Yā ḫāḍiba š-šaibi Arabische Verse für und wider das Färben des weißen Haares

✍ Scribed by Wagner, Ewald

• Book ID: 120039670
• Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: German
• Weight: 282 KB
• Volume: 89
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-1818
• DOI: 10.1515/islam-2012-0004

✦ Synopsis

The question as to whether or not it was allowed to dye one's hair, became heavily discussed in early Islam. So we find controversial traditions (hadi©) on this problem. Dyeing the hair however, was not only under discussion in religious circles, but also in topics taken by poets. In Arabic poetry, grey hair meant old age. As a consequence, it was the end of love and youthful life. Dyeing the hair therefore, was a means to cheat the ladies about the real age of the poet. The poets did not have so much religious scruples, since for them the effectiveness of dyeing was the point.