Halq and Taqsir

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Pilgrims shave each other's heads after completion of their hajj.

Al-Ḥalq (Arabic: الحلق, shaving the head) and al-Taqṣīr (Arabic: التقصير, cutting hair or nails) are compulsory acts done in hajj or umra. In different cases one of them becomes compulsory. Like other acts in hajj and umra, halq and taqsir are acts of worship and hence need to be done by the intention of proximity to God.

Meaning

The word halq is used for cutting [shaving] hair.[1] There are only two words from this root in the Qur'an and both are about hajj."[2] Moreover, taqsir is derived from "al-qasr" (القصر) which means to shorten.[3]

In jurisprudential terminology, halq means to shave the head by razor and taqsir is cutting some of head hair or clipping the nails in hajj or umra.

According to some exegetes of the Qur'an, the phrase "then let them do away with their untidiness" in the Qur'an 22:29 refers to halq and taqsir.[4]

Rulings

The ruling of halq and taqsir varies in different cases:

  • Al-Umra al-mufrada: Halq and taqsir are disjunctive obligation i.e. the performer of umra can choose one of them, although halq is superior to taqsir. In umra after halq or taqsir, which is done after sa'y between al-Safa and al-Marwa,[5] all prohibited acts during ihram become permissible for muhrim except for sexual activities with one's spouse, which become permissible after tawaf al-nisa'.[6]
  • Umrat al-tamattu': According to majority of faqihs, halq is not permissible in umrat al-tamattu' and one must perform taqsir instead.[7] After taqsir in this umra all prohibitions of ihram are lifted.[8]
  • Hajj al-tamattu': According to majority of faqihs, halq is compulsory in hajj al-tamatu' and taqsir is not sufficient. Almost all faqihs believe that the one who performs hajj for the first time (who is called sarura (صَرورة)) must perform halq.[9] Halq in hajj al-tamatu' must be performed in Mina after sacrificing and - according to large majority of viewpoints - in Eid al-Adha.[10] After halq, all prohibitions of ihram are lifted except for hunting, sexual activities, and using perfumes.[11]

Terminological inspection of "taqsir", some marja's say that cutting nails is not sufficient and one must also cut some hair.[12] Halq is only for men, and women must perform taqsir in all aforementioned cases. Like other rites of hajj and umra, halq and taqsir are acts of worship and must be done by the intention of proximity to God.[13]

Plucking or shaving body hair or clipping nails in the state of ihram -before completion of pilgrimage- is haram (prohibited) and makes kaffara obligatory.[14]

Philosophy

Head hair is an adornment of one's appearance, and people have an attachment to it. In hajj, the person tries to remove all these attachments that in most cases are obstacles to spiritual development. By abandoning these personal interests, abandoning the negative habits that a person has accustomed to becomes easier. Imam al-Sadiq (a) said, "By shaving your hair, shave all of your apparent and hidden faults."[15]

Describing the spiritual etiquette of hajj, Imam al-Sajjad (a) asked al-Shibli, "While shaving your head, have you made this intention to clean yourself from the filth of sins, and to go out of all sins like the day you were born from your mother?"[16]

Notes

  1. ↑ Qarashī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 167.
  2. ↑ One in the Qur'an 2:196, "And do not shave your heads until the offering reaches its [assigned] place."
    And another verse in the Qur'an 48:28, "Certainly Allah has fulfilled His Apostle’s vision in all truth: You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, God willing, in safety and without any fear, with your heads shaven or hair cropped. So He knew what you did not know, and He assigned [you] besides that a victory near at hand."
  3. ↑ Qarashī, Qāmūs-i Qurʾān, vol. 2, p. 166.
  4. ↑ Ibn Zuhra al-Ḥalabī, Ghunyat al-nuzūʿ, p. 192; Qummī, Jāmiʿ al-khalāf wa l-wifāq, p. 218-219.
  5. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 20, p. 466.
  6. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 20, p. 467.
  7. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 20, p. 450.
  8. ↑ Fāḍil al-Hindī, Kashf al-lithām, vol. 6, p. 30.
  9. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 19, p. 234.
  10. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 19, p. 232-233.
  11. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 19, p. 251-255.
  12. ↑ Manāsik-i Ḥajj, p.467.
  13. ↑ Manāsik-i Ḥajj, p.467.
  14. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 20, p. 406-410.
  15. ↑ Majlisī, Biḥār al-anwār, vol. 96, p. 125.
  16. ↑ Nūrī, Mustadrak al-wasāʾil, vol. 10, p. 171.

References

  • Fāḍil al-Hindī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Kashf al-lithām ʿan qawāʿid al-aḥkām. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1424 AH.
  • Ibn Zuhra al-Ḥalabī, Ḥamzat b. ʿAlī. Ghunyat al-nuzūʿ ilā ʿilmay al-uṣūl wa l-frūʿ. Qom: Muʾassisat Imām al-Ṣādiq, 1417 AH.
  • Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir al-. Biḥār al-anwār. Third edition. Beirut: Dār al-Wafāʾ, 1403 AH.
  • Manāsik-i Ḥajj muṭābiq-i fatāwā-yi imam Khomeini wa marājiʿ. Edited by Muḥammad Riḍā Maḥmūdī. Fourth edition. Tehran: Nashr-i Mashʿar, 1387 Sh.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1362 Sh.
  • Nūrī, Mīrzā Ḥusayn al-. Mustadrak al-wasāʾil. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt li-Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, 1407 AH.
  • Qarashī, Sayyid ʿAlī Akbar. Qāmūs-i Qurʾān. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmī, 1371 Sh.
  • Qummī, ʿAlī b. Muḥammad al-. Jāmiʿ al-khalāf wa l-wifāq. Qom: Pasdār-i Islām, 1421 AH.
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