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Fatwa CenterTrimming the hair without husband's permission
Question
I have a problem! MY HUSBAND gets very angry when I trim my hairs & he's saying it is sinful to trim your hairs without the husband's permission. Am I sinful if I trim my hairs without permission of my husband?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
If the husband forbids his wife from trimming her hair, then it is apparent to us - and Allaah Knows best – that she must comply with his request, and if she does not obey him in this regard, she is sinful, because she is commanded to obey him in what is permissible. Her obedience to him is the most emphasized after to her obedience to Allaah.
Abdullaah ibn Abi Awfa 
narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “If I were to command anyone to prostrate oneself to someone other than Allaah, I would have commanded the wife to prostrate herself before her husband. I swear by the One in Whose Hands my soul is, a wife would not fulfil the right of her Lord until she fulfills all the right of her husband, even if he would want her while she is on top of a camel." [Ahmad, Ibn Maajah and Ibn Hibbaan - Al-Albaani classified it as Hasan (good)]
The husband may like long hair, and this is something which makes him love his wife and leads to good marital relations. Also, the husband has the right for his wife to beautify herself for him.
Lisaan Al-Hukkaam Fi Ma‘rifat Al-Ahkaam, in the Hanafi Fiqh reads: “If a husband gives money to his wife to buy clothes, he has the right to oblige her to buy clothes because it is his right that the wife beautifies herself for him.” [End of quote]
In addition to this, a woman cutting her hair is something upon which the scholars differed in opinion, and some scholars said that the wives of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, used to do so (have their hair cut), and this was in order to make the people know that they refrain from marriage, because the wives of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, after his death were forbidden from marrying any other man.
Furthermore, long hair often represents beauty, whereas cutting it may be considered an adornment in some communities apart from others.
For more benefit on the permissibility for a woman to shorten her hair while abiding by the Islamic conditions, please refer to Fataawa 86728 and 83952.
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