The Beard Between the Salaf & Khalaf

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Definition
The Arabic word for beard is lihyah. It derives from lahy (jaw) and lahyan (the
two jaws). Thus, a beard is defined as the hair that grows on the cheeks and
jaws- [Al-Qamus ul-Muhit by al-Fayruzabadi, and Lisan ul-Arab by Ibn Manzur]. It includes the hair that grows on the temples, underneath the lower lip, the hair of the chin, and the hair that grows on the lower side of the jaws.

Ruling
Growing the beard is wajib (mandatory) for all males who are capable of
doing so. As will be presented below, there is ample evidence for this in the
Sunnah, and it is the unanimous opinion of the ‘ulama’ of Islam.

Position of the Scholars
All the ‘ulama’ (scholars) of as-Salaf us-Salih (the Righteous early Muslims),
including the Four Imams, agree that shaving the beard is haram
(prohibited). They consider shaving it an impermissible mutilation, as has
been reported from Umar Bin Abdul Aziz- [At-Tarikh by Ibn Asakir]. They
considered the man who shaved his beard effeminate. Many of them would
not accept his testimony or allow him to lead the prayers.

THE HANAFIS
According to the Hanafis:
“It is prohibited for a man to cut his beard ... as for
cutting it shorter than a fist-length - as is done by
some people from the west and by the effeminate men
- no one permits this. And as for shaving it completely,
it is the doing of the Indian Jews and the Persian Magians” [Persian Magians-Followers of an old religion, possibly the same as the "Zoroastrians"] [Ad-Durr ul-Mukhtar].

Ibn-Abidayn said:
“It is prohibited for a man to cut his beard.” (Radd
ul-Muhtar [2:418])​

THE MALIKIS
According to the Malikis:
“Shaving the beard is prohibited, as is cutting it if it
causes a (clear) mutilation. But if it becomes oversized,
and if cutting it would not appear as a mutilation, then
it may be cut; but that would be disliked and contrary
to that which is better.” [Sharh ur-Risalah by Abu al-Hasan,
and the commentary on it by al-Adwi]

Al-`Adwi said:
“It has been reported from Malik that he hated shaving
anything under the jaws, until he said, ‘It is from the
doing of the Magians.’ And it is prohibited to remove
the hair of the beard.” [Sharh ur-Risalah by Abu al-Hasan,
and the commentary on it by al-Adwi (2:411)]

Ibn Abd al-Barr said:
“It is prohibited to shave the beard, and it is not done
except by effeminate men.”[At-Tamhid]

THE SHAFI’IS
As for the Shafi’is, al-Imam ash-Shafi’i has expressed that it is prohibited to
shave the beard [al-Umm]. Also, al-Athru’i said, “The correct position is that it is prohibited to totally shave the beard without a (medical) problem with it.”
[Sharh ul-Ubab].

THE HANBALIS
The Hanbali's agree without exception that it is prohibited to shave the beard
[Al-Insaf, Sharh ul-Muntaha, etc.].

Ibn Taymiyyah stated:
“It is prohibited to shave the beard.” [Al-Ikhtiyarat
ul-Ilmiyyah (p.6)]

As-Saffarini said:
“It is agreed in our mathhab that it is prohibited to
shave the beard.” [Ghitha ul-Albab (1:376)].

IBN HAZM
Ibn Hazm al-Andalusi said:
“All of the scholars agree that shaving the beard is a
form of mutilation, and is prohibited.” [Maratib ul-Ijma'
(p.157), and al-Muhalla (2:189)]

IBN TAYMIYYAH
Shaykh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said:
“Because of the authentic hadiths, it is prohibited to
shave the beard, and no one has ever permitted it.”

CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS
The great scholars of our time have expressed that it is prohibited to shave
the beard or cut it short. Among those are Ali Mahfuz, Muhammad Nasir
ud-Din al-Albani, Abd ul-Aziz Bin Baz, al-Kandahlawi, Abu Bakr al-Jaza’iri,
Ismail al-Ansari, and many others.

