Shaving the Beard with a Razor and Taking Payment for It If the Shop Owner Is an — Jurisprudential Answers — Miscellaneous Issues, Vol. 1

Ahmed al-Hasan Response:

Shaving the beard—the chin—is prohibited, while removing hair from the cheeks is permissible. Removing cheek hair by threading is permissible, and it is permissible to take payment for this work. A barber may shave another person's chin with a razor and take payment for that work, even though shaving the chin is prohibited for the legally responsible person himself, as I explained previously. The legally responsible person must avoid shaving his own chin because it is a prohibited act and one of the minor sins that causes distance from God and loss of divine success. If, because of taqiyyah or illness, he cannot keep the hair on his chin, then if possible he should avoid shaving the chin with a razor and instead shorten it with a device that leaves some hair on the chin, thereby avoiding the prohibited act.