Sunnah & Hadith Beard: Sunnah, Wajib or...
Question:
Is keeping the beard a sunnah, a wajib or simply irrelevant to Islamic teaching?
Also what is the significance of the length of the beard as per Quran/Hadith/Sunnah?
Also, what is the standing of the concept of 'Wajib' as per Quran/Hadith/Sunnah. I only understand Halal, Haram, Farz, Sunnat and Nafl and the term Wajib is new to me.
Fizza
Answer:
Salaam Sister
Many thanks for your query. There is no mention in Quran either about keeping the beard or its required length. In the opinion of our scholars, keeping a beard is not part of the Sunnah of the Prophet pbuh but it is the preferred style of the Prophet pbuh as a human being and not as a religious leader.
There is a reference from a hadith regarding the length of the beard.
Prophet pbuh has said that the beard and the moustache should not be kept in a way which may give the impression of arrogance. Some people shave their beards or keep them trimmed but keep a big moustache. The Prophet pbuh had disliked such an appearance, and had directed such people that if they wanted to increase the size, then it should be of the beard and not the moustache, which should be kept trimmed in all circumstances. (Al-Bukhārī, Al-Jāmi‘ al-sahīh, no. 5892; Muslim, Al-Jāmi‘ al-sahīh, no. 602.).
According to Javed Ahmad Ghamidhi in his book Maqamat (link to its English translation by Shehzad Saleem is enclosed below), if someone among his followers keeps a beard to express his affiliation to him or merely to follow his ways, then this indeed is a very blessed practice. However, keeping a beard is not a directive of religion. Hence, if a person does not keep a beard, it cannot be said that he is evading an obligatory directive or has done something harām or forbidden.
Wajib is not a Quranic term but a term used in jurisprudence. I think the main difference is that while others mostly consider Wajib and Fardh to be the same, the Hanafi madhab make a differentiation between them. However, even among Hanafies it is not fully agreed what this difference is. One thing they agree on is that Fardh is in the highest level of obligation because of the stress and the strength of its evidence while Wajib is in a slightly lower level of obligation because of its evidence being in a lower level of stress or strength.
I enclose links from our sister web sites which provide further information on this issue.
http://www.al-mawrid.org/pages/questions_english_detail.php?qid=143&cid=61&search=beard
http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=1260
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to e-mail us.
Best regards
Waseem Aslam
UIUK Web Team
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Comments
I am not agree with your answer,
what you meant by this
It is the preferred style of the Prophet pbuh as a human being and not as a religious leader.
Anything which Rasool Allah Sallallaho Alihee Wasallam did is Sunnah, I read in a book once few ambassadors(the y were shaved with big moustache) came for talks Prophet Sallallaho Alihee Wasallam turned his face and dislike them,
And I read few Hadiths that their mafhoom: Dont lookalike Nasara and yahood or dont obey them,
I work in a customerr service dept because of this Sunnah, I recognise muslims easily otherwise its hard to recognise a muslim today because mostly lookalike Nasara and Yahood.
May Allah guide us to follow the way of Prophet Muhammad Sallallaho Alihee Wasallam.
Jazak Allah,
Saqib.
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