Pakistani barbers ban hipster beard trims

Hairdressers in Pakistan’s conservative north-west have announced a ban in their shops on fashionable beards, saying trendy facial hair breaches Islamic law.

The decision affecting Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province echoes a similar ban there more than a decade ago, after militant groups including the Pakistani Taliban threatened barbers for trimming beards.

“Creating different beard designs is against the Sunnah [teachings] of the Prophet Mohammed,” Sulemani Hairdressers Association’s president, Sharif Kahlu, said on Monday.

Mr Kahlu said tens of thousands of barbers, members of his association, promised to abide by the decision and notices would be pasted in shops.

The most generally accepted Islamic beard is one that is long enough to be visible from a certain distance, but not longer than a fistful of hair.

Mr Kahlu strongly denied any pressure on his association from any militant organisation, calling the move “a decision of our conscience”.

“We met local administrations of major cities and districts in the province and they assured us of their full co-operation but refused to issue any directive to make this decision official,” he said.

He said there were shops in the province that were not members of the association. “We will try and convince them to implement the decision.”

Militants attacked barber shops and saloons in the province a decade ago, calling the shaving of beards un-Islamic.