Which facial hair counts as the beard, and the rules for trimming it

A question from a young man whose beard has grown in only at the sideburns, in which the fatwa centre of IslamWeb answered that the temple hair level with the top of the ear belongs to the hair of the head and may be shaved, while the hair level with the ear canal and the cheek hair below it belong to the beard, which on the stronger view must be left to grow, though it may be trimmed to improve one's appearance and remove the harm of an ugly look. ¹

The questioner said he is a young man whose beard has not yet grown in fully; only the hair at the sideburns has appeared, extending an inch or two below the ear, with no clear hair elsewhere on the beard. He asked whether this hair counts as the beard in sharia and is subject to its rulings, or whether the beard's rulings apply only once it has grown in fully; he added that he had read that some scholars who allow trimming the beard speak of taking what exceeds a fistful of a full beard, and asked what applies in his case and how to determine the amount he may trim, noting that leaving the hair makes his appearance uneven, and asking whether that permits trimming and whether it is better to bear with it as long as he can. ¹

The centre answered that several kinds of hair are involved, and the ruling of each must be explained, together with whether it belongs to the beard that on the stronger view may not be shaved. The temple hair, which lies level with the top of the ear, is not part of the beard but of the hair of the head, so there is no harm in shaving or trimming it; the hair level with the ear canal belongs to the beard; and so does the cheek hair that descends from it. ¹ It quoted al-Buhuti that the face includes the hair growing on the raised bone level with the ear canal and the cheek hair below it down to the chin, but not the temple hair that lies beyond it, level with the top of the ear and a little below, which belongs to the head; and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in al-Tuhfa that what descends from the temple towards the beard is cheek hair with the same ruling as the beard, and that the beard is the hair growing on the chin where the two jaws meet, the cheek hair being like it. ¹

The centre ruled that the hair asked about which lies level with the top of the ear is not part of the beard and may be trimmed and shaved, whereas the hair of the cheeks and what lies level with the ear canal belongs to the beard, which on the stronger view must be left to grow and may not be shaved; taking from it in a way that improves one's appearance is unobjectionable, and the amount he may take is what achieves the purpose of removing the harm of an ugly appearance and a disfigured look that distresses him, since the rule is that harm is to be removed; if he bears with it and leaves it untrimmed, that is good. It referred to its fatwa 127297. ¹

The fatwa centre of IslamWeb published this fatwa on islamweb.net as no. 539465, dated 21 Jumada al-Ula 1448, 1 November 2026. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.