Extent of the Beard
The commands of the Prophet ! clearly indicate that the beard should be
completely spared. Furthermore, the Prophet ! and his companions had full
and large beards.
There are no authentic reports indicating that the Prophet ! trimmed his
beard. However, there are authentic reports from a number of the sahabah -
particularly, Ibn-Umar, Abu Hurayrah, and Ibn-Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them all), indicating that they used to cut what extended beyond a fist-length.

There are similar reports as well from a number of the salaf such as Ibrahim
an-Nakhi, Malik, and Ahmad. [Several such authentic reports are compiled by
al-Albani in ad-Da’ifah (following hadith no. 2355)]
When ‘Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), went for Hajj or Umrah, he used to hold his beard with his fist and cut whatever extended beyond his fist. [Al-Bukhari]

Thus, the general command of sparing the beard should be restricted to the
understanding and practice of the sahabah, and its length below the chin should not exceed a man's fist.​

The Muslims have been commanded to be different and distinct from the
disbelievers. In Surat ul-Fatihah, we are commanded to ask Allah to guide us
away from the ways of the disbelievers:

“Guide us to the Straight Path - The path of those
upon whom You have bestowed Your favor, not of
those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who
are astray.” [Al-Fatihah 1:6~7]

Also, Allah prohibits His Messenger ! from following the desires of the
ignorant. And indeed, anyone who is not on the True Guidance is ignorant.

Allah says:

“Do not follow the whims of those who have no
knowledge (of Islam).” [Al-Jathiyah 45:18]

The Prophet has indicated that a person who imitates a certain people will
be counted (in Islam) as being one of them. Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that Allah's Messenger ! said: “I have been sent, close to the Last Hour, with the sword (to fight for the truth) - until Allah is worshipped alone without partners. My sustenance has been allotted under the shade of my spear. Humility and defeat have been allocated to whoever strays from my command. And whoever imitates a people is one of them.” [Recorded by Abu Dawud and others. Verifies to be authentic by al-Albani (Irwa ulghalil no. 1269)]

How terrible it would be for a person whom Allah has favored with Islam to
find himself resurrected on the Day of Judgment among non-Muslims - simply
because he liked to imitate them. In several hadiths, Allah's Messenger ! has linked sparing the beard to being different from the followers of other religions.

Abu Hurayrah " reported that the Prophet ! said:
“Cut the moustaches and grow your beards. Be different
from the ‘Magians’.” [Recorded by Muslim and Others]

Note: ‘Magians’ - Followers of an ancient Persian religion.
Abu Umamah " reported that Allah's Messenger ! said:
“Cut your moustaches and leave your beards alone. Be
different from the people of the scripture.” [Recorded by
Muslim]

Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) reported that Allah's Messenger !
said:
“Be different from the ‘mushrikin’; trim your moustaches
and save your beards.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Note: ‘mushrikin’ - Those who join others with Allah in worship.
Therefore, shaving the beard is an act of imitation of the disbelievers, and
should be extremely abhorred. It conflicts with many fundamentals of Islam,
and yet many Muslim men do it in compliance with the practices of the
disbelievers! Verily, Allah's Messenger ! has foretold the truth, as was
reported by Abu Said al-Khudri " that he !, said: “You will follow the example of those who preceded you, hand-span for hand-span, and arm-length for
arm-length. Even if they entered into a lizard's hole, you would surely enter it!”

He was asked, “Do you mean the Jews and Christians?” He replied, “Who else are the (previous) people?” [Recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim and others].​

6. Changing Allah's Creation Without Permission
Except for cases that are expressly indicated in Islam, it is prohibited to
change the way that Allah has created things. Changing Allah's creation
without permission involves obeying Satan who, as Allah tells us, had said:
“They actually call upon none but rebellious Satan,
whom Allah has cursed. And he had said (to Allah), “I
will surely take from among Your servants a specific
portion. I will mislead them, give them false
promises, command them so they will slit the ears of
cattle, and command them so they will change the
creation of Allah.” Certainly, whoever takes Satan as
an ally instead of Allah is in tremendous loss.” [an-Nisa
4:117~119]

