Q: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Allah has cursed the woman who adds false hair and the woman who gets false hair added to her own.” Does this prohibition include the material that some female students wear in the shape of a rose, or similar, for adornment, or the white material that they hang from their necks down to their chests? I have some daughters who are students, and I am afraid of them falling into sin.

A: All praise be to Allah Alone, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger, and his family and Companions. As for the Hadith mentioned above, it is related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, and others. It is referring to adding hair to a woman’s hair that is not her own, and to the women who ask for this to be done and those who do it for them. A piece of wisdom behind this prohibition is that such an act is regarded as a false adornment that might be used deceptively in relation to marriage and other matters. It is related on the authority of Mu`awiyah in "Sahih Al-Bukhari" that the Prophet (peace be upon him) called it a falsehood. If the meaning of the Hadith and the wisdom behind the prohibition of adding false hair are known, then it becomes evident that the Hadith does not include the roses that the students attach to their braids or the white material that they hang round their necks. (Part No. 5; Page No. 193) This is so, as long as they are not doing it in imitation of non-Muslim women; there is no problem in doing it in this case, as the basic ruling is for permissibility. However, anyone who wears such things for adornment should conceal them from non-Mahrams (neither a spouse nor a permanently unmarriageable person), and if this is something that is a particular trait of the disbelievers, it is Haram (prohibited) due to the prohibition of imitating them.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.