What is the Islamic ruling on shaving the beard?

Answered by 

Shaykh Yusuf Shabbir

What is the Islamic ruling on shaving the beard?

Answer:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم

Shaving the beard is not permissible according to the consensus of scholars. Scholars who have affirmed its prohibition include:

  1. Imam Abū Bakr al-Qaffāl al-Shāshī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 365/976) (Ḥāshiyah Tuḥfah al-Muḥtāj, 9: 376).
  2. Imam Abū ʿAbd Allah al-Ḥalīmī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 403/1012) (Ḥāshiyah Tuḥfah al-Muḥtāj, 9: 376).
  3. ʿAllāmah Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Qurṭubī al-Mālikī (d. 656/1258) (al-Mufhim, 2: 602).
  4. ʿAllāmah Abū Shāmah al-Maqdisī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 665/1267) (Fatḥ al-Bārī, 10: 351).
  5. ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Rifʿah al-Shāfiʿī (d. 710/1310) (Ḥāshiyah Tuḥfah al-Muḥtāj, 9: 376).
  6. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyah al-Ḥanbalī (d. 728/1328) (al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā, 5: 302; Sharḥ al-ʿUmdah, 1: 223).
  7. ʿAllāmah Ibn Mufliḥ al-Ḥanbalī (d. 763/1362) (al-Furūʿ, 1: 151).
  8. ʿAllāmah Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī al-Shāfiʿī (d. 794/1392) (Ḥāshiyah Tuḥfah al-Muḥtāj, 9: 376).
  9. ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Humām al-Ḥanafī (d. 861/1457) (Fatḥ al-Qadīr, 2: 348).
  10. ʿAllāmah Mardāwī al-Ḥanbalī (d. 885/1480) (al-Inṣāf, 1: 121).
  11. ʿAllāmah Ibn Nujaym al-Ḥanafī (d. 969/1562) (al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq, 2: 203).
  12. Mullā ʿAlī al-Qārī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1014/1605) (Sharḥ al-Shifāʾ, 1: 164).
  13. ʿAllāmah Bahūtī al-Ḥanbalī (d. 1051/1641) (Kashshāf al-Qināʿ, 1: 75).
  14. ʿAllāmah Shurunbulālī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1069/1659) (Ḥāshiyah ʿAlā Durar al-Ḥukkām, 1: 208).
  15. ʿAllāmah Ḥaṣkafī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1088/1677) (al-Durr al-Mukhtār, 2: 418).
  16. ʿAllāmah Shihāb al-Dīn al-Nafrāwī al-Mālikī (d. 1126/1714) (al-Fawākih al-Dawānī, 2: 306).
  17. Shāh Walī Allāh Dehlawī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1176/1762) (Ḥujjah Allah al-Bāligah, 1: 309).
  18. Imam Dasūqī al-Mālikī (d. 1230/1815) (Ḥāshiyah al-Dasūqī, 1: 90).
  19. ʿAllāmah Ṭaḥṭāwī al-Ḥanafī (d. 1231/1816) (Ḥāshiyah al-Ṭaḥṭāwī ʿAlā Marāqī al-Falāḥ, p. 481)
  20. ʿAllāmah Ibn ʿĀbidīn al-Ḥanafī (d. 1252/1836) (Radd al-Muḥtār, 2: 418).

In fact, several scholars have narrated the consensus of scholars on the prohibition of shaving the beard. ʿAllāmah Ibn Ḥazm (d. 456/1064) writes in Marātib al-Ijmāʿ (1: 157), “They are unanimous that shaving the full beard is muthlah (disfigurement), not permissible.” Imam Ibn al-Qaṭṭān al-Mālikī (d. 628/1231) also made a similar statement in al-Iqnāʿ (2: 299).

Further, ʿAllāmah Ibn al-Humām states in Fatḥ al-Qadīr (2: 348) that no scholar has permitted trimming the beard to less than one fist length. This has been affirmed by ʿAllāmah Ibn Nujaym (d. 969/1562) in al-Baḥr al-Rāiʾq (2: 302), ʿAllāmah Shurunbulālī (d. 1069/1659) in Ḥāshiyah ʿAlā Durar al-Ḥukkām (1: 208), ʿAllāmah Ḥaṣkafī (d. 1088/1677) in al-Durr al-Mukhtār (2: 418) and many other scholars.

There are many ḥadīths that affirm the obligation of lengthening the beard. For example, ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (d. 73/693) narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Oppose the polytheists, lengthen the beard and trim the moustache” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5892). Our teacher Shaykh al-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥammad Yūnus Jownpūrī (b. 1355/1936 – ) explains that the beard is from the Shaʿāʾir (signs and hallmarks) of Islam (al-Yawāqīt al-Gāliyah, 2: 249).

Allah knows best

Yusuf Shabbir

27 Ṣafar 1428 / 16 March 2007


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This answer was collected from IslamicPortal.co.uk, which is a repository of Islamic Q&A, articles, books, and resources. Various schools write and oversee the answers, including Maulana Yusuf Shabbir, Mufti Shabbir Ahmed, and Mufti Muhammad Tahir. 

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