or part of the rationale. Yet the stronger, unqualified view is that it is a full and sufficient rationale in itself. That is why, once the early generations grasped how detestable it is to resemble the Magians—both in this matter and in others—they came to dislike a number of Magian practices that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, had not expressly named.
Al-Marwadī relates: “I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh—meaning Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal—about shaving the nape of the neck. He replied, ‘That is a Magian practice, and whoever imitates a people is counted among them.’”
He also reports that Abū ʿAbd Allāh was asked, “Is it disliked for a man to shave the back of his neck or his face?” He answered, “As for me, I do not shave the back of my neck.”
A mursal ḥadīth on this subject has likewise been transmitted from Qatādah.
(1) Manuscripts B and D, as well as the printed edition, read “al-Marwazi” with a z, whereas the correct form is “al-Marwadhi” with a dh, indicating a person from Marw al-Rudh in Khurasan. See: Khayr al-Din al-Zirikli, al-Aʿlam 1:205; Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1:56; Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni 1:75 (and the same in al-Sharh al-Kabir); Ibn al-Imad, Shadharat al-Dhahab 2:166. Al-Marwadhi is Ahmad b. Muhammad b. al-Hajjaj b. ʿAbd al-ʿAziz, Abu Bakr al-Marwadhi, one of Imam Ahmad’s closest disciples—Ahmad would confide in him because of his piety and merit. He transmitted many of the Imam’s legal opinions and died in 275 AH/888 CE. See: Ibn Abi Yaʿla, Tabaqat al-Hanabila 1:56-63, no. 50; Shadharat al-Dhahab 2:166.
(2) ḥalq al-qafā: shaving the hair at the back of the head (the nape).
(3) See: Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni and al-Sharh al-Kabir 1:75, which mention this narration; and ʿAbd al-Razzaq, al-Musannaf 11:453-54, which transmits a similar report from ʿUmar b. al-Khattab.
(4) The printed text reads: “it is disliked.”
(5) I.e., shaving the nape.
(6) MS A has “from Abu Qatada,” but the reading found in the other manuscripts (“from Qatada”) is more plausible, for the tabiʿi Qatada is the one who reports from ʿUmar regarding the dislike of shaving the nape; Abu Qatada was a Companion. See: ʿAbd al-Razzaq, al-Musannaf 11:454.