Saturday 2 Rabi‘ at-akhir 1446 - 5 October 2024
English

Is It Prohibited For a Woman to Shave her Head?

Question

What is the ruling about a woman shaving her head?

Summary of answer

It is not permitted for a woman to shave her head except in cases of necessity because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade women to shave their heads.

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

It is not permitted for a woman to shave her head except in cases of necessity, because of the Hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi and An-Nisa’i (may Allah have mercy on them) from `Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) according to which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade women to shave their heads. 

Al-Khallal (may Allah have mercy on him) reported from Qatadah from `Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) who said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade women to shave their heads.” Al-Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “This is mutilation.” 

Al-Athram (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “I heard Abu `Abdullah asking about a woman who was unable to take care of her hair properly and whether she should remove her hair according to the Hadith of Maymunah. He asked, ‘Why does she want to remove it?’ He said, ‘She cannot put oil on it or anything else that will make it look better, and she has a bad infestation of lice.’ He said, ‘If it is the matter of necessity, I hope that there is nothing wrong with doing so.’”

For more details, please refer to the following answers: 14051 , 13744 , 88232 , 36847 , 609 , and 832 .

And Allah knows best.

Was this answer helpful?

Source: Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid