What is the ruling of trimming the beard in the Shafi‘i school?

According to the relied-upon position in our school, shaving the beard or trimming it (even if shorter than a fistful) is offensive, rather than unlawful.

This is the position of the two sheikhs, al-Nawawi and al-Rafi‘i, as well as the majority of later scholars such as Ibn Hajr al-Haytami. There is a weaker position in our school that shaving the beard is unlawful. Some of our Imams like Imam al-Athru‘i prefers this position. However, the reliable position is that of offensiveness as in at-Tuhfa (9/375) and I‘anat it-Talibeen” (2/340).

Amjad Rasheed

(Translated by Abu Muhammad Rahil)

السؤال: ما حكم تقصير اللحية في المذهب الشافعي ؟

الجواب : حلقُ اللحية أو تقصيرُ شيءٍ منها ولو تحت القبضة مكروهٌ وليس بحرام على المعتمد في مذهبنا كما عليه الشيخان النووي والرافعي وجمهورُ المتأخرين كالشيخ ابن حجر الهيتمي . وعندنا قولٌ بتحريم حلق اللحية رجحه بعضُ أئمتنا كالأذرعي ، لكن المعتمد هو القول بالكراهة كما في "التحفة" ( 9/ 375-376 ) وانظر "إعانة الطالبين" ( 2/340 )