A Muslim woman should not dye her hair "in the manner of kaafir women"; what does that preclude?

Question

Islam Q&A writes concerning a woman dying her hair:

With regard to changing it with different colours of dye, the basic principle is that it is permissible, unless it is done in the manner of kaafir women or immoral women, in which case it is forbidden for that reason, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 4031; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Irwa’ al-Ghaleel, 5/109).

In my case, I bleached my hair blonde before reverting to Islam (from being irreligious), now I'm concerned it's not Muslim-y enough. It's safe to say it's not a modest color at the moment--it stands out and people ordinarily assume I'm not a Muslim. I'm thinking I should dye my hair darker, to a more natural and less noticible color. At the same time, I like my hair color, so wouldn't want to change it uncessarily. (NB. I'm yet to do hijab outside of prayer; I'll try in a few weeks when I go to Iran. NB2. I don't have a husband.)

Question: What hair colors are precluded for Muslim women?

It seems like the answer will be more complicated than "colors X, Y, and Z". So some guidelines and examples which would be forbidden would be helpful.

(The question Dyeing our hair in Islam addresses the question of whether or not hair dying is permissible.)

Answer 1

This falls under the category of intention and as such you are free to have any hair colour you wish so long as the intention or motive for that isn't to imitate the styles of non-Muslims. Since hair styles are fairly universal, this pretty much removes the issue entirely since non-Muslims have their hair in all kinds of styles and colours.

Also, this along with many other Hadiths need to be understood in that they very often had a time-local context. It would be unwise in that case to attempt to apply the principles of a Hadith in the present-day when it was clearly intended for a particular case at a particular time. As mentioned, the general take is the idea of not mimicking the styles of non-Muslims but in your case, as you describe it, this is not an issue at all. You say you chose your hair colour because you like it. I'd hope it's very obvious to Muslims who have a bit of experience under their belt, that this is of course a perfectly acceptable and valid thing to do. You being a "revert" (I really do dislike that term) means that you're clearly just trying to do the right thing and that, insha Allah is a great thing to do and will be rewarded. Salaams!

Answer 2

The General rule for hair colors

All hair colors are permissible except for the dark black, even the color between brown and black is OK.

It was narrated from Jabir that he said: “Abu Quhaifah was brought to the Prophet (ﷺ) on the Day of the Conquest (of Makkah), and his head was all white. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘Take him to some of his womenfolk and let them change this, but avoid black.’” http://sunnah.com/urn/1337560

Imitating the disbelievers

This is not allowed, not only in hair, but in everything, and things which are forbidden for this reason will vary according to the time and the places, and the simple rule here is:

It’s anything which belongs only to disbelievers, thus common things are not among those, and they are permissible (even if they first appeared at the disbelievers.), so blond hair is not exclusive for disbelievers, thus you have no issues in having or changing it.

Ibn ’Umar (RAA) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “He who imitates any people (in their actions) is considered to be one of them.” Related by Abu Dawud and Ibn Hibban graded it as Sahih.

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'Abdullah bin 'Amr bin Al-'As (May Allah be pleased with them) said: The Prophet (ﷺ) saw me dressed in two saffron-coloured garments and asked, "Has your mother commanded you to wear these?" I asked him, "Shall I wash them out?" He replied, "You had better set them to fire."

Another narration is: "These are garments of the disbelievers. So do not wear them."

[Muslim].