Imam Muslim records a report of the tabiʿī scholar Saʾīd b. al-Musayyib (Allah have mercy on him) from Umm Salamah (Allah be pleased with her) who says she heard the Prophet ﷺ say:

“Whoever has a sacrificial animal that they will slaughter: when the new moon of Dhū al-Ḥijjah is seen, he should not trim [lit. take] anything from either his hair or his nails until he sacrifices.”

The Ḥanafī school, among other jurists, understands the command in this ḥadīth to be one of istiḥbāb (i.e., observing the act is rewarding although non-observance neither yields sin nor warrants condemnation) for an individual who is going to sacrifice an animal in light of another ḥadīth transmitted by Imam Muslim that contextualizes it: ʿAbd Allah b. Abī Bakr transmits from ʿAmrah bint ʿAbd al-Raḥmān that she told him that Ibn Ziyād wrote to ʿĀʾishah that ʿAbd Allah b. ʿAbbās said:

 “Whoever sends a sacrificial animal [to Makkah] then whatever is prohibited for the Ḥājj [i.e., the one in iḥrām] is prohibited for him until the sacrificial animal is slaughtered,” and I have sent my sacrificial animal, so write to me your command. ʿAmrah said: ʿĀīshah said: “It is not as Ibn ʿAbbās said. I twisted the garlands of the sacrificial animal of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with my hands. Then, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ placed the garland on it with his ﷺ hand. Then, he sent it off with my father and, subsequently, nothing was prohibited for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that Allah had permitted for him until the sacrificial animal was slaughtered.”

It is clear that the Prophet ﷺ would not observe the rules of iḥrām—as he ﷺ was not in the state of iḥrām—until the sacrifice took place which would be, at the earliest, the day of Eid (10^th of Dhū al-Ḥijjah). It is also well known that one of the rules of iḥrām is that one must not trim either his hair or nails.

What further contextualizes the first report of Imam Muslim is the report he narrates immediately afterward:

 “…ʿAmr b. Muslim b. ʿAmmār al-Laythī said we were in the bath house just before [ʿĪd] al-Aḍḥā and some people applied [a type of natural hair removal cream] therein. Some of the people of the bathhouse said Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib dislikes that or [he said] prohibits that. Then, I met Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib and subsequently mentioned that to him.  Then, he said: O my nephew! This is a ḥadīth that has been forgotten and abandoned…”

Then the narration alludes to the aforementioned report of Umm Salamah (Allah be pleased with her).[i] 

Regardless of Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib’s position on the issue himself, the report mentioned above clearly shows that the general praxis of the generation of Tabiʿīn was that abstaining from trimming the hair and nails is not required.[1] Saʿīd b. al-Musayyib’s critique of their practice was based on his understanding of the ḥadīth, the position adopted by the people could have been based on the fatwā of other scholars. What further emphasizes this latter point among the generation of the Tabiʿun and their students is the following:

1. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī liked (yuḥibb) that a man refrains from his hair and nails during the ten but saw no harm in using nawrah (a specific hair removal substance).[ii] A similar position was held by ʿIkrimah, Sālim, ʿAṭāʾ, Ṭāwūs, and Qāsim.[iii]
2. Jābir b. Zayd applied ṭilāʾ (a specific hair removal substance) during the ten days.[iv]
3. Abū Bakr b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Ḥārith b. Hishām, ʿAṭāʾ b. Yasār, and Abū Bakr b. Sulaymān b. Abī Ḥathmah all maintained that there is no harm in a man trimming his hair and nails during the ten days.[v]
4. Layth reports the ḥadīth of Umm Salamah (Allah be pleased with her) and adds that “the people are not in accordance with it”.[vi]
5. When Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī was told of the ḥadīth of Umm Salamah (Allah be pleased with her), he said: “I have not heard of this.” In another narration, Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī said: “They preferred to grow their hair when they intended to do iḥrām.”[vii]

In conclusion, the Ḥanafī jurists maintain that it is not necessary to refrain from trimming one’s hair and nails during the days of Dhū al-Ḥijjah preceding the sacrifice. Yes, they say that it is mustaḥabb (preferred and rewarding) to do so for the one who intends to sacrifice. And Allah Knows Best.

Darul Ifta, Darul Qasim

The ruling given herein is based on the interpretation of Islamic Law and is not intended to be an interpretation of any other laws (local, national or international). 

The ruling given herein is specifically based on the question posed and the information provided. 

This ruling may not be used for any other purpose without prior written consent of Darul Qasim.

