What is the ruling on shaving the mustache?

The questioner : We see some religious men who have let their beards grow and shaved their mustaches. What is the ruling on that?

The Shaykh : As for letting the beard grow, it is a matter well known in the Sunnah, indeed in the commands of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). As for shaving the mustache, it is a religious innovation with no basis. It is merely the understanding of some scholars, both past and present, of some of the commands issued by him (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the mustache, such as his saying: , and his saying: , and similar phrases that suggest the intent is to uproot and shave the mustache. These phrases actually convey this meaning. However, the precision in this matter is that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: , does he mean the entire mustache, or does he mean the edge of the mustache, which is the frame on the lip? This second meaning is what is intended by these hadiths that command cutting the mustache, trimming the mustache, and shaving the mustache. In that case, from the Arabic perspective, using the term "mustache" falls under the category of using the whole to mean the part, similar to His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): . Here, excuse me, this is the opposite of our case. This is using the part to mean the whole. What we are dealing with is using the whole, which is the mustache, to mean the part, i.e., its edge and tip. Naturally, this does not justify such a claim because it resembles the figurative interpretation (ta'wil) that the scholars of the Salaf reject. However, this is necessary to reconcile the hadiths reported on this subject. For example, the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . He did not say: "Whoever does not take from his mustache," but rather he said: . This "min" (from) is for partitive meaning, indicating that his (peace and blessings be upon him) statement in the previous hadiths: means part of it, not all of it. Then, what is this part? Is the intent to cut the "sibal" (the ends of the mustache), or is the intent what is on the lip of the mustache that has grown long? The latter is undoubtedly what is intended in such a hadith: . The evidence for this is what Imam Ahmad reported in "Al-Musnad" and Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi in his book "Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar" with a sound chain from al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah, who said: "A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) whose mustache had grown full—meaning it had grown and become long. So he ordered that a miswak and a small knife be brought to him. He placed the miswak on the part of that man's mustache that had grown long, then he trimmed it." So this action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is the first explanation of his saying: , and that this "taking" refers only to what has grown long of the mustache hair on the lip. Then this last hadith and the one before it, the explainer and the explained, give us in the result and in the end that the hadiths containing the command to trim the mustache and shave the mustache do not mean the entire mustache, but rather what has grown long of it on the lip. Then this is further confirmed in the end by a report (athar) that Imam Malik reported in "Al-Muwatta": from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he was angry, he would twist his mustache as a habit of his. The point of this report is that he did not uproot the entire mustache, because this twisting clearly indicates that he left its two ends. So, by combining all the aforementioned hadiths and this sound report from 'Umar, we arrive at the previously mentioned result, which is that shaving the entire mustache is an innovation contrary to the Sunnah. This is what Imam Malik ibn Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), the Imam of the City of Migration, explicitly stated when he said: "Shaving the mustache is mutilation." "Shaving the mustache is mutilation" means that shaving the mustache is disfiguring the creation of man, a disfigurement that falls under the generality of the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): . And this is the answer to what you asked.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.