I have noticed that some men prolong their hair. Are they allowed to do so?

Prolonging hair for men is permissible as it falls under customary practices and intrinsic nature. Abu Dawaud reported through Abu Huraira that the Prophet said, “Whoever has hair should honor it”. Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet’s hair used to reach to his shoulders.

Although the original ruling for men for prolonging their hair is the permissibility, customary practices change with the passage of time along with intricate circumstances which accompany the act itself and it might change its ruling from permissibility to disliked or even prohibited act. For example if prolonging a man’s hair became in a certain period of time or a specific geographical location associated with homosexuality, profligacy and debauch, it is deemed impermissible for him to prolong it. Therefore if a matter is favored and liked in itself and then became a motto associated with sinners, it becomes a prohibited matter. Scholars have stated that if the doers of sins are famous for a certain dress code, it becomes prohibited for others to wear it. It was narrated by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar that the Prophet said, “whoever resembles a group of people becomes one of them”.
Also whoever resembles the people who commit profligacy subjects himself to ill thinking and questioning. Sheikh ‘Ali al Qari in his book (Merqah al Mafatih Sharh Meshkat al Masabih) said that whoever resembles himself with libertines is like them.

The Hanbali’s opinion on this matter is that prolonging hair is a sunnah and it is permissible for a man to make it as a braid yet Imam Ibn Muflih tied this act to not seeking fame or not being associated with unethical behavior or not going against customary practices and traditions in the society he lives in.

Therefore the issue of dress codes and the way one looks depends on the customary practices and traditions of different societies and are subjected to general rules of decency such as covering the private parts of the body, prohibiting resembling the looks of profligate and lecherous people, prohibiting men resemble the looks of women and vice versa, prohibiting conceit, arrogance and pride. If these general rules are taken into consideration along with the customary practices of the society he lives in, the man is allowed to prolong his hair.