At-Tahanawi said:
“It is established that changing Allah's creation is a
cause for the curse, and that whatever Allah's
Messenger ! prohibits is prohibited by Allah.” [Bayan ul-
Quran]

Waliyy Ullah ad-Dahlawi said:
“Cutting it is the way of the Magians, and involves
changing Allah's creation.” [Bayan ul-Quran]

7. Imitation of Women
The beard presents a major distinction between men and women. Shaving it
removes this distinction, and is thus a means of imitating women. Any act
that involves imitation of the opposite gender makes a person liable for the
curse of Allah and His Messenger !. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them), reported: “Allah's Messenger ! has cursed the men who imitate the women; and the women who imitate the men.”
[Recorded by al-Bukhari and others].

Al-Kandahlawi said:
“No one can have doubt that complete imitation of
women arises from shaving the beard. This imitation is
stronger than that of imitating their clothing and other
matters, because the beard is the foremost and
greatest distinction between men and women. This is
possible to observe by all people, and is not denied
except by one who wants to deceive himself, follow his
whims, and be effeminate after Allah has favored him
with the good appearance of a man.” [Wujub i’fa il-Lihyah
31-32].

8. Contradicting the Pure Fitrah
The Messenger ! indicates that a child is born with a pure nature, which may
subsequently be blurred by self-indulgence or unfavorable environmental
influence. Abu Hurayrah and al-Aswad Bin Sari reported that Allah's
Messenger ! said:

Allah has honored the human beings and fashioned them in the best form:
“Verily, We have created the human being in the best
of stature.” [At-Tin 95:4]

Changing this without permission is indeed an act of great atrocity and
deviation that deserves punishment.
The Messenger ! has declared that the women who change what Allah has
created (such as removing their facial hair, wearing wigs, filing their teeth, or
tattooing their bodies) seeking by that to improve their appearance, are
accursed by Allah.

Ibn Mas'ud " reported that Allah's Messenger ! said:
“Allah curses those (women) who tattoo (for others) and
those who get tattoos, those who pluck the facial hair
(for others) and those who have their facial hair
plucked, those who connect their hair with other (fake)
hair, and those who file their teeth for beauty - they
all change Allah's creation.” [al-Bukhari and Muslim]

This hadith mentions women in particular because they normally seek to
beautify themselves more than men. But the warning applies to both genders,
because the condition for the curse is declared: changing Allah's creation.
Thus the curse applies to anyone who satisfies such condition.
Shaving the beard falls under this warning, as it is much worse than ‘nams’
- (removal of facial hair) practiced by some women.​

“Every child is born with the pure fitrah (nature) - until
he becomes able to express himself. It is his parents
who then turn him into a Jew, a Christian, a Magian, or
a pagan.” [al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Furthermore, Allah's Messenger ! mentioned ten qualities as indicative of a
good, clean nature. Two of these qualities are to trim the moustaches and to
grow the beard.

A’ishah " reported that Allah's Messenger ! said:
“There are ten qualities of fitrah: trimming the
mustaches, sparing the beard, siwak (brushing the
teeth), inhaling water (to clean the nose) [and rinsing the
mouth], cutting the nails, washing the finger knuckles,
plucking the armpit hair, shaving the pubic hair, washing
the private parts with water, [and circumcision].” [Muslim,
Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Ibn Abi Shaybah, and others. The part between
square brackets is not in Muslim (Sahah ul-Jami `no. 2222)]

This fitrah never changes with time: Allah says:
“The pure nature according to which Allah has
created the people. There is no change in Allah's
creation.” [ar-Rum 30:30]

In the footsteps of the disbelievers, many Muslims fitrah is now very
deformed. They find a clean-shaven man more handsome and masculine than
one with a beard - exactly the opposite to what the Messenger ! declared in
the above hadith!

