Q: We have always known that it is not permissible for a woman to cut her hair but nowadays it has become the norm and not regarded as a sin for women to cut and style their hair. Many aalims too make their wives cut their hair saying that it is for them i.e. the husbands. My question is, Is it a sin? What is the fatwa regarding this and what will happen to all those who blatantly disregard this as a sin. Please provide a detailed explanation so i can share with the sisters.
A: The Shari’ah commands that females lengthen their hair. The law of Shari’ah will not be violated to please anyone, even the husband. Her first obligation is to Allah Ta’aala and His Rasool (Sallallaahu Alayhi wa Sallam), and thereafter to the creation, on condition that it is not contrary to any teaching of Islam.
A Hadeeth narrated by Sayyidina Imraan (Radhiyallaahu Anhu) says that Rasulullah (Sallallaahu Alayhi wa Sallam) said: There is no obedience to the creation if (in it) there is disobedience to Allah. (Al Mu’jamul Kabeer V18 P177).
So even if the husband commands her to cut her hair, she has the right and obligation to refuse.
Understand that the actions of the Aalims is not a Shar’i proof.
Hadhrat Mufti Abdur Raheem Saheb Lajpuri (Rahmatullaahi Alayh has written in his Fatwa Kitab “Fataawa Raheemiyyah V10 P120:
If a husband because of fashion instructs his wife or because the woman is herself inclined to fashion cuts her hair then is a grave sin and Haraam. Obeying the husband in matters of sin is not permissible.
It is mentioned in Hadeeth from Sayyidina Ali Radhiyallaahu Anhu): Rasulullah Sallallaahu Alayhi wa Sallam forbade that a woman shave her head. (Tirmidhi, Nasa’i).
Ulama have included cutting too in this narration.
Thus it is mentioned in the famous book of Fiqh ‘Durre Mukhtaar’ V5 P727: If a woman cuts her hair she has sinned and she becomes accursed…. even if the husband grants permission.
It is mentioned in Bahishti Zewar by Hadhrat Moulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahmatullaahi Alayh): It is Haraam for a woman to shave or cut her hair. Such a woman has been cursed in Hadeeth.
Allah Ta’aala knows best.
Moulana Yusuf Laher