Jum'a Thoughts: A Muslim Man and His Beard

Jum'a mabaruk sisters, today I am going to give a mini khutbah of my own LOL jjkn.

You know how we hijabis all get soooooooooooo mad at the Muslim or non-muslims that says hijab isn't commanded in the Qu'ran, and annoyed by those that say niqab wasn't a practice in Islam when anybody who is capable of reading will know that it is?!

Well, what annoys me more are these same hijabis who look down at Muslim men who have beards as men they are not attracted to and couldn't envision themselves marrying. I used to be this way myself**** so not blaming anyone. Looking at the top pic in my early days of Islam, I would have found the face of Shiekh Saad Al Ghamdi (on the right) foreign to my media-drenched upbringing that would have told me beards are for old men. I would see the young Saudi and Kuwaiti brothers to have a face I am more attracted to. When I learnt that my clean shaven husband could not grow a beard for medical reasons (LOL, he is allergic to his own facial hair and becomes one giant rash despite a wish to try and overcome this one Ramadan) I was over-joyed as a new convert. But now that I have come to love the sunnah, and prefer the spiritua over the physical, I love everything about the Prophet Mohammed sallalhu alahi wa salaam. And that great man had a beard, and told Muslim men that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: "Do otherwise than those who ascribe partners to Allah (al-mushrikin): leave beards be, and trim mustaches."

In all schools of Islamic Law (the madhabs), it is considered wajib (mandatory) for a Muslim male to grow a beard. It is also wajib to let the beard grow a fist length. It is prohibited to cut or shave the beard. He who does so is a fasiq (sinner) and to shorten it less than a fist length is makrooh tahrimi (near haram). The beard of course can be trimmed as it is reported from one of the companions who narrated the hadeeth, "Leave the beard and trim the mustaches," 'Abdullaah bin 'Umar, that he used to remove from his beard what was below a fistful. Apart from that, trimming the beard is against the Sunnah, whether or not the man's beard is pleasing to him, and whether or not it is pleasing to others, for all of Allaah's creation is handsome, as in the saheeh hadeeth, where the Prophet (saw) saw a man with a long waist-shirt and ordered him to have his izaar halfway up his shins; the man gave the excuse that he had a defect in his ankles, so the Prophet (saw) said, "All of Allaah's creation is handsome." (saheeh-Ahmad and others. This phrase is actually of Qur'anic origin cf. Sajdah 32:7). The proof for the etiquette of trimming the beard is in the explicit and known practice of the Companions including, but not restricted to Ibn `Umar, and to invoke an analogy to the Prophet's order to lift up the izar is out of place, as that is a command that has a hukm of its own, namely that it is detestable to drag one's lower garment on the ground and it is desirable that the ankle-bones remain uncovered. The Prophet's original command to leave the beard is understood in the context of differing from non-Muslims, not leaving it absolutely, as is confirmed by the practice of Ibn `Umar who trimmed whatever grew in excess of a fistful.
This collage is one of beards that I like. I like beards that I neatly kept (at least a fistfull) but still obviously a beard, as per the sunnah of many of the companions, may Allah subhanhu wa ta'ala be pleased with them.

Ibn `Umar relates from the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) that he said: "Do otherwise than those who ascribe partners to Allah (al-mushrikin): leave beards be, and trim mustaches." And ibn `Umar, when he went on hajj or `umra, grasped his beard with his hand, and removed what was in excess of it (Sahih al-Bukhari, 9 vols. Cairo 1313/1895. Reprint (9 vols. in 3). Beirut: Dar al-Jil, n.d., 7.206: 5892 and Sahih Muslim, 5 vols. Cairo 1376/1956. Reprint. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1403/1983, 1.222: 259). The beard of the male Muslim is one of the outward symbols of Islam and as al-Badr al-`Ayni pointed out it is important that it not be made to look unkempt and disheveled. The Prophet said: "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty." The Tabi`i `Ata' ibn Abi Rabah said: "There is no harm in trimming a little from the length and sides of his beard, if it grows large and long" and al-Nakh`i, another Tabi`i, related that the Companions used to trim their beards on the sides. It is preposterous and reprehensible to suggest that such a trimming is against the Sunna as both they and the authorities among the Tabi`in who reported from them were certainly more knowledgeable of the Sunna than us. As the scholars said: "The Sahaba were all legally upright (`udul) by consensus (ijma`) of Muslim scholars, and it is inconceivable that they would institutionalize and set a precedent that was in direct defiance of a religious obligation."

For those who would mock the hijab of a Muslim woman, know that a beard is often a hijab/jilbab of a Muslim man. Naseem asked that all Muslim men wear kufis, but the beard is what the Prophet Mohammed proclaimed for them, to be identified as believer. For those who can grow a beard, there is reward for them, and for those who cannot, there is no harm. Keep this in mind, those who would mock the sunnah of the believers:

The ruling of the scholars upon those who mock the dress of the disbelievers is that one that does so becomes a Kafir or an apostate. Abdullah bin Umar reported: During the mission of Tabuk, a man said: "We have never seen like our scholars; they have the largest stomachs, and lie the most, and are the most cowardly in the battlefield." A man responded to him angrily and said: "You are a liar. You are a hypocrite. I shall certainly report you to the Messenger of Allah sallalahu alahi wa salaam." The Messenger of Allah sallalahu alahi wa salaam was informed about the incident. He recieved a Qu`ranic revelation about the statement, despite the pleas of the man who had mocked the righteous men, saying: ``We were only amusing ourselves with vain talk!`` The Messenger of Allah sallalahu alahi wa salaam then recited the words of the Qu`ran as they were revealed to him: ``Say, was it Allah and His ayat (signs) and His messenger that you mocked at? Offer no excuse. You have certainly apostatized after believing.`` With these words Allah the Exalted equated deriding the believers with deriding the the signs of Allah, and His messenger.