Dar-ul-Uloom issues fatwa against Muslim students trimming, shaving beards 

LUCKNOW: Dar-ul-Uloom in Deoband, the biggest Islamic seminary in Asia, issued a fresh fatwa warning the students against trimming or shaving off their beards.

The notice issued by the seminary stated that any student who would trim or shave his beard would be expelled from the institution.

According to the sources, the notice was issued by Maulana Hussain Ahmad Haridwari, who supervises the seminary’s education division. Calling the practice of trimming or shaving the beard ‘unislamic,’ the notice has cautioned the seminary students to avoid the practice or be ready to face action.

It added that any student attempting to enter the university campus for the next semester by shaving off his beard would not be allowed on the premises as the seminary would not tolerate any disobedience on the part of the students of Islamic studies.

The fatwa further mentioned that four of the Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband students were dismissed for trimming their beards on February 6. The sources claimed that the students had later issued a letter of apology to the seminary.

Welcoming the fatwa, a former student of Dar-ul-Uloom, Maulana Mufti Asad Qasmi of Madrasa Jamia Sheikhul Hind, said that everything that Hazrat Mohammad Sahib had adopted is Sunnat. “Every Muslim should spend his life by following Sunnat and Shariah principles. It is Sunnah to keep a handful of beards in Islam. If the beard grows more than this is cut, then there is no harm in it. But it should be maintained,” he said.

Earlier, Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband had issued a fatwa against the Muslim women barring them from shaping eyebrows or going for a haircut. The seminary had said that any woman who shapes eyebrows or gets a haircut is indulging in un-Islamic behaviour.