narrated by Anas Ibn Malik He said, "The hair of Allaah's Messenger was neither much straight, nor much curly, and it used to hang down till between his shoulders and his earlobes.
HE SAW praised long hair when he described ‘Isa (AS) [in the Sahihayn] as “having the most beautiful hair you could have seen, wavy, shoulder-length and dripping with water.” In another version in the Sahihayn the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – describes ‘Isa (AS) as “having head-and-shoulder hair (limmatun) as beautiful as the most beautiful head-and-shoulder hair (ka’ahsani mâ anta râ’in min al-limam).”
Style-wise the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – first let his hair hang down freely (sadala), then he preferred parting it (farraqa), as in the hadith to that effect from Ibn ‘Abbas – Allah be well-pleased with both of them in the Sahihayn. ‘A’isha – Allah be well-pleased with her – said she “parted his hair and let his forelock (nâsiya) hang between his eyes” as narrated by Abu Dawud and Ahmad with a sound chain according to Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut.
Al-Qadi ‘Iyad said that the freely-hanging hair (sadl), forelock (nâsiya), and shoulder-length hair (jumma) were abrogated. At the time the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – entered Makka, he was wearing his hair braided in four plaits (ghadâ’ir, dafâ’ir, ‘aqâ’is). Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (hasangharîb, in some mss. gharîb only), Ibn Majah, Abu Dawud, and Ahmad, all four with the same chain graded “fair” (hasan) by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (10:304), a grading confirmed by Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut in his edition of al-Baghawi’s Sharh al-Sunna (12:97).
It is not related in the Sunna - and Allah knows best - that the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – ever had his hair shortened. Rather, it is established that he – Allah bless and greet him – kept his hair cleaned and oiled a lot of the time. He also said: “Whoever has hair, let him honor it.” Narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan with a fair to weak chain because of Ibn Abi al-Zannad.
Two hadiths are also narrated in which the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – expresses preference for shorter hair for two men, but the context indicates that he meant to preclude showoff and conceit:
a) From Ibn al-Hanzaliyya – Allah be well-pleased with him –: “The Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – said: ‘A fine man, Khuraym al-Asadi! were it not for the length of his hair and the dragging of his waist-wrap.’ News of this reached Khuraym, whereupon he immediately took a blade and cut (qata‘a) his hair to his ears, then he raised up his waist-wrap to his mid-calves.” Part of a longer hadith narrated by Abu Dawud and Ahmad with a near-hasan chain according to Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut.
b) From Wa’il ibn Hujr – Allah be well-pleased with him –: “I came to [see] the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – when I had long hair. When the Prophet – Allah bless and greet him – saw me he said: ‘Misfortune, misfortune’ (dhubâb, dhubâb, lit. ‘flies’)! Then I returned and clipped it (jazaztuhu). When I came back to [see] him the next day he said: ‘I truly did not mean you, but this is better.’” Narrated by Abu Dawud, al-Nasa’i, and Ibn Majah with a strong chain according to Shaykh Shu‘ayb al-Arna’ut. Both reports are in al-Baghawi’s Sharh al-Sunna (12:101).
