Short Haircuts Forbidden for Women

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على رسوله الكريم

والعاقبة للمتقين

The downfall of a nation is intimately tied to the corruption of its women. It can be said, quite fairly, that corruption has spread among the women of the Muslim Umma. The spread of sexual immorality, in particular, is among the reasons for the agony which the Muslim world is having to endure, just as this was the cause of the destruction of the Israelites of old. The lack of modesty and bashfulness among the women of our Umma at times makes even Jews and Christians surprised and ashamed. Of all the religions in the world, Islam indisputably lays the greatest emphasis on modesty and chastity, exemplified in the institution of Hijab. Additionally, Islam seeks to preserve the masculinity of men and the femininity of women. For this reason, the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) cursed men who attempt to resemble women and cursed women who attempt to resemble men. In these trying times we see a catastrophic narrowing of the dimorphism between men and women. For example, Muslim women are increasingly donning masculine style of dress such as trousers while a lot of young men consider it fashionable to wear gold necklaces, piercings and other forms of jewelry which is a sign of femininity. Hair is one of those things which is one the most obvious examples of sexual dimorphism in the human species. Men are meant to have beards while women have much longer hair. For a man to be clean shaven is a dishonor for him and an emasculation, while for a woman to cut her hair short is likewise something shameful and a repudiation of her femininity. Abd Allah b. Amru^RA narrated:

نَهَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ عَنِ الْجُمَّةِ لِلْحُرَّةِ وَالْعَقِيصَةِ لِلأَمَةِ

The Prophet (upon whom be peace) forbade free women from cutting their hair above their shoulders (Mu’jam al-Saghir of al-Tabarani #370)

 

 

al-Haythami said the narrators are thiqaat (Majma al-Zawa’id, v.5 p.169)

 

 

Therefore, Muslim ladies should be aware that they are forbidden from cutting their hair short. The minimum length of their hair has to be shoulder length, and any shorter than that is prohibited as it will be considered as resemblance with men (likewise, men are forbidden from growing their hair beyond shoulder length as that will be a resemblance with women). And Allah knows best.