Praise be to Allaah.

Shaving and cutting the beard is haraam and is an obvious evil. It is not permissible for the Muslim to do this or to help others to do it. Taking money for that is haraam and is ill-gotten gains. Whoever does that must repent to Allaah from it and not go back to doing it. He must give away in charity whatever he has earned from that, if he already knew about the ruling of Allaah which forbids shaving the beard. But if he was ignorant of that ruling, then there is no blame on him with regard to what is past, and he has to beware of doing it again in the future, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“So whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and stops eating Ribaa, shall not be punished for the past; his case is for Allaah (to judge); but whoever returns (to Ribaa), such are the dwellers of the Fire — they will abide therein [al-Baqarah 2:275]

In al-Saheehayn it is narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Cut the moustache and let the beard grow; be different from the mushrikeen.” In Saheeh al-Bukhaari it is narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Cut the moustache and leave the beard alone; be different from the mushrikeen.” And in Saheeh Muslim it is narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Trim the moustache and let the beard grow; be different from the Magians (Zoroastrians).” It is obligatory upon every Muslim man to obey the command of Allaah to leave his beard alone and let it grow, and to cut and trim the moustache. The Muslim should not be deceived by the large numbers of people who go against this Sunnah and openly disobey their Lord.

We ask Allaah to help the Muslims to do all that is pleasing to Him, and to help them to obey Him and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). May He bless those who have gone against the command of Allaah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) with sincere repentance to their Lord and make them hasten to obey Him and comply with His commands and the commands of His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), for He is the All-Hearing, Ever-Responsive.