Recordings › Cutting-edge Perspective: Trimming the beard in Islam (pt 1)- Mufti Abu Layth · 12 Apr 2014 › Segment 1 of 3
Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith tafsir tafseer exegesis tafasir tafaseer faqih faqeeh jurist muftis hukm ahkam hukum hukam ahkaam haraam forbidden mubah mubaah dalil daleel adillah adilla proof ulema ulamaa sheikh shaikh sheik shuyukh shaykhs alhamdulilah al-hamdu lillah alhumdulillah alhamdulillaah hamdulillah al-din ad-deen ad-din religionTrimming the beard below a fist: permissible, with a recognised difference of opinion
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This segment0:04 to 4:01 · 3 min 57 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenTrimming 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.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth takes up a question posed to him for some time: whether it is permissible to have a beard trimmed from the sides, a goatee, or a beard trimmed so that it is small and all round. He says first that this is permissible and not haram, while recognising that there is a difference of opinion among the ulama, which he does not deny, and that anyone is welcome to follow the other opinions. What he will demonstrate, he says, is that there is a valid opinion backed by many classical scholars up to the present day that trimming the beard from the sides or having it less than a fist in length is permissible. He adds that anyone who replies that a particular shaykh said it must be a fistful and has a hadith to prove it is not being contradicted: he is not saying there is no evidence for the other view, only proving that this opinion exists, has existed and continues to do so within the tradition of the deen. He closes with the definition of the beard, the lihyah, as what grows on the lower jaw, which many though not all of the fuqaha agree is what grows on the chin, with some disagreement about how far along the jaw it extends.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedWhat is the ruling, or is it permissible, to have a beard which is trimmed from the sides, or a goatee, or trimmed to quite an extent so that it is quite small and all round?
Position stated
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.
“so first of all I'd like to say that this is permissible this is not Haram okay I do recognize that there is a difference of opinion amongst the”
Category: ruling
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine0:04 to 4:01 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
[Music] in alhamdulillah I'd
like to deal with a question that has been posed for quite some while now and that is of the beard the what what is the ruling or is it permissible to have a beard which is trimmed from the sides or perhaps like this which may be called a goatee or an in Arabic as they called it classically or just perhaps trim your beard to quite an extent where
it's just quite small and all round in that manner is that actually permissible and I'd just like to clarify that today with you so first of all I'd like to say that this is permissible this is not Haram okay I do recognize that there is a difference of opinion amongst the I am not negating that difference I am not saying that no body is entitled to follow those other opinions you are absolutely welcome to
do so that is your choice however what I will demonstrate today is that there is a valid difference there is a valid opinion backed by many classical right up until our very day and age who have supported the other view that it is permissible to trim your beard to trim it from the sides or so on or to have it less than a fistful in length so so just to clarify so before I
proceed once again if anybody who hears this or watches this response and feels like saying yes but so and so she has said that no that is wrong and it must be uh A Fistful and here is a Hadith to prove it well I'm not saying that there is no evidence to prove that I'm not saying that there is no opinion which states that what I am proving today is that this opinion exists it has existed and continues to do so and that is all that I have to do
to show that this is within the tra tradition of our Dean it has been followed and taught by the and the F of this um so first of all when we take a look we will see that the beard which is known as a in Arabic has been described as something which grows upon the the lower jawel okay secondly many although not all but many had have definitely
agreed that it is what grows upon the chin and then there is some disagreement as to how far must it extend upon the jaw so that's as far as a definition is concerned traditionally there have been many beginning with from the Mal who clearly states in his commentary on Muslim that when he speaks about trimming the beard and he actually speaks about completely shaving the beard he says that it is simp he says it
Paragraphs overlapping 0:04 to 4:01. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2014-04-12-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/d95_pyj6nia/s/1/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2014, April 12). Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length? [Video, segment 2014-04-12-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/d95_pyj6nia/s/1/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2014. "Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?" Video, segment 2014-04-12-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 12, 2014. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/d95_pyj6nia/s/1/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2014-04-12-S01, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Can I trim my beard short or to a goatee, below a fist's length?}}, year = {2014}, month = {4}, date = {2014-04-12}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/d95_pyj6nia/s/1/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/d95_pyj6nia/s/1/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2014-04-12-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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