❀ The Prescribed Length of the Beard and the Faith Status of One Who Shaves It ❀
Taken from: “Ahkam wa Masail – In Light of Qur’an and Hadith”, Volume 01, Page 520
➊ What is the prescribed (Shar‘i) length of the beard?
➋ Is the faith (Īmān) of a person who shaves his beard complete or deficient?
Alḥamdulillāh, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
✿ Neither the Qur’an nor the authentic Ahadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ specify the length of the beard—whether it should be a fistful or more or less than that.
✿ The only clear command found in the texts is:
اَعْفُوا اللِّحٰی
“Let the beards grow.”
✿ Other statements found in Mawqūf narrations (those attributed to Companions) do not serve as binding religious proof, unless they are considered ḥukman marfū‘ (implicitly traced back to the Prophet ﷺ).
✿ The faith of the one who shaves his beard is deficient.
✿ At times, his faith may become completely void, especially when he feels pleased while looking in the mirror after shaving it.
✿ The evidence for this is as follows, as stated in the Hadith:
وَذٰلِکَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِیْمَانِ
وَلَیْسَ وَرَآئَ ذٰلِکَ مِنَ الْإِیْمَانِ حَبَّۃُ خَرْدَلٍ
“That is the weakest level of faith, and beyond that, not even a mustard seed’s worth of faith remains.”
(Refer to: Kitāb al-Īmān, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Volume 1, Chapter: Forbidding Evil is Part of Faith)
هَذَا مَا عِنْدِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I have, and Allah knows best what is correct.
Taken from: “Ahkam wa Masail – In Light of Qur’an and Hadith”, Volume 01, Page 520
❖ Question
➊ What is the prescribed (Shar‘i) length of the beard?
➋ Is the faith (Īmān) of a person who shaves his beard complete or deficient?
❖ Answer
Alḥamdulillāh, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
➊ Prescribed Length of the Beard in Sharī‘ah
✿ Neither the Qur’an nor the authentic Ahadith of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ specify the length of the beard—whether it should be a fistful or more or less than that.
✿ The only clear command found in the texts is:
اَعْفُوا اللِّحٰی
“Let the beards grow.”
✿ Other statements found in Mawqūf narrations (those attributed to Companions) do not serve as binding religious proof, unless they are considered ḥukman marfū‘ (implicitly traced back to the Prophet ﷺ).
➋ Faith (Īmān) of the One Who Shaves the Beard
✿ The faith of the one who shaves his beard is deficient.
✿ At times, his faith may become completely void, especially when he feels pleased while looking in the mirror after shaving it.
✿ The evidence for this is as follows, as stated in the Hadith:
وَذٰلِکَ أَضْعَفُ الْإِیْمَانِ
وَلَیْسَ وَرَآئَ ذٰلِکَ مِنَ الْإِیْمَانِ حَبَّۃُ خَرْدَلٍ
“That is the weakest level of faith, and beyond that, not even a mustard seed’s worth of faith remains.”
(Refer to: Kitāb al-Īmān, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Volume 1, Chapter: Forbidding Evil is Part of Faith)
هَذَا مَا عِنْدِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
This is what I have, and Allah knows best what is correct.
