There are three important principles of understanding the Shariah.
I. The Almighty has blessed man with guidance in two ways. One of them can be termed as Innate Guidance and the other one as
Divine Guidance.
Innate Guidance: Man has been given certain faculties and abilities (intuition, conscience, instincts, common sense and intellect), which are enough to guide him in deciding the right course of action.
The second sphere of guidance, Divine Guidance, generally pertains to areas where human beings are unable to decide the right course by themselves. So in order to complement and supplement the sphere of Innate Guidance, the Almighty has divinely guided man through His Prophets. The Quran and Sunnah (the established practice of the Prophet (sws)) are the primary sources of Divine Guidance.
II. In both these spheres of
Innate Guidance and Divine Guidance, deeds and actions do not merely belong to the two categories of the prohibited and the allowed, but have various other categories as well. For example, a thing may be desirable which means that if a person adopts it, he will be rewarded and if he does not, he will not be held liable to it.
III. As far as
Ahadith are concerned, they are not an independent source of Islam. They must have some basis in either or both of the two aforementioned categories: Innate Guidance or Divine Guidance. Consequently, if some
Ahadith do not have such a basis they cannot be accepted.
Now, in the light of these principles, it is evident:
1.
The issue of keeping a beard is not discussed anywhere in the category of Divine Guidance. In other words, the Quran and Sunnah are devoid of any such ruling.
2. As far as the category of Innate Guidance is concerned, some scholars place this directive in it and I (Shehzad Saleem) would tend to agree with them. Of course, someone may differ.
3. Several Ahadith and some historical reports however, clearly mention that men should keep beards. Consequently, if this directive is to be classified as a religious one, these Ahadith must have a basis either in the first category (Innate Guidance) or in the second category (Divine Guidance).
There are Ahadith, which say that men must grow beards and clip their moustaches. However, an analysis of the context of these Ahadith reveals two important things.
Firstly, in all these narratives the directive of growing a beard occurs in tandem with the directive of clipping the moustache. This paired mention adds a certain stress to the whole directive. It has not been said: Grow a beard, in which case the directive would mean that as against the followers of these religious denominations, (who do not have beards) Muslims must grow beards; on the contrary, the addition of the second clause clip the moustache adds the stress that if something is to be clipped it is the moustache and not the beard and if something is to be lengthened it is the beard and not the moustache.
Secondly, none of these narratives explicitly and unconditionally give these directives. Rather each of them begins with a negative note:
Do not follow idolaters, Majus (Magians), People of the Book
The addition of this note changes an explicit directive to a conditional one.
Abu Umamah reports: The Prophet (sws) once came to some old men of the tribe of Ansar. These men had extremely white beards. Seeing them, the Prophet remarked: O People of Ansar dye your beards in red or golden colors and
do not follow these People of the Book. They declared: O Prophet these People of the Book do not wear shalwars and loin cloths. At this, the Prophet said: Wear shalwars and loin cloths and
do not follow these People of the Book. They declared: O Prophet these People of the Book neither wear shoes nor socks [while praying] ((Abu Daud, Kitabul-Salah). At this, the Prophet said: Wear shoes and socks and
do not follow these People of the Book. They said: O Prophet these People of the Book lengthen their moustaches and shave their beards. At this, the Prophet said: Clip your moustaches and lengthen your beards and
do not follow these People of the Book. (Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hambal, vol. 5 p. 264)
It is evident from the words of this Hadith that some Muslims of the Ansar were following the People of the Book in some of their practices thinking that they were obligatory. Besides other things, they thought that it was necessary to lengthen the moustache and shave off the beard. The Prophet (sws) told them that this was no religious directive. On the contrary, this was a religious innovation; so if they wanted, they could lengthen their beards and clip their moustache instead. Similarly, refraining from dyeing ones hair was no religious requirement. If they wanted they could dye their hair as well.
In other words, this Hadith is not asking men to grow beards; it is merely saying that keeping beards and clipping moustaches is not a condemned religious practice as certain people are contending. It is perfectly allowed in Islam. So, just as dyeing hair, wearing socks and shoes while praying have not become necessary directives as per this Hadith, keeping a beard as an obligatory directive cannot be deduced from it as well.
The third possibility is that this directive has a moral basis. There was something morally wrong in the practice of the followers of other religions. Obviously, keeping big moustaches and shaven beards makes one look arrogant and haughty which is clearly forbidden by both categories of guidance. So these Ahadith are describing to the Muslims the proper way of growing a beard and a moustache. Instead of having large moustaches and shaven beards, the appearance should be the other way round.
In other words, the Ahadith are not directing Muslims to grow beards and moustaches; what they are saying is that if they want to grow both, then the proper way is to lengthen the beard instead of the moustache and clip the moustache instead of the beard.
Consequently, the outcome of all these three possibilities is that none of the Ahadith of the third category is asking Muslims to keep beards. This leaves us with the first and second category of Ahadith and as pointed out before these narratives classify the keeping of beard and as such place it the category of Innate Guidance present in a person. While being in this category, there can be two opinions about the nature of this directive. Someone can say that keeping a beard is obligatory in nature like some other directives of this category for example telling the truth or being honest. However, in my opinion, it does not belong to the class of obligatory directives. Rather it is a desirable thing, which will not hold a person liable if he does not follow it.
GROWING BEARD IS IT MANDATORY IN ISLAM?
