Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
After performing the rituals of Umrah, you can either shave the head or have a haircut now matter how short or take a few hair locks.
Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty is a Senior Lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
You have one of three options:
1- The first and the ideal one is to shave the head; you should do this if this is your first Umrah.
2- The second option is to get a haircut; it does not matter how short.
3- The third, which is the minimum requirement, according to some scholars is to take a few hair locks (at least three from any side).
Allah orders us in the Quran to come out of ihram (in the case of either hajj or Umrah) after performing the essential rites by shaving our heads or cutting our hair short: Allah says, {After that, let them bring to an end their state of consecration (ihram).} (Al-Hajj 22:29) {With your heads shaved or your hair cut short.} (Al-Fath 48:27)
And the Prophet (peace be upon him) further explained it saying, “May Allah have mercy on those who shave their heads (repeating it thrice) and then, may Allah have mercy on those who cut short their hair.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.