Islamic Ponderings

'Allah had cursed those women who tattoo and who have themselves tattooed, those who pluck hair from their faces and those who make spaces between their teeth for beautification, changing what Allah has created.' (hadith...)

I just read a post on a different blog about the controversial issue of plucking ones' eyebrows. The above hadith was copied and pasted straight from their blog.

So, I started wondering about this. My (Muslim) SIL always gets her eyebrows threaded at the mall. I personally get mine waxed every time I get my haircut. I know, I know, I'm new to Islam, so leave he scholars to deciding what's right and wrong. WELL, I may be new to Islam, but I'm not new to God. I've loved God all my life and have always feared and worshiped Him. My understanding of God is not that He will curse me for removing a minuscule amount of hair from my face. I'll admit upfront...I've got a lot of conflicting feelings regarding the whole hadith system. In regards to my eyebrows...if it's not in the Qur'an, I'll continue to get them waxed. My husband for one would be sorely disappointed if I stopped taking care of my eyebrows and let them run amuck on my face. Am I not allowed to please my husband?

I went in search for a bit more information on this hadith...and came up with this quotation:
"And it was suggested that what is forbidden is only that which is permanent, because that is changing the creation of Allaah; as for that which is not permanent, such as kohl which used for adornment by women, that is permitted by the scholars."

And now I'm even more stumped. SO, things that are PERMANENT are forbidden. Oh, okay, so my eyebrows don't grown back every month? How is plucking your eyebrows permanent?

And speaking of changing the creation of Allah, (I'm gonna get beat up for this one) what about body piercing? Saudi Arabia, the Islamic capital of the world, pierces the ears of baby girls in the hospital shortly after birth. Um...isn't that practice even more vain than plucking ones unsightly eyebrows? My ears are not pierced. My Christian parents would not allow me to put holes in the body that God gave me. But yet Muslims are in agreement that ear piercing (for women) is allowed, but no other body piercing, Heavens no!

I can pierce my ears...but I can't wax my eyebrows? I can use kohl...but I can't wax my eyebrows?

This hadith also got me thinking about "those who make spaces between their teeth for beautification." I, and most everyone I went to school with, had braces. I personally started treatment in the fourth grade. I got my palate expanded in the 6th grade, braces put on shortly thereafter, and did not get them removed until 9th grade. My teeth were BAD, and my mouth was too narrow to hold all of them (hence, the palate expander). In addition, my wisdom teeth were extracted from my gums three years ago because there was no room for them. The bottom ones would have dissolved the roots of my back teeth, and the top one (i only had 3) was blocking my sinus cavity.

So am I (and most everyone I know) cursed for getting braces?

I feel guilty typing these things 'out loud.' I fear that I'm a bad Muslim for questioning so much and coming to conclusions contrary to those of respected scholars.

Again and again I hear "Islam is all about taking the middle ground." If this is true, though, why are there such extreme rulings on such mundane matters as these?