Fatwa ID: 05824

Answered by: Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji

Question:

Are women allowed to get their haircut?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer:

The Hanafi jurists hold the position that it is impermissible for women to cut their hair without a valid reason.

Imam Haskafi mentions “If a woman cuts her hair she has sinned, and she becomes accursed”¹

This ruling is based on the following reasons:

1. Imitation of the opposite gender. Allah’s Messenger peace and blessings are upon him cursed those men who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of women and those women who are in the similitude (assume the manners) of men.²
2. Imitation of those of other faiths. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever imitates a people is one of them.”³
3. The Messenger of Allah [SAW] forbade women to shave their heads 4. The commentators of hadith expound on this narration “the word shave is general and includes trimming as well”⁵

Due to these reasons, it is impermissible for women to cut their hair without a valid reason.

Only Allah knows best

Written by Shaykh Ahmed bin Mohamed Umarji

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham

1 Durre Mukhtar, Page 406, Volume 6, Darul Fikr Beirut 1992

2 Sahih al-Bukhari 5885

3 Sunan Abī Dāwūd 4031

4  Sunan an-Nasa’i 5049

5 Fatawa Darul Uloom Zakkariyya, Page 361, Volume 7, Zam Zam Publishers