Are Muslim men supposed to grow beards or facial hair at all?

[Wolfn]

Assalaam Alikum. I was talking with my Muslim co-worker tonight about how I admired how devout Sikhs are to their religion because they grow beards and wear turbans to identify themselves as Sikhs which is something we don't see in Islam. I mentioned how at our masjid, only one person has a Sunnah beard, and maybe 10 others have facial hair at all. Even our imam is clean-shaven.

To which my Muslim co-worker responded by saying that there is no benefit for growing a beard in Islam, which is why our imam, Muslim boss, Muslim co-workers, and all the other Muslims at our masjid don't make any effort to grow beards at all. To which I responded that I thought Muslim men were supposed to grow fist-long beards and trim mustaches, to which my Muslim co-worker replied that Muhammad (SAW) was clean-shaven except for a mustache.



Am I missing something here? This all seems very different from what I've been following the past 4 years.

[haque]

lol bro, you know better than to fall for that kind of stuff. RasulAllah (SAWS) did not grow out his mustache and, in fact there's a hadith where he (SAWS) turned away from two men because they grew their mustaches and shaved their beards.

When the two messengers of Kisra (Khusru - the Persian King) came to Rasulullah, they had long moustaches and shaved beards. Rasulullah [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] turned his face away in disgust and asked them, 'Who commanded you to do this (despicable deed)?' They replied, 'Our Lord, (i.e. King)' At this, Rasulullah mentioned, 'But my Lord has commanded me to lengthen my beard and shorten my moustache.' (Tabaqaat ibn Sa'ad vol.1 pg.147; Taareekh Tabari vol.2 pg.267-266; Bidaaya wan Nihaaya)

Here's a link to another thread on this topic: http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f...he-beard-5838/

[Ibn Sina]

ur coworker is a fool

[dawud_uk]

it is possible your co-worker is mistaken and parroting cultural lies which are made up by certain sections of the muslim community to defend their jahiliyyah.

it is also possible he deliberately lied against Rasoolullaah (saws) which is major kufr punishable by death if he lied in a shariah ruled country, tell him to fear Allaah and if he is ignorant not to speak out of ignorance and if he knows this is not true then that he needs to make tawbah from mistake and never do it again.

Muslim (2344) reported that Jaabir ibn Samurah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to have a very hairy beard.”

there are so many narrations on the beard its difficult to imagine even the most jahil muslim could believe that Rasoolullaah (saws) shaved.

[Ibn Sina]

btw the shaving of the beard and growing of the mustache only was strongly detested by Rasoolullah when he encountered some Muslims with it ... they claimed it was what ruler of Persia wore at the time ...

[noobz]

moustache's without a beard makes u look gay

[dawud_uk]

moustache's without a beard makes u look gay

or a bindi short of being a hindu

[AbuMubarak]

muslims are just not proud of their islam as sikhs are proud of their kufr

[msmoorad]

muslims are just not proud of their islam as sikhs are proud of their kufr

salaams to all

bro, its more due to weakness of imaan- this causes an inferiority complex.
they are ashamed & afraid to be practical muslims.
they would rather lie & invent excuses/justifications for not being practical muslims than to admit that what they are doing is wrong.

another factor that influeneces/enforces this sort of behaviour is culture/tradition.
perfect examples: India & Pakistan
youd be shocked at the beliefs some muslims from these countries have.
they have these so-called ulama who enforce these deviated/incorrect beliefs upon them.
its only when they interact with other muslims do they actually realise that theres something wrong with what they have been believing in all their lives.

and Allah ta'ala knows best
jazakallah

[truepath]

ur coworker is a fool

yep the idiot of a co-worker needs to first educate himself first before speaking about Prophet from the top of his head.

Wolf,

on the contrary, prophet had a lengthy beard upto his chest and he trimmed mustache

[AbuMubarak]

i couldnt pray behind a man who doesnt have a beard

how can an imam give a khutba about obedience to Allah and His messenger, while not wearing a beard?

[msmoorad]

Assalaam Alikum. I was talking with my Muslim co-worker tonight about how I admired how devout Sikhs are to their religion because they grow beards and wear turbans to identify themselves as Sikhs which is something we don't see in Islam. I mentioned how at our masjid, only one person has a Sunnah beard, and maybe 10 others have facial hair at all. Even our imam is clean-shaven.

To which my Muslim co-worker responded by saying that there is no benefit for growing a beard in Islam, which is why our imam, Muslim boss, Muslim co-workers, and all the other Muslims at our masjid don't make any effort to grow beards at all. To which I responded that I thought Muslim men were supposed to grow fist-long beards and trim mustaches, to which my Muslim co-worker replied that Muhammad (SAW) was clean-shaven except for a mustache.



Am I missing something here? This all seems very different from what I've been following the past 4 years.

salaams to all

is the imam Indo-Pak or Arab?

just want to know.

ive been to most of Florida and what i noticed was that you get clean shaven, clad in suit n tie with pants well below the ankles Arab imams.
this is only in musjids/islamic centres run by arab muslims or where they have strong influence on the musjid committee etc.

on the other hand, the Indo Pak people, even though many of them dont have beards etc, will not employ that type of imam in musjids run by them.
their imams/ulama generally follow sunnah with respect to dressing & appearance.


and Allah ta'ala knows best
jazakallah

[abdulsidd]

Your coworker is absolutely wrong. But regarding the Imams, I just want to point out that many North African brothers are not able to grow beards, especially some Egyptians. But if the Imam says that there is no concept of beard in Islam, then he would be totally wrong. As for wajib or sunnah, there is a difference of opinion, but I consider it to be wajib.

[AbuMubarak]

Your coworker is absolutely wrong. But regarding the Imams, I