Goatie beard
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Asalaumu alaykum
i have a very brief and
simple question to ask but on a subject not too difficult or complicated to
answer. this may seem very stupid to you but its something that effects my
every day life, i am a good muslim
but I am trying to gain more knowledge and increase my commitment to Allah (swt), i am beginning to pray more
and read the quran more and also follow the life
which is recommnded to us more consistently, however
I have been told a few things by elders that has got me confused.
i have a "goatee" beard
(small lined beard around chin) its something I keep because i like to keep it, i dont have any illicit reasons for keeping it and i dont see how in the eyes of god
this could be a problem, i have been told that
because keeping a full berad was the sunna of our great prophet pbuh
me keeping a beard as such would be to disrespect the idea of a beard and that
this is sinfull.
maybe i am naive in the thought i
am doing now harm or mybe the elders are trying to discouraghe me because they assume it reflects bad in
society (as people may think i am of bad intentions).
i know this is propbably the most stupid and irrelervant
question to you but sometimes the smallest questions are the ones with most relervance. please could you get back to me and tell me
what the thought is on keeping such beards etc is it sinfull
and is it viewed as i am disrespecting our prophet pbuh.
thankyou for your time hudahafiz
Brother
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
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confidentiality.)
Answer:
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We
bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
May Allah bless and reward you
for your efforts in gaining knowledge and trying to be a good practicing muslim. May Allah increase yours and our knowledge
in the deen, and make us all better practicing muslims, and take our lives when
we are in the best of faith and imaan. Ameen.
There is absolutely no doubt
that it is the Sunnah of the Noble Messenger of
Allah, Mohamed ar Rasool
Allah (saws) that he had a long beard.
Not only is keeping a beard a Sunnah of the
Prophet Mohamed (saws), but it is considered a Sunnah
of all the Prophets who came before him.
Thus, if one keeps a beard to follow the Sunnah
of the Prophet (saws), he will, Insha Allah, be
eligible for a reward from Allah Subhanah.
In and before the time of the
Prophet (saws), and upto a couple of centuries ago,
it was a normal practice and almost inconceivable that a man would not sport a
full beard! Even the enemies of the
Messenger of Allah (saws) like Abu Jahl, Abu Lahab, Al Waleed ibn Mugeerah, etc. had long
flowing beards! It was just something
that men did naturally! The clean shaven
culture is one that was adopted by the Western civilization a couple of
centuries ago, and unfortunately has crept into the Islamic Ummah.
The beard today has become a
symbol of Islamic culture. But just to
keep things in perspective, some people have made the keeping of a beard a
bigger issue than it should be. If one
keeps a beard and his intention is to follow the Sunnah
of the Prophet (saws); it is expected that he will receive a huge reward from
Allah. If one does not keep a beard for
any reason, there is no sin. The most
one can say that he has missed out on an opportunity to gain reward from Allah Subhanah.
Regarding one sporting a goatie beard… If someone keeps it to copy the pagan
culture, or copy an actor or sportstar, etc. then it
would not be considered right, and would be considered a sin! But if one keeps it just because he likes to
do so, there is no harm. Obviously, it
would be better and a source of earning a huge reward from Allah Subhanah, if he kept a full beard with the intention that
he wants to follow the example and Sunnah of the
Prophet of Allah (saws).
Allow us to cite a few narrations
from the Messenger of Allah (saws), which would help you to Insha
Allah, to follow this simple Sunnah and earn a huge
reward from the Merciful Lord on the Day of Judgment, when all of us will be in
desperate need of every good deed and its reward.
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 7.780 Narrated
by Nafi
Ibn Umar said:
The Prophet (saws) said, "Do the opposite of what the pagans
do. Keep the beards and cut the
moustaches short."
Sunan of Abu-Dawood
Hadith 145 Narrated
by Anas ibn Malik
Whenever the
Messenger of Allah (saws) performed ablution, he took a handful of water, and,
putting it under his chin, made it go through his beard, saying: Thus
did my Lord command me.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood
Hadith 52 Narrated
by Aisha, Ummul Mu'minin
The Apostle of
Allah (saws) said: Ten are the acts according to fitrah
(nature): clipping the moustache, letting the beard grow,
using the tooth-stick, cutting the nails, washing the finger joints, plucking
the hair under the arm-pits, shaving the pubes, and cleansing one's private
parts (after easing or urinating) with water. The narrator said: I have
forgotten the tenth, but it may have been rinsing the mouth.
Sunan of Abu-Dawood
Hadith 36 Narrated
by Ruwayfi' ibn Thabit
The Apostle of
Allah (saws) said: You may live for a long time after I am gone, Ruwayfi', so, tell people that if anyone ties his beard or
wears round his neck a string to ward off the evil eye, or cleanses himself
with animal dung or bone, Muhammad has nothing to do with him.
Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 9.651 Narrated
by Abu Said Al Khudri
The Prophet (saws)
said, "There will emerge from the East some people who will
recite the Qur'an but it will not exceed their
throats and who will go out of (renounce) the religion (Islam) as
an arrow passes through the game, and they will never come back to it unless
the arrow, comes back to the middle of the bow (by itself) (i.e., impossible).
The people asked, "What will their signs be?" He said, "Their
sign will be the habit of shaving (of their beards).
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in Islam,
