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A Few Strands: Some Useful Fiqh of Hair

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Ilyas Patel

A few strands: some useful fiqh of hair

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

In the Name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

It is permissible for a woman to pluck the hair of the beard and moustache that has grown. In fact, it is  recommended (mustahab)  in order that it not displease her husband.  (Bahari Shariat Pg 638 Part 16 Chapter on Looking and Touching)

– It is sunnah to remove the hair  from below the navel. It is recommended to bathe every week and to clean the body and remove the hair below the navel. The best day is on Friday. It is also permissible to delay removing  the hair on the 15th day, and to delay it after 40 days is offensive and forbidden  [f: being prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman)].  

– The hair below the navel should be removed with a blade and one should start from below the navel. It is also permissible to use any hair-removing cream. It is sunnah for women to remove them (below the navel-hair) hair (also). (Durr u’l Mukhtar, Fatawa Hindiya)

 – It is permissible to pluck the armpit hair and shave it also. (Radd u’l-Muhtar)

 – It is better not to remove the hair from below the neck. (Radd u’l-Muhtar)

 – One should not remove the hair in the nose, as harm is feared from it. (Fatawa Hindiya )

 – It is offensive to remove hair and clip nails during a state of major ritual impurity (janaba ) . (Fatawa Hindiya)    (Bahari Shariat Pg 704, 705 Part 16 Chapter on Combing Hair and Clipping Nails)

Applying oil to the hair, to comb it and to make a middle path

When a person keeps long hair according to sunna, then he should keep in mind all the other sunnas regarding the keeping the hair:

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to apply a lot of oil to his head, and he used to comb his beard. He also used a head cloth. It used to get soiled with oil, hence the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) clothes used to become oily. The narration of Sharh us-Sunna is that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to say that whoever has hair should look after it.   (Abu Dawud pg 573) 

When a person combs their hair they should first make the path of the right side then the left. Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) reports that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give peace) preferred this way.  ( Imam Tirmihi’s Shama’il pg 4)

Women’s Hair

Imam Muslim, Imam Tirmidhi and others have narrated the hadith of Umm Salama (Allah be pleased with her) that she asked the Prophet (Allah bless him and give peace), “I make the plaits of my hair tight. Should I loosen it at the time of a bath of impurity (janaba)? ” The Prophet (Allah bless him and give peace) replied , “No, it is sufficient that you pour over your head three times and then pour water over your body.”( al-Tirmidhi). This hadith indicates that it is sufficient that water reaches the roots of the hair. It is not necessary to loosen plaits and wet all the hair.  This ruling is confirmed by the scholars of fiqh.

Women cutting the hair

The hadith in Muslim in which it is stated that the blessed wives of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give peace) used to cut their hair, the commentators of Muslim explain that it is applied to women who are old and widowed and does not beautify herself.   Imam Nawawi states that this action cannot be imagined as haven been during the lifetime of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give peace).

– It is permissible for an old woman and a young girl who cannot look after her hair, to cut it short a little, in order to look after it.

Cutting the hair of the eyebrows and Face

And there is no objection to take the hair of eyebrows and face so long as it is not effeminate.   (Radd u’l-Muhtar pg 358/5 Fatawa Hindiya pg 23/4)

Shaving the Head

It is stated in Mawaahib u’l Laduniya and Majma’ ul  Bihar:
When the hair of the Prophet (Allah Bless him and give him peace) was not cut for a long period it used to be long, and when it used to be cut it would be short.”

–  The above indicates that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to cut his hair and not shave it. However, regarding shaving it, he himself states that besides Hajj and Umrah, he never shaved his head.  Madarij u’l Nubuwwa, Uswa’i Rasuli Akram pg 152)

Prohibition of Qaz’a (cutting a portion of hair and leave the rest)

– This is prohibited. Its prohibition is proven from an authentic Hadith:
Ibn Umar (Allah be pleased with him) states that a child was brought to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) whose hair was partly cut and the rest uncut. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: Either cut it completely or leave it completely.   (Mishkat pg 380)

(Taken from ‘The Laws of the Beard and the Hair in the Light of the Ahadith’   By Shaykul Hadith Moulana Fazlur Rahman, Darul Uloom Azaadvile)

Ruling of women having Hinna on their hands  

It is reported by Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) that a woman was forwarding a letter behind the veil and the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) took back his hand. He said,  “How do we know if it is man’s hand or a woman’s. Aisha replied, it is a woman’s hand. The Prophet replied, (Allah bless him and give him peace)   if she was a woman she would have had applied henna on her hands.
(Abu Dawud, Taysir ul-Wusul 137:2)   (Beard and the Sunnas of the Prophets,  Mufti Saeed Palanpuri)

And Allah Knows Best 

Wassalam,

Shaykh Ilyas Patel

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