Definition of Shaving, Shortening, and Covering the Entire Head
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
This questioner asks: What is the Islamic definition of shaving and shortening?
The Shaykh:
Shaving the head means shaving all the hair on the head. Shortening the hair means taking the ends with scissors or an electric clipper. This is called shortening. So, be careful whether you are shaving or shortening.
Another questioner:
Today, the ruling is to cover the entire head.
The Shaykh:
One should cover the entire head in both shaving and shortening. Yes, one should cover the entire head in both shaving and shortening. Some scholars hold that shortening part of the hair is sufficient, but the believer should be cautious with his religion and cover the entire head when shortening, just as he does when shaving.
This questioner asks: What is the Islamic definition of shaving and shortening?
The Shaykh:
Shaving the head means shaving all the hair on the head. Shortening the hair means taking the ends with scissors or an electric clipper. This is called shortening. So, be careful whether you are shaving or shortening.
Another questioner:
Today, the ruling is to cover the entire head.
The Shaykh:
One should cover the entire head in both shaving and shortening. Yes, one should cover the entire head in both shaving and shortening. Some scholars hold that shortening part of the hair is sufficient, but the believer should be cautious with his religion and cover the entire head when shortening, just as he does when shaving.
Source
فتاوى الحج ١٤١٠ هـ - ١ — archive.org (16:10)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.