What Are the Requirements for Shaving One’s Hair for ‘Umra?

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question 

I performed Hajj and did the first ‘umra and removed all hair with a zero machine trimmer, and after a few days, I did a second one and removed hair with the same zero trimmer machine. Is this valid in Shafi’i Fiqh?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah alleviate our difficulties and guide us to that which is pleasing to Him. Amin.

There are several points in your question. Multiple ‘umra’s before Hajj are valid. Using a zero-blade trimmer is valid. Removing the short hair that grows back (if any) after an additional ‘umra, is valid, and Allah knows best. [Nawawi, al-Majmu‘]

Release from Ihram: Cutting the Hair

Men have their entire heads shaved, which is optimal. However, one may confine oneself to removing (by any means) three hairs from the head (not something else, such as the beard or moustache) or may merely shorten it, for which the optimal is to clip a little less than two centimetres from all the hair. As for women, it is optimal to shorten their hair as described. It is offensive for a woman to shave her head).

Cutting the hair is an integral without which the hajj remains unfinished (and which may not be compensated for by merely slaughtering), and a person remains in ihram until it is done. Someone without hair can simply pass a razor over his head (which is recommended, not obligatory because it is a rite whose condition is the existence of a particular site, as is also the case with washing a hand for ablution when the hand has been amputated (it need not be done if the site does not exist). [Keller, Reliance of the Traveller]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan. 

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and has completed his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.