Editing Tonsure (section)

=== Sunni ===

In Sunni Islam, partial tonsure—shaving parts of the head while leaving other parts unshaven—is discouraged. This practice is referred to in Arabic as ''al-qazaʻ'' ({{lang|ar|القزع}}), and is explicitly mentioned in several hadith attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, which emphasize consistency in hair grooming.

According to a narration recorded in ''Sahih al-Bukhari'':

:{{lang|ar|عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ – صلى الله عليه وسلم – نَهَى عَنِ الْقَزَعِ}}  
:ʻAbdullah ibn ʻUmar reported: "The Messenger of Allah forbade al-qazaʻ."<ref>{{cite book |last=Bukhari |authorlink=Sahih al-Bukhari |title=Sahih al-Bukhari |volume=7 |page=776 |quote=The Prophet forbade al-qazaʻ, which is shaving part of the head and leaving the rest. |publisher=Darussalam |location=Riyadh |year=1997 |isbn=9960899608}}</ref>

Another narration expands on the reasoning:

:{{lang|ar|عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ رَأَى النَّبِيَّ ﷺ صَبِيًّا قَدْ حُلِقَ بَعْضُ شَعْرِ رَأْسِهِ وَتُرِكَ بَعْضُهُ فَقَالَ: احْلِقُوهُ كُلَّهُ أَوْ دَعُوهُ كُلَّهُ}}
:ʻAbdullah ibn ʻUmar reported: "The Prophet saw a boy with part of his head shaved and some hair left. He said, 'Shave it all, or leave it all.'"<ref>{{cite book |last=Ahmad ibn Hanbal |title=Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal |volume=2 |page=88 |publisher=Mu’assasat al-Risalah |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Sunan Abi Dawud |volume=4 |quote=Hadith no. 4195 |publisher=Dar al-Fikr |year=2002 |location=Beirut}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Sunan an-Nasa'i |volume=8 |page=152 |quote=Hadith no. 5048 |publisher=Dar al-Ma‘rifah}}</ref>

Classical Sunni jurists generally interpreted these narrations to mean that al-qazaʻ is ''makruh'' (discouraged), rather than strictly forbidden (''haram''). The Shafi‘i and Hanbali schools regard the practice as disliked due to the prophetic prohibition, while the Hanafi school tends to allow it unless associated with vanity or non-Islamic customs.<ref>{{cite book |last=al-Nawawi |title=al-Majmuʻ Sharh al-Muhadhdhab |volume=1 |publisher=Dar al-Fikr |location=Beirut |year=1996 |language=ar}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn Qudamah |title=al-Mughni |volume=1 |publisher=Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah |year=1994 |language=ar}}</ref>

Some scholars also contextualize the ruling as a means of discouraging Muslims from imitating grooming styles practiced by non-Muslim religious groups, such as Christian monastic tonsure.<ref>{{cite book |last=Qaradawi |first=Yusuf |title=The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam |publisher=American Trust Publications |year=1994 |page=151 |isbn=9780892590612}}</ref>

In contemporary times, Islamic rulings on hairstyles continue to emphasize modesty and discourage styles that reflect vanity or mimic religious or subcultural symbolism. However, many scholars note that short or stylized haircuts are not automatically included under al-qazaʻ unless they reflect the patterns explicitly prohibited in hadith.<ref>{{cite book |last=al-‘Uthaymeen |first=Muhammad ibn Salih |title=Fatāwā on Contemporary Issues |publisher=Darussalam |year=2003 |page=95}}</ref>