—and anything that serves as a means to corruption is forbidden by the Lawgiver.” End of Ibn Taymiyyah’s words.

Ibn ʿUmar is reported to have said, “Whoever keeps imitating them until he dies will be resurrected with them.” Al-Tirmidhi also records that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “He is not one of us who imitates others. Do not imitate the Jews or the Christians, for the greeting of the Jews is a gesture with the fingers, and the greeting of the Christians is a gesture with the palms.” Al-Ṭabarānī adds: “Do not crop the forelocks; clip the mustaches closely, and let the beards grow.”

In the conditions that ʿUmar laid down for the People of the Covenant, he required them to shave the fronts of their heads so that they would be distinguishable from the Muslims; therefore, anyone who does that has imitated them. In the two Ṣaḥīḥs the Prophet ﷺ “forbade al-qazaʿ,” that is, shaving part of the head while leaving another part unshaven. Concerning the head, Ibn ʿUmar said, “Shave it all, or leave it all,” a report related by Abū Dāwūd. Shaving the nape of the neck is not permissible for one who has not shaved the entire head and has no need for it, because it is a practice of the Magians; and whoever imitates a people is counted among them. Ibn ʿAsākir relates from ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with him—that shaving the nape without cupping is a Magian practice.

Allah—glorified and exalted be He—has likewise forbidden following their whims