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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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The ruling on a woman cutting her hair in styles taken from magazines

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The questioner : Your hand has truly reached out to women, cutting their hair in various styles, and most of these styles are taken from fashion magazines, and they involve imitating disbelievers and men. When women are addressed regarding the impermissibility of this, they repeat by saying, "My husband and I have agreed on this style." The scholars have permitted this if we are in agreement on it. What is the ruling on this? And does the mere agreement of the two on choosing a specific type of style, whether it involves imitation or not, permit the woman to cut it? May you be rewarded, our sister?

The Shaykh : The short cut, meaning the shortening of hair, women's hair. If it resembles men's styles such that the woman's hair is like men's hair, then it is forbidden, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the women who imitate men.
And cursing is expulsion and distance from the mercy of Allah, and every deed whose punishment is the curse is among the major sins. And if it resembles the heads of disbelieving women or prostitutes, then it is also forbidden. Due to the saying of the Prophet
God’s messenger as saying, “He who copies any people is one of them.”صلى الله عليه وسلم من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم.
Mishkat al-Masabih 4347

And if it does not resemble the style of men, nor the style of these disbelieving women or the sinful prostitutes.
Then some of the scholars have said that it is disliked, as is the well-known position from the school of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him), and some have said that it is forbidden, and some have said that it is permissible, and the closest view is that it is permissible, but not in the way of adopting the customs found in fashion magazines, but if the husband and wife desire to cut the hair in a way that does not resemble men, nor disbelieving women and prostitutes, then there is no harm. As for the argument that the husband and wife have agreed on it, agreement on what is forbidden does not make it lawful; the forbidden is forbidden, and if the two parties agree on it, it becomes more severe, because the obligation is enjoining good and forbidding evil. If we said that what the husband and wife agreed on is lawful, and the husband and wife agreed that the man would have intercourse with his wife in the anus, and she consented to it, is this permissible? Answer: It is not permissible. So it is not the case that what the husband and wife agree on becomes lawful; the forbidden is forbidden whether the husband and wife agree on it or disagree. Rather, I say that if they agree on it, it becomes a greater sin, because it is obligatory for each of them to avoid what is wrong and to forbid what is wrong, not to agree to it.
Source ابن العثيمين - جلسة رمضانية — archive.org (34:17)

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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