In This Corona Virus Pandemic Can A Medical Worker Shave His Beard To Fit Into His Face Mask Properly by Shaykh Dr. ʿAbdullah ibn Ṣulfīq aẓ-Ẓafīrī

Pivotal Quote

“And the ḥadīth, “Whoever leaves something for the Sake of Allāh, then Allāh replaces it with something even better.” Therefore, the person should not be in a rush to cut his beard, neither by trimming it nor shaving it. Rather, he should try to find an alternative.

Question:

Our Shaykh, may Allāh preserve you. Part of the necessary protection that must be sought in dealing with this sickness is for those who work in the medical field to wear masks, and in order for these masks to be effective they have to be tightly covering the face and this is very difficult for the mask to do its job covering the face of a man who has a big beard. So is it permissible in this situation for a man to trim his beard?

Answer:

The people should fear Allāh.

وَمَن يَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مَخْرَجًا ۝ وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ ﴿

“And whosoever fears Allāh and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty). And He will provide him from (sources) he never could imagine.” [Sūrah al-Ṭalāq 65:2-3]

وَمَن يَتَّقِ ٱللَّهَ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ مِنْ أَمْرِهِۦ يُسْرًا﴿

“And whoever fears Allāh (with reverent obedience), He will make his affair easy for him.” [Sūrah al-Ṭalāq 65:4]

And the ḥadīth, “Whoever leaves something for the Sake of Allāh, then Allāh replaces it with something even better.” Therefore, the person should not be in a rush to cut his beard, neither by trimming it nor shaving it. Rather, he should try to find an alternative. Whether that alternative is wearing a bigger mask, which covers the entire mouth, the entire nose, the chin or whatever the case is. The matter however, is that the person should not be in a rush to cut his beard because of his profession. And Allāh knows best.

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