What is the ruling on shaving the beard? And what is the meaning of plucking the eyebrows in Islamic law? With an explanation of the prohibition of imitating the disbelievers.

The questioner : It is a pity, my brother — I mean — that you give me the opinion of the Shari'ah regarding shaving the beards? I mean shaving the chin: do you think it is permissible for them in the Shari'ah to shave the chin or not?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible.

The questioner : It is not permissible, absolutely not.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible, absolutely not, and by the consensus of the four Imams.

The questioner : What is the meaning of plucking the eyebrows in the hadith: ? Plucking the eyebrows: is it removing the hair that is above the chin, I mean in the back, or where?

The Shaykh : In every place: the eyebrows, the cheeks, the face, everything. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) did not permit plucking the eyebrows. But, I think you know that plucking the armpit hair is from the fitrah (the innate natural disposition). So plucking the armpit hair is a recommended practice (sunnah), but plucking the eyebrows, plucking the cheeks, plucking the beard — shaving it is forbidden (haram), and plucking it is forbidden. So when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , he concluded the hadith by saying: . So anything a Muslim does for adornment and beautification that contradicts the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him) falls under this hadith. And especially since there are many hadiths regarding the beard: . In one narration: . Then: . In truth, my Muslim brothers, we lived in a time when the disbelievers colonized us. Here the English, there the French, and I don't know, London... and so on. When these people entered the Islamic lands, they brought in their customs, traditions, and styles of dress. So the masses of Muslims were impressed by all these disgraceful things. And especially since we were found in the last times, far from the knowledge of Islam, far from Islamic upbringing, we had no immunity to resist these traditions that the disbelievers brought to our lands. And the disbelievers left to where there is no return, but they left behind their culture, their customs, and their traditions, as we see them today. And although today, praise be to Allah, there is an awakening, there is a group, there is a renaissance, without a doubt, but as they say: the first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down. It will bring good, if Allah wills, and it will increase. We saw students of knowledge in Damascus wearing a turban that we call here , meaning: yellow, but it has its specific position. All the students of knowledge were shaven, and their symbol was: the yellow turban. Although this turban has no basis in the Shari'ah, whereas the beard — the four schools of jurisprudence and others than the four — command it, and the hadiths, as we mentioned, some of them have no value at all in their eyes, but this symbol was for the student of knowledge. So the matter has reversed today. Today you find young men who are not students of knowledge, as you are seeing, with beards. What is the reason? They understood that this is first of all the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It is far from him that he would shave his beard in his time, even once. And it is known in his descriptions (peace be upon him) that he had a noble and great beard. In addition to his practical Sunnah: his verbal Sunnah, he encouraged it. So people turned to these legal realities and started to follow and apply them. But many remain influenced by the old previous customs. And therefore, we advise every Muslim who is zealous for his religion and for following the Sunnah of his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to purify his state from the calamity of shaving the beard. Because this is, without a doubt, open sinfulness (fisq) and disobedience. It contradicts the Qur'an, it contradicts the action of the Messenger (peace be upon him), it contradicts his words, it involves imitating the disbelievers, it involves imitating women. What do you want, a greater calamity than this? And we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us all successful in following the Sunnah wherever it is. And we suffice with this amount, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.