Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

What is the ruling in Islam about the hair on body? Which body hair should be shaved off? Is it true that if one has long hair in his arm-pit his salah will not be accepted? Likewise the pubic hair also?

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Pubic hair and prayer not accepted

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: What is the ruling in Islam about the hair on body?

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 7.779 Narrated by Abu Huraira

I heard the Prophet (saws) saying. "Five practices are characteristics of the Fitra (nature): circumcision, removing the pubic hair, cutting the moustaches short, clipping the nails, and depilating the hair of the armpits."

Both the believing men and the believing women are obliged to remove their unwanted hair from their pubic region and from under their armpits. One may use any means or method to remove the unwanted hair including clipping, shaving, the use of chemicals, etc.

Your Question: Which body hair should be shaved off?

It would be a characteristic of ‘fitrah’ or nature to remove any unwanted hair; and unwanted hair would normally mean the growth of hair in the pubic region, the armpits and the mustache for men. The only hair which Islam specifically prohibits the believing women to leave unaltered is the hair on her eye-brows, and the growth of the beard for the believing men; other than those, there is no restriction if one wishes to remove hair from other parts of one’s body.

Your Question: Is it true that if one has long hair in his arm-pit his salah will not be accepted? Likewise the pubic hair also? 

To the best of our knowledge there is nothing in the Quran and the Sunnah which declares that one’s prayer will not be accepted if one does not remove one’s hair from one’s pubic or armpit region.

Hadrat Anas ibn Maalik (r.a.) who served the Messenger of Allah (saws) for ten years, said: "The time period for us to trim the moustache, cut the nails, pluck out the underarm hairs and cut the pubic hairs was forty nights."

Related by Ahmad and Abu Dawud.

There is no specific number of days specified by the Messenger of Allah (saws) for the removal of unwanted hair, but some of the companions have said that they used to remove their unwanted hair in a maximum period of every 40 days.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan