Shaving the Scrotum and Around the Anus

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon His Messenger.

Dear brother, we commend your eagerness to become well acquainted with Islam and its teachings, which is the way Allah has chosen for the welfare of His servants.

First of all, we would like to stress the fact that removing unwanted hair from the body is an act of fitrah (natural disposition). Referring to this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said: “Thefitrahconsists of five things: circumcision, trimming the moustache, cutting the nails, plucking the armpit hairs and shaving the pubic hairs”(Al-Bukhari and Muslim.)

There are reports in the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) which indicate that the pubic hairs should be removed, as it was reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,

“The fitrah consists of five things, … [one of which is] removing the pubic hairs” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also set a time limit of forty days, and the hair should not be left any longer than that because of the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), who said,

“He set us a time limit of no more than forty days for trimming the moustache, clipping the nails, plucking the armpit hairs, and shaving the pubic hair” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim). 

The jurists discussed the proper etiquette of removing the pubic hair and said that it is recommended to start shaving the pubic hair from beneath the navel, and to start on the right hand side, and one should also be concealed from the sight of others when doing this.

The reasons behind removing this dirty hair could also be applied to the hair on the scrotum and around the anus, if impurity gets attached to it, because the purpose is to be completely clean and pure and keep away from anything that may cause dirt and impurities to cling to the body. In this case, removing this hair is a good thing. With regard to women, the rulings on removing the pubic hair are the same as the rulings for men.”

Almighty Allah knows best.