Short answer
Partly. In the Hanafi school the beard begins with the strip of hair in front of the ear (the idhar) that runs down to the cheek and jaw, so the lower part of the sideburns that joins the beard should not be shaved. The upper part beside the ear, which belongs to the hair of the head, may be trimmed with your haircut.
The beard is the hair on the cheeks and jaw from the idhar down, and on the chin; shaving any of it is makruh tahrimi. Hair above that line, which belongs to the head, may be cut short or tidied like the rest of the head hair.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ told men to let the beard grow and to trim the moustache. The Hanafi scholars define the beard as the hair growing on the cheeks and the jawbone, starting from the idhar (the hair in front of the ear, level with the ear opening), together with the chin. So the command covers the sides of the face as well as the chin.
A sideburn has two parts. The upper part, near the temple and above the ear opening, grows with the hair of the head and is cut as part of a haircut. The lower part runs down in front of the ear and joins the cheek hair. That lower part is beard, and fading it to bare skin or shaving it off removes beard that should stay.
- At the barber, ask for the sideburns to be blended into the beard rather than taken down to the skin.
- A clean line at the top of the cheeks, taking only stray hairs above the natural beard line, is allowed; see the Sunnah length of the beard.
- If your sideburns and beard do not join naturally, there is no sin. You only need to leave what Allah grows.
The full ruling on removing beard hair is in is shaving your beard haram, and on styles that keep only part of it in is a goatee haram.
The evidence
Sahih al-Bukhari 5892
Sahih... خالفوا المشركين وفروا اللحى وأحفوا الشوارب ...
"Be different from the idolaters: let the beard grow fully and trim the moustache short."
The command to grow the beard, which the Hanafi school treats as wajib.
Sahih Muslim 261
Sahih... عشر من الفطرة قص الشارب وإعفاء اللحية ...
"Ten things are part of the fitrah: trimming the moustache, letting the beard grow, the siwak, rinsing the nose with water, clipping the nails..."
Letting the beard grow is part of the natural way.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, on the limits of the face and the beard in wudu. Defines the idhar and the hair of the cheeks and jaw.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on circumcision, hair and nails. On what may and may not be taken from the beard.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.