643 – Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Women are not to shave; what is required of women is merely trimming.” Related by Abū Dāwūd with a sound chain (1).

Grade of the ḥadith:
The ḥadith is sound (ḥasan). In al-Talkhīṣ he says: Abū Dāwūd, al-Dāraquṭnī, and al-Ṭabarānī all transmitted it from Ibn ʿAbbās with a sound chain. Abū Ḥātim declared it strong in al-ʿIlal, and al-Bukhārī did so in al-Tārīkh. Ibn al-Qaṭṭān criticized it, but Ibn al-Mawwāq refuted him, and he was correct.

Points derived from the ḥadith:

1. As noted in the preceding ḥadith, the supplication for those who shave applies exclusively to men by scholarly consensus, while what is obligatory for women is trimming only—also by consensus.
2. In the author’s original sequence this ḥadith follows the report of Lady ʿĀʾishah that appears under number 646, but I have placed it here so that it immediately follows the ḥadith of Ibn ʿUmar on shaving and trimming, given the close relevance between the two.