9. Ridiculing the Din
With the deformed fitrah that many contemporary Muslims have, they
approve of the ways of the disbelievers and disapprove of the guidance of
Allah's Messenger !! They adorn themselves with closely shaved beards, and
are ashamed of attending important functions or meetings with even a slight
beard. They admire the shiny look of a clean shaved man, and congratulate
one who just had a nice shave! They command their relatives, children, and
subordinates to shave their beards, declaring that the beard is a sign of being
messy, backward, and lazy! They ridicule the beard and anyone who grows it!
By doing this, they redicule an established part of the religion of Islam,
which is a major sin. If they do not know that, they are most ignorant about their din, and if they do it knowingly, they could fall into a definite act of kufr
(disbelief) - in Allah we seek refuge.​

CHAPTER 4

OTHER HAIR

The Moustaches
The hadiths presented in Chapter 3 command the men to closely trim their
moustaches, and indicate that trimming them is one of the qualities of fitrah.
Trimming the moustaches is done by cutting them level with the upper lip.
This has been reported from five of the sahabah [Recorded by at-Tabarani,
al-Bayhaqi, and others. Verified to be hasan by al-Albani (Adab uz-Zifaf p. 209].

Trimming the moustaches should be done at least once every forty days.

This is indicated in Anas's hadith below.

Shaving the moustaches completely is a bid ah, as declared by Malik:
"This is a bid ah that has appeared among the people
... my opinion in regard to a person who completely
shaves his moustaches is that he should be beaten."
[Recorded by al-Bayhaqi (1:151). Verified to be authentic by al
Albani (Adab uz Zifaf p. 209)].

Malik had big moustaches. When questioned about that, he reported that when Umar " got angry, he would roll his moustaches and blow [Recorded by at-Tabarani in al-Kabir. Verified to be authentic by al-Albani (Adab uz-Zifaf p. 209)].

Facial Hair
Except for the moustaches, it is prohibited to pluck or shave the facial hair.
We mentioned earlier that Allah's Messenger ! has declared that those who
remove their facial hair are accursed by Allah, as was reported from him by
Ibn Mas`ud ":

“Allaah curses ... those who pluck the facial hair (for
others) and those who have their facial hair plucked, ...
” [al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Hair of The Head
The Prophet ! was not particular about the hair of his head. It would
sometimes extend to a level between his ears and shoulders [Recorded by
Muslim, Abu Dawud, and others, from Anas Bin Malik " and Aishah "], other times (in Umrah) he would shave it completely, and when he entered Makkah he had four braids [Recorded by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and others, from Umm Hani Bint Abi Talib. Verified to be authentic by al-Albani (Mukhtasar ush-Shamail p.35)].

Thus there is no specific restriction in regard to the hair of the head - other
than the following:
a) A woman's hair may not be shaved or cut short so
as to resemble that of the men.
b) A man’s or woman's hair may not be cut or done in
a way resembling that of the sinners, disbelievers, etc.

Armpit and Pubic Hair
Removing the hair of the armpits and the pubic hair is among the qualities of
fitrah. It should be done at least once every forty days. Anas " reported:
“Allah’s Messenger ! timed for us trimming our
moustaches, clipping our nails, pulling our armpit hair,
and shaving our pubic hair-that we do not delay that
beyond forty nights.” [Recorded by Muslim, Ahmad and others].

Removing the hair is not considered among the prohibited “change in Allah’s
creation”, because Allah commands us to do it.

Other Hair of the Body
From the above, it is apparent that the human hair is of three types: that
which is obligatory to remove (ex. The pubic hair), that which is prohibited to
remove (ex. the Facial Hair), and that which is optional (the hair of the head).
Other bodily hair is not mentioned in any hadith is considered of the type: it
may be removed for convenience if that does not lead to any violations, such
as for men to resemble women.

Conclusion
Some of the issues mentioned in this chapter are of controversial nature
among the scholars. We attempted to present the opinion that appears to be
closest to the Sunnah, and Allah knows best.
May Allah guide us to abide by His Din, adhere to His Messenger’s Sunnah,
and be among those whom He blessed.​