Mufti Abu Layth Archive: fiqh/dress-and-appearance/beard-and-hair

Is growing a beard obligatory in the Hanafi school?

2021-01-29T00:00:00Z

Is growing a beard obligatory in the Hanafi school?

The guest says Hanafi principles act as a constitution before which everyone is equal, and that by them keeping the beard is mubah, not wajib as subcontinent scholars concluded.

Answer from 29 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: quoted view (stated in order to be discussed, not necessarily held)

Recording: Shaykh Atabek Shukurov | Mortgages, Madhabs & Molvi-ism | MindTrap 48 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 17:37)

A more recent answer on fiqh/legal-theory exists (18 October 2025): If reason helps us understand the Quran, does the reasoning of earlier scholars matter too?

Watch on YouTube at 18:37 · Open the segment

Will I go to hell for not shaving my pubic hair?

2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

Will I go to hell for not shaving my pubic hair?

Nobody goes to hell for not shaving pubic hair, Mufti Abu Layth says; it is a matter of hygiene, which religion tied to reward and closeness to God. Mufti Abu Layth says nobody is going to hell for not shaving pubic hair; it is a hygiene matter.

Answer from 19 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #198 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:02:38)

A more recent answer on fiqh/purification exists (18 October 2025): Why does the guest's prayer have no fixed number of units, and what counts as wudu?

Watch on YouTube at 1:03:44 · Open the segment

Does a bald woman have to wear hijab?

2021-01-19T00:00:00Z

Does a bald woman have to wear hijab?

Mufti Abu Layth gives no ruling: he jokes about the wording and muses on hair loss in women and men.

Answer from 19 January 2021 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #198 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 24:30)

A more recent answer on fiqh/hijab-and-niqab exists (9 May 2021): Did scholars let slave women uncover more than free women?

Watch on YouTube at 24:30 · Open the segment

Does God really care whether I have a beard?

2020-10-27T00:00:00Z

Does God really care whether I have a beard?

Mufti Abu Layth says the Sharia exists to preserve life and order, and that picturing God as obsessed with beards shrinks God into a child throwing tantrums. Mufti Abu Layth says the basis of the Sharia was the preservation of life.

Answer from 27 October 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #188 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:12:12)

A more recent answer on belief/god-and-attributes exists (4 March 2024): How much does Allah love me?

Watch on YouTube at 1:12:12 · Open the segment

Mufti Abu Layth's chat round: Sunni and Maliki, beards and quick answers

2020-10-27T00:00:00Z

Mufti Abu Layth's chat round: Sunni and Maliki, beards and quick answers

Quick answers: Mufti Abu Layth says he is Sunni and Maliki, and that the din is not in the beard.

Answer from 27 October 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #188 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 1:10:06)

A more recent answer on dialogue/the-mufti-and-the-channel exists (18 May 2021): Response to accusations over Palestine remarks and claims he is not Muslim

Watch on YouTube at 1:10:06 · Open the segment

Is a skin fade haircut haram?

2020-09-22T00:00:00Z

Is a skin fade haircut haram?

Mufti Abu Layth says hairstyles are fine and rejects Dawah Man's claim that a zero-blade fade is haram, asking why God would be obsessed with hair. Mufti Abu Layth says it is okay to grow your hair and, when you do, to have a hairstyle.

Answer from 22 September 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #183 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:13:43)

A more recent answer on dialogue/responses-to-critics exists (6 April 2021): Donors, deathbed remarks and 'no hatred': an invitation to the critic

Watch on YouTube at 2:16:07 · Open the segment

If Muslims focus too much on the beard, what deserves more focus?

2020-08-24T00:00:00Z

If Muslims focus too much on the beard, what deserves more focus?

Mufti Abu Layth answers by mocking the focus on beards and shaved moustaches, quoting al-Mutanabbi that such an ummah has become a laughing stock.

Answer from 24 August 2020 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #179 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (at 2:17:34)

A more recent answer on arts/arabic-poetry-and-letters exists (22 February 2023): Did some Muslim scholars say homosexuality is not haram?

Watch on YouTube at 2:18:44 · Open the segment

Is growing a beard compulsory in Islam?

2019-12-17T00:00:00Z

Is growing a beard compulsory in Islam?

Growing a beard was an ancient Arab custom shared by Muslims and their opponents, not an Islamic requirement in itself. The command to grow it is worded like commands to dye the hair and pray in shoes that nobody treats as obligatory, and no sahih hadith says how to grow it. Mufti Abu Layth says the beard was an ancient Arab custom shared by the Prophet's opponents, that the command to grow it and differ from the Jews and Christians is worded like commands to dye the hair and pray in shoes that nobody treats as obligatory, and that no sahih hadith says how to grow it.

Answer from 17 December 2019 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: The Beard in Islam & Arab Culture | Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on hadith/sunnah-versus-hadith exists (18 October 2025): Does the Muwatta show that the Companions' practice had already changed by Malik's time?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Do I have to grow a beard?

