Thursday, May 06, 2010

To What Extent Should the Mustache be Trimmed

Ash-Shawkani, may Allah have mercy on him, states:

The people have disagreed concerning the extent to which the mustache should be trimmed. Many of the Salaf adopted the opinion that it should be uprooted and shaved because of the apparent meaning of his statement, "Uhfu and Inhaku"[1] and this is the opinion of the Kufis.

Alternately, many of them prohibited shaving and uprooting it; this was the view of Malik and he felt the one who does so should be disciplined. ibn al-Qasim related from him that he said, "Ihfa' of the mustache is mutilation."

an-Nawawi said, "The preferred view is that it be trimmed until the edge of the lip shows, and not to remove it from the root."

He said, "As for the narration: 'Uhfu the mustaches' it means that which extends on to the lips."

Malik stated likewise in al-Muwatta': "The mustache should be shortened until the edge of the lip is visible."

Ibn al-Qayyim stated:[2]

As for Abu Hanifah, Zufar, Abu Yusuf, and Muhammad (ibn al-Hasan), their opinion concerning the hair of the head and the mustache was that Ihfa' is preferable to shortening.

Some of the Malikis attributed to ash-Shafi'i the same view as Abu Hanifah concerning shaving the mustache. At-Tahawi states, "I did not find anything explicit from ash-Shafi'i concerning this matter, and his companions whom we have seen such as al-Muzani and ar-Rabi' used to perform Ihfa' of their mustaches. This indicates that they must have taken the practice from ash-Shafi'i."

Al-Athram reports from Imam Ahmad that he used to shorten (Yuhfi) his mustache greatly. I (al-Athram) heard him being asked about the Sunnah concerning the Ihfa' of the mustaches. He said, "They are Yuhfa (shortened greatly)."

Hanbal said: Abu Abdillah was asked, "Do you think a man should take his mustache and shorten it greatly (Yuhfih) or how should be shorten it?" He said, "If he performs Ihfa' of it, there is no harm, and if he shortens it by Qass (trimming), then there is no harm"...

Ibn al-Qayyim said:

Those who adopt the view that one should not practice Ihfa' of the mustache used as evidence the two Marfu' Hadiths of 'A'ishah and Abu Hurayrah: "Ten are from the Fitrah..." and he mentioned amongst them Qass (trimming of the mustache). The Hadith of Abu Hurayrah mentions: "The Fitrah is five..." and he mentioned amongst them Qass (trimming) of the mustache.

Those who choose to practice of Ihfa' use as evidence the Hadiths that order Ihfa' - and they are authentic - and the Hadith of ibn 'Abbas that Allah's Messenger sallAllahu 'alayhi wa sallam used to practice Ihfa' of his mustache. End of his words.[3]

The meaning of Ihfa' is not to trim that which extends on the lips as an-Nawawi mentioned, because Ihfa' is to uproot as stated in as-Sihah, al-Qamus, al-Kash-haf, and all the other books of the language.

The narration of Qass does not contradict it, because Qass (trimming) can take place in the form Ihfa' but it is not necessarily so. The narration of Ihfa' specifies what is meant (by Qass).

Likewise, the same can be said of the Hadith which states "Whoever does not take from his mustache, he is not from us," for it does not contradict the narration of Ihfa' because it contains additional information which should be acted on.

If we were to grant, for argument's sake, that they are contradictory in every sense, the narrations of Ihfa' would take precedence because they are in the Two Sahihs.[4]

[Taken from "The Biography of Imam ibn al-Qayyim" with adaptation done to the paragraphing for easier reading. Written by Salahud-Din 'Ali Abdul-Mawjud, translated by Abdul-Rafi Adewale Imam, published by Darussalam.]



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Footnotes:
[1] Translator's note: Al-Ihfa' means to be thorough or to do something in full or to the limit; in this case it must mean cutting it very short at the least, if not shaving. Inhaku means to wear something out or fatigue it. The apparent meaning is you should cut it off such that it weakens its growth.

[2] Translator's note: the following is actually ibn al-Qayyim's words from Zad al-Ma'ad although it is being cited from ash-Shawkani's Nayl al-Awtar.

[3] The rest of this section is the continuation of Ash-Shawkani's words.

[4] Nayl al-Awtar (1/141).

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