a. A
Disobedience to Allah (T)
Shaving the beard is a disobedience to
Allah (T). The ruler of Yemen, appointed by the Persian emperor Kisraa,
sent two envoys to the Messenger (S) to summon him. When they came into
his presence, he noticed that they had shaved their beards and grew
their moustaches. He hated to look at them (because of their odd
appearance) and he said: Woe be to you, who told you to do so? They
replied: "Our lord! (referring to Kisraa.)" The Messenger (S)
then said:
But my Lord, may He be
exalted and glorified, has commanded me to leave alone my beard and to
trim my moustache. [Recorded by Ibn Jar r a-abar , and judged to be
Hasan (good) by al-Albani.]
b. A
Disobedience To the Messenger (S)
Shaving the beard is a disobedience to
the Messenger (S). In many hadiths, the Messenger (S) commanded men to
leave alone their beards. These different hadiths have a similar
meaning:
Trim the moustache and
save the beard. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Obeying the Messenger
(S) in that is equivalent to obeying Allah (T) who said (what means):
He who obeys the
Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah. [An-Nisaa 4:80]
c. A
Deviation from the Appearance and Guidance of the Messenger (S)
Shaving the beard is a deviation from the
appearance and guidance of the Messenger (S). The Messenger (S) used to
have a large beard [Muslim]. One should strive to imitate him (S) in his
practices, as Allah (T) said (what means):In the Messenger of Allah is a
good example for you to follow. [Al-Ahzab 33:21]
And the Messenger (S)
said: Verily, the best guidance is Muhammad's guidance. [Muslim]
d. A
Deviation from the Way of Believers
Shaving the beard is a deviation from the
way of believers. All the prophets (S), the sahbah (Prophet's
companions), the great `ulamaa, and the righteous early Muslims of this
Ummah (Nation) grew their beards. There is no report of a single one of
them ever shaving his beard. Thus, this is their way, and Allah (T) says
(in the meaning):
Whoever disobeys the
Messenger after guidance has been clarified to him, and follows other
than the path of the believers, We shall give to him what he deserves
and broil him in hell, which is the worst abode. [An-Nisaa 4:115]
e. An
Imitation of the Disbelievers
Shaving the beard is an imitation of the
disbelievers. This has been emphasized in several hadiths of the Prophet
(S). For example:
Cut the moustaches and
grow your beards. Be different from the Magians (followers of a religion
that dominated in Persia). [Muslim]
Cut your moustaches
and leave your beards alone. Be different from the people of the
scripture. [Muslim]
Be different from the
Mushrikin (those who worship other than Allah (T)); trim your moustaches
and save your beards. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
We have been commanded
to be different and distinct from the disbelievers, as in surat
ul-Fatihah. Also, Allah (T) said (what means):
Follow not the whims
of those who have no knowledge (of Islam). [Al-Jathiyah 45:18]
And His Messenger (S)
said: Whoever imitates a people is but one of them. [Recorded by Abu
Dawud, and judged to be authentic by al-Albani]
f. Changing
Allah's Creation without Permission
The Messenger (S) declared that the women
who change what Allah (T) has created (such as removing the hair from
their faces or filing their teeth or tattooing their bodies) seeking by
that to improve their appearance, are accursed by Allah (T). [Al-Bukhari
and Muslim]
The hadith mentioned
women in particular because they normally seek to beautify themselves
more than men. But the warning surely applies to both sexes, because the
condition for the curse is declared, and thus the curse applies to
anyone who satisfies such condition.
Shaving the beard
falls under this warning, as it is much worse than the Nam (removal of
facial hair) practiced by some women. It involves obeying Satan who
said:
And I shall tempt them
until they change what Allah has created. [An-Nisaa 4:119]
g. An
Imitation of Women
The beard is a major distinction between
men and women. Shaving it removes this distinction, and is thus a means
of imitating women. The Messenger (S) said:
Allah curses those men
who imitate the women, and He curses those women who imitate the men.
[Al-Bukhari]
h. Shaving
the Beard Contradicts the Pure Fitrah (Nature)
Allah's Messenger (S) mentioned ten
qualities as indicative of a good, clean nature [Muslim]. Two of these
qualities are to trim the moustaches and to grow the beard.
The Messenger (S) also
tells that every child is born with a clean, pure fitrah, which later
may get deformed by the influence of the environment and the
up-bringing. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
In the footsteps of
the disbelievers, many Muslims' fitrah is now, unfortunately, so much
deformed that they seem to find a clean-shaven man more handsome and
masculine than one with a beard - exactly the opposite of what the
Messenger (S) declared in the above hadith.
This fitrah never
changes with time: Allah (T) said (what means):
The pure nature
according to which Allah has created people. There is no change in
Allah's creation. [Ar-Room 30:30]
For shaving their
beards, some men give the strange excuse that their wives prefer them
without one! As if their purpose in this life is to follow the deformed
inclinations of their wives instead of the clear-cut commands of Allah
(T) and His Messenger (S)!
Others claim
that growing their beards results in an irritability and scratching.
This cannot result from abiding by the pure fitrah, but would result (if
true) from neglect of the proper cleaning and washing with wudu as
instructed in the Sunnah.
