adorned and well-groomed, women too like to see men adorned and well-groomed.”
Makarim al-Akhlaq, p. 80.
The hadith, “Just as men like to see their women adorned and well-groomed, women too like to see men adorned and well-groomed,” means that men, like women, should guard their adornment from the eyes of unrelated members of the opposite sex and observe modesty, chastity, and decorum. Any form of grooming that puts a man on display before unrelated women is blameworthy and may give rise to sin in the heart.
That is to say, just as women must guard themselves and their adornment from non-mahram men, men too must guard their adornment from non-mahram women!
In other words, men too must observe hijab, chastity and modesty; any adornment in men causes them to keep themselves away from the gaze of non-mahram women! That is, a man should not expose himself to display or show himself off before women.
The subtle point is that if adornment extends to shaving the beard, it is as though the man has removed his hijab.
Just as men fall into sin by looking at non-mahram women and their makeup, women too fall into sin by looking at non-mahram men and their adornment—from sins of the heart to other levels.
Adornment in clothing, cosmetic grooming specifically of the beard and hair, the use of colour and oil on the face, hands and other visible parts, showing off the body, softening the tone of the voice in an alluring manner, a particular way of walking, sitting and rising, and sporting displays and so on—all count as instances of adornment.