The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Allah, have mercy on those who shave their heads."They said, "And those who shorten their hair, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "Allah, have mercy on those who shave their heads."They said, "And those who shorten their hair, Messenger of Allah?"He said, "And those who shorten their hair."
أن رسول الله ﷺ قال: اللهم ارحم المحلقين. قالوا: والمقصرين يا رسول الله؟ قال: اللهم ارحم المحلقين. قالوا: والمقصرين يا رسول الله؟ قال: والمقصرين.
Malik narrated it in Hajj (184) from Nafi, from Abdullah bin Umar, and he mentioned it. Bukhari narrated it in Hajj (1727), and Muslim in Hajj (1301:317), both through the route of Malik, with the same wording.In Sahih Muslim it reads, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Muhammad bin Sufyan informed us, from Muslim bin Hajjaj, who said, Ibn Numayr narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Ubaydullah bin Umar narrated to us, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "May Allah have mercy on those who shave their heads." They said, "And those who trim their hair, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "May Allah have mercy on those who shave their heads." They said, "And those who trim their hair, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "May Allah have mercy on those who shave their heads." They said, "And those who trim their hair, O Messenger of Allah?" He said, "And those who trim their hair." That is, he mentioned those who shave their heads three times.Abu Ishaq is the narrator of Sahih Muslim, but he did not hear this hadith directly from Muslim, rather he narrated it by ijazah. Likewise, a number of other hadiths escaped his direct hearing, as Ibn Salah stated explicitly, and Nawawi quoted this from him in his commentary on Muslim, noting that he narrated them by ijazah.Bukhari related it as a suspended narration, following the narration of Malik, from Ubaydullah bin Umar, with the same chain, in abridged form.Khattabi and others said, "It was the custom of the Arabs to love letting their hair grow long and adorning themselves with it, and shaving the head was rare among them. They may have regarded it as a mark of notoriety and as the dress of non-Arabs, and for this reason they disliked shaving and limited themselves to trimming."Malik narrated in Hajj (200), with a sahih chain, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, that when he shaved his head during Hajj or Umrah, he would also trim his beard and mustache.Umar bin Khattab used to say, "Whoever braids his hair, plaits it, or lets it become matted must shave it." Malik narrated this in Hajj (205), from Yahya bin Saeed, from Saeed bin Musayab, that Umar bin Khattab used to say (and he mentioned it).