Is It Permissible to Use Brushes that Are Made of Animal Hair Other than Pig?

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Question: Are brushes that are made of animal hair other than pig permissible to use (for example, cosmetic brushes, paint brushes, etc.)? Many brushes say they are 100% natural and, when asking, people say they are animal hair. Is this okay, or is it preferable to use synthetic brushes?

Answer: In the name of Allah, Most Merciful.

Walaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

I pray that this finds you well and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.

Yes, it is permitted to use brushes from animal hair, other than pig. This reasoning is due to the fact that the hair, bones, claws, nails, and horns of dead animals (other than pig) are pure (tahir) in the Hanafi school.

Imam Tumurtashi states in Tanwir al-Absar, “the hair of dead animals [H: other than pig, according to the position of our school] and their bones, ligaments, claws, and horns – when these are free of the fat on their ends – and likewise everything from them through which blood doesn’t flow […] is pure” [Tumurtashi, Tanwir al-Absar; with comment (H) from Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar; Ibn Abidin concurred in his supercommentary, Radd al-Muhtar].

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani