Black Dye in the End Times and the Fragrance of Paradise
Source: Fatāwā Amun Pūrī by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amun Pūrī
The Question
There is a ḥadīth:
“Near the Day of Judgment, a people will come who will apply black dye. They will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise.”
What does this mean?
The Answer
The Ḥadīth
Sayyidunā ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
“In the last days, a people will apply black dye like the crops of pigeons. They will not even smell the fragrance of Paradise.”
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd: 4213; Sunan al-Nasāʾī: 8/138, ḥadīth 5078; Musnad Aḥmad: 1/273; al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr: 12/413; Tārīkh Ibn Abī Khaythamah: 909; al-Mukhtārah: 10/233, ḥadīth 244; Sharḥ al-Sunnah by al-Baghawī: 3180 — sanad ṣaḥīḥ)
In Musnad Isḥāq ibn Rāhawayh (as cited in al-Nukat al-Ẓirāf of Ibn Ḥajar: 4/424), the wording is:
“They will apply black dye to their beards.”
Understanding the Ḥadīth
Some people use this narration to argue that black dye is strictly prohibited or ḥarām. However, such reasoning is weak because:
- None of the early scholars (salaf) or muḥaddithīn ever declared black dye to be ḥarām.
- The scholars have explained that this narration is not about prohibition of dye itself, but rather a description of a group in the last times, whose mark will be black dye — their evil deeds or false beliefs will be the cause of their punishment, not the dye itself.
Scholarly Explanations
❀ Imām Abū Bakr Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim (287H):
“This ḥadīth does not prove the dislike (karāhah) of black dye. Rather, it is merely information about a group whose sign will be this.”
(Fatḥ al-Bārī: 10/354)
❀ Imām al-Ṭaḥāwī (321H):
“It is understood that this people will be condemned due to their unlawful actions. Black dye in itself is not condemned. The Companions used black dye — among them ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir رضي الله عنه.”
(Sharḥ Mushkil al-Āthār: 9/313, ḥadīth 3699)
❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn al-Jawzī (597H):
“A group of the Companions, such as al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn رضي الله عنهما, and Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ رضي الله عنه, used black dye. Many tābiʿīn also did so. Some people disliked it due to possible deception, but none of the scholars ever said it is ḥarām. If the ḥadīth is authentic, then the punishment is due to their false beliefs or other sinful acts, not due to dyeing. Black dye was just a sign of recognition for them, like shaving the head was a sign for the Khawārij — yet shaving the head itself is not ḥarām.”
(al-Mawḍūʿāt: 3/55)
❀ ʿAllāmah Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mubārakpūrī (1353H):
“It is not correct to use this ḥadīth as evidence for the dislike of black dye.”
(Tuḥfat al-Aḥwadhī: 3/55)
Conclusion
- The ḥadīth is authentic, but the warning is not due to black dye itself.
- The fragrance of Paradise will be denied to those people because of their corrupt beliefs and sins, with black dye merely being their outward sign.
- Since many Companions and tābiʿīn used black dye, and no scholar declared it ḥarām, it remains permissible.