Footnotes

[1] A number of scholars report that his fatwā was that refraining from trimming the hair and nails during this time is not required, thus indicating that the apparent meaning of his very own narration from Umm Salamah is not to be taken, although others say this fatwā is contextual to one who does not intend to sacrifice

[i] “Kitāb al-Aḍāḥī, Bāb Nahy man Dakhal ʿalay-h ʿAshr Dhī al-Ḥijjah wa huwa Murīd al-Taḍḥiyah,” in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 6:83-84.

حدثنا يحيى بن يحيى قال قرأت على مالك عن عبد الله بن أبي بكر عن عمرة بنت عبد الرحمن أنها أخبرته أن ابن زياد كتب إلى عائشة أن عبد الله بن عباس قال من أهدى هديا حرم عليه ما يحرم على الحاج حتى ينحر الهدي وقد بعثت بهديي فاكتبي إلي بأمرك قالت عمرة قالت عائشة ليس كما قال ابن عباس أنا فتلت قلائد هدي رسول الله ﷺ بيدي ثم قلدها رسول الله ﷺ بيده ثم بعث بها مع أبي فلم يحرم على رسول الله ﷺ شيء أحله الله له حتى نحر الهدي

Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, al-Tamhīd, ed. Muṣṭafā b. Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī and Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Kabīr al-Bakrī (Morocco: Wizārat ʿUmūm al-Awqāf wa-l-Shuʾūn al-Islāmiyyah), 17:234.

ومما يدل على ضعفه ووهنه أن مالك روى عن عمارة بن عبد الله عن سعيد بن المسيب قال لا بأس بالإطلاء بالنورة في عشر ذي الحجة فترك سعيد لاستعمال هذا الحديث وهو راويته دليل على أنه عنده غير ثابت أو منسوخ

al-Qudūrī, al-Tajrīd, 2^nd ed. ed. Muḥammad Aḥmad Sirāj and ʿAlī Jumuʿah Muḥammad (Cairo: Dār al-Salām, 1427/2006), 12:6346.

ثم روى هذا الحديث وترك ومداره على سعيد بن المسيب ولم يعمل به قال ابن وهب أخبرني مالك قال حدثني عمارة بن عبد الله عن سعيد بن المسيب أنه قال لا بأس بالإطلاء بالنورة في عشر ذي الحجة ولابد أن يكون ابن المسيب ترك العمل به إما لاتفاقه أو لأنه بلغه ما هو أولى منه وروى الليث هذا الخبر وقال والناس على خلافه يذكر أن الناس تركوا العمل به وترك العمل بالخبر يقدح في حكمه وإن صح سنده

[ii] Abū Bakr b. Abī Shaybah, “Kitāb al-Ḥajj, Bāb Man Kariha an Yaʾkhudh min Shaʿri-h idhā Arād al-Ḥajj,” in Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah, 1^st ed. ed. Saʿd b. Nāṣir b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Abū Ḥabīb al-Shatharī (?) (Riyadh: Dār Kunūz Ishbīliyā, 1436/2015), 8:432.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا ابن علية عن يونس عن الحسن أنه كان أن يكف في العشر عن شعره وأظفاره، وكان لا يرى بالتنور بأسا

[iii] This narration is brought immediately after the previous one. Ibid., 8:433.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا وكيع عن سفيان عن جابر قال سألت عكرمة و سالما وعطاء وطاوسا والقاسم فقالوا لا بأس به

Ibid., 8:434.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا ابن عيينة عن عطاء قال لا بأس بالتنور في العشر

[iv] Ibid., 8:434.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا ابن عيينة عن عمرو أن جابر بن زيد اطلى في العشر

[v] Ibid., 8:433.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا وكيع قال حدثنا ابن أبي ذئب عن يزيد ابن عبد الله بن قسيط عن أبي بكر بن عبد الرحمن بن الحارث بن هشام وعطاء ابن يسار وأبي بكر بن سليمان بن أبي حثمة قالو لا بأس أن يأخذ الرجل من شعره وأظفاره في العشر

[vi] See endnote i.

[vii] Ibid., 8:433.

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا ابن فضيل عن محمد بن أبي إسماعيل قال حدثتني أمي عن جدتها أنها سمعت أم سلمة أم المؤمنين تقول من كان يضحى عنه فهل هلال ذي الحجة فلا يأخذ من شعره شيئا حتى يضحي فذكرت ذلك لإبراهيم فقال: ما سمعت بهذا

حدثنا أبو بكر قال حدثنا وكيع قال حدثنا سفيان عن مغيرة عن إبراهيم قال كانوا يستحبون توفير الشعر إذا أرادوا أن يحرموا