Short answer
Yes, in the Hanafi school. A goatee keeps the chin hair but shaves the jaw and cheeks, which are part of the beard, so it takes the ruling of shaving the beard: makruh tahrimi. The beard should cover the jaw and chin and reach a fist in length. The Maliki and Hanbali schools also forbid shaving the beard; the relied-upon Shafi'i view calls it disliked.
The beard is the hair on the jaw, the lower cheeks and the chin. Shaving any of it, as in a goatee, a chin strap or an anchor style, is makruh tahrimi, just like shaving the whole beard.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The relied-upon view of al-Rafi'i and al-Nawawi is that shaving the beard is makruh, though many Shafi'i scholars held it to be haram.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ told men to let their beards grow and to trim their moustaches, to be different from the idolaters. The command is about the beard as a whole, not one patch of it. The Hanafi scholars define the beard as the hair growing on the jaw and cheeks up to the sideburns, and on the chin, so the ruling of shaving the beard covers every part of it.
Goatees and similar styles. A goatee, a "Van Dyke", an anchor or a soul patch keeps the chin and shaves the rest. A chin strap keeps a thin line along the jaw and shaves the rest. Each removes beard hair that should stay, so each is makruh tahrimi. A goatee with a long, full moustache reverses the Sunnah twice, because the moustache is the part that should be kept short; see trimming the moustache.
What you may tidy. Stray hairs high on the cheeks above the natural beard line may be trimmed so it looks neat, and most muftis allow removing hair on the throat below the jaw, though some Hanafi texts prefer leaving it. For length, see the Sunnah length of the beard.
Patchy growth. If hair only grows on your chin, you are not sinning. Leave what grows and keep it tidy. The sin is in removing what Allah grows, not in having a thin beard. If you have been wearing a goatee, simply let the rest grow from today; there is nothing else to make up.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Hashr 59:7
مَّآ أَفَآءَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِۦ مِنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْقُرَىٰ فَلِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ وَلِذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ كَىْ لَا يَكُونَ دُولَةًۢ بَيْنَ ٱلْأَغْنِيَآءِ مِنكُمْ ۚ وَمَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمُ ٱلرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَىٰكُمْ عَنْهُ فَٱنتَهُوا۟ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ شَدِيدُ ٱلْعِقَابِ ﴿٧﴾
And what Allah restored to His Messenger from the people of the towns - it is for Allah and for the Messenger and for [his] near relatives and orphans and the [stranded] traveler - so that it will not be a perpetual distribution among the rich from among you. And whatever the Messenger has given you - take; and what he has forbidden you - refrain from. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty.
The Prophet's command to grow the beard is to be followed.
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 covers the whole beard.
Sahih Muslim 260
Sahih... جزوا الشوارب وأرخوا اللحى خالفوا المجوس ...
"Clip the moustaches and let the beards hang down; be different from the Magians."
The same command in another wording.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Sawm, chapter on what does and does not break the fast. Taking from the beard below a fist was permitted by no one.
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on circumcision, hair and nails. On the beard and which hairs may be trimmed.
- al-Majmu' (Nawawi), Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on the siwak and the practices of the fitrah. The Shafi'i discussion of shaving 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.