2018-06-12T00:00:00Z

Do I have to grow a beard?

The beard was the custom of all Arabs, not something the Prophet introduced, and the 'be different from the Jews and Christians' wording is applied selectively, since the same words command dyeing hair and praying in shoes. The Prophet never defined what a beard should look like, and scholars disagree whether the command was binding. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the beard was the common custom of all Arabs including the disbelievers of Quraysh rather than something the Prophet introduced, that the 'be different from the Jews and Christians' wording is applied selectively since the same words command dyeing the hair and praying in shoes, and that the Prophet never once defined what the beard should look like.

Answer from 12 June 2018 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Do You Have to Grow a Beard? -Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:00)

A more recent answer on hadith/hadith-in-legal-reasoning exists (18 October 2025): Is there a middle way between rejecting all hadith and accepting every hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 0:00 · Open the segment

Does Islam require a particular dress or beard style for scholars?

2014-07-02T00:00:00Z

Does Islam require a particular dress or beard style for scholars?

No: respect the difference of opinion. Many esteemed Maliki scholars were clean-shaven or wore suits, and the din mandates no uniform. Mufti Abu Layth says the din does not mandate a particular type of uniform.

Answer from 2 July 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Insights to a personal journey: An interview with Mufti Abu Layth (at 22:13)

A more recent answer on fiqh/dress-and-appearance exists (10 March 2021): Reply to Mufti Mangera: does the ban on muthla forbid piercing?

Watch on YouTube at 22:13 · Open the segment

Is it haram to trim my beard shorter than a fist's length?

2014-04-12T00:00:00Z

Is it haram to trim my beard shorter than a fist's length?

Trimming the beard below a fist is not haram according to many great scholars, a well-founded view in the tradition, though others may follow stricter opinions. Mufti Abu Layth says the opinion that trimming the beard below a fist's length is not haram is well founded in the tradition.

Answer from 12 April 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Cutting-edge Perspective: Trimming the beard in Islam (pt 2)- Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:04)

A more recent answer on hadith/hadith-in-legal-reasoning exists (18 October 2025): Is there a middle way between rejecting all hadith and accepting every hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 0:04 · Open the segment

What do the sound hadith about the beard actually say?

2014-04-12T00:00:00Z

What do the sound hadith about the beard actually say?

Only three hadith on the beard have undisputed chains, and each pairs trimming the moustache with the beard and gives the reason of differing from the Jews and Christians, the Majus or the mushrikin. Many read this as an obligatory command, but Mufti Abu Layth says other hadith show otherwise. Mufti Abu Layth holds that the sound hadith on the beard reduce to three, each pairing the moustache with the beard and giving the reason of being different from non-Muslims, and that the command need not be read as obligatory, as other hadith show.

Answer from 12 April 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Cutting-edge Perspective: Trimming the beard in Islam (pt 1)- Mufti Abu Layth (at 9:16)

A more recent answer on hadith/hadith-in-legal-reasoning exists (18 October 2025): Is there a middle way between rejecting all hadith and accepting every hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 9:16 · Open the segment

Which scholars have allowed trimming or shaving the beard?

2014-04-12T00:00:00Z

Which scholars have allowed trimming or shaving the beard?

Maliki and other classical jurists held that trimming or even shaving the beard is at most makruh, not haram, and many modern scholars across the schools have given the same fatwa or kept trimmed, goateed or clean-shaven beards themselves. Mufti Abu Layth presents this to show the opinion's long standing, not to deny the other view. Mufti Abu Layth says that the view that trimming or even shaving the beard is at most makruh and not haram has been held by Maliki and other classical jurists and by many modern scholars, some of whom were themselves trimmed, goateed or clean-shaven.

Answer from 12 April 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Cutting-edge Perspective: Trimming the beard in Islam (pt 1)- Mufti Abu Layth (at 4:01)

A more recent answer on fiqh/maliki-school exists (19 April 2023): Why does the practice of Madinah matter more than a single hadith?

Watch on YouTube at 4:01 · Open the segment

Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?

2014-04-12T00:00:00Z

Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?

Trimming the beard from the sides, to a goatee or to less than a fist's length is permissible and not haram, though a difference of opinion exists and others may follow it. Mufti Abu Layth's aim is to show that this opinion has a long and continuing place in the tradition. Mufti Abu Layth holds that trimming the beard from the sides, to a goatee or to less than a fist's length is permissible and not haram, while recognising a valid difference of opinion that others may follow.

Answer from 12 April 2014 · auto-transcribed, may contain errors

Kind: general teaching

Recording: Cutting-edge Perspective: Trimming the beard in Islam (pt 1)- Mufti Abu Layth (at 0:04)

A more recent answer on fiqh/madhhabs-and-following exists (10 December 2022): What did Abu Hanifa say about Imam Malik?

Watch on YouTube at 1:22 · Open the segment