Is Ibn Abd al-Barr's statement, "None shaves the beard except an effeminate man," present in the printed version of the book Al-Tamheed?
We have not come across the statement attributed to Ibn Abd al-Barr. However, what he mentioned in Al-Tamheed and Al-Istidhkar, when discussing the hadith of Ibn Umar in Al-Muwatta' that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ordered the trimming of mustaches and the growing of beards, is as follows:
Scholars differed regarding trimming the beard. Some disliked it, while others permitted it. Malik said: There is no harm in taking what protrudes and strays. And if it becomes very long, I believe it should be trimmed and shortened. Sufyan narrated from Nafi' from Ibn Umar that he used to let his beard grow, except during Hajj or Umrah. And Al-Hasan used to trim the length of his beard, and Ibn Sirin saw no harm in that.
As for trimming the mustache: Ibn al-Qasim narrated from Malik: "Trimming it completely, in my view, is a mutilation." And Ashhab narrated from Malik concerning shaving the mustache: "This is an innovation, and I believe that whoever does it should be severely punished."
We have indeed found the aforementioned statement attributed to Ibn Abd al-Barr in Al-Tamheed with the wording: "Shaving the beard is forbidden, and only effeminate men do it," in several books and magazines.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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