Is it haram for a man to shave their arms or legs?

Question

I am a young male and my parents say that men aren’t supposed to shave their arms and/or legs. I don’t see the problem with it, is it haram? My older sisters do it, why can’t I? I think of the same for makeup. Makeup seems fun, but they wouldn’t approve. Are they telling me this because it is haram, or is it because of toxic masculinity?

Answer 1

Like @Dyshoreh mentioned, there is nowhere in the Qur'an or Hadith that explicitly states it's haram for a male to shave their legs; however, it will come off as a thing women generally do, not men. Muhammad (saws) forbade men from imitating women, so it's best you don't shave your legs but even if you do, it won't be haram per se.

Answer 2

If you are shaving these hair only to imitate your sisters then this course of action is wrong, because imitating women is haram for men.

لعن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم المتشبهين من الرجال بالنساء

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed those men who imitate women

^{— Bukhari}

Otherwise shaving such hair is permissible, especially if there is a valid reason for doing so. The Hanafis consider it permissible although against etiquette, while the Malikis consider it permissible. The evidence for this is:

• The hair whose removal is forbidden are those of the beard and the eyebrows. There is no clear evidence for the prohibition of removal of other hair, hence the default ruling of permissibility should apply.

• There are athar which suggest that removing such hair is permissible. e.g. there is a tradition that Ibn Umar had the hair on his chest shaved as they hurt him.

Ref: The writings of the Hanafis and Malikis on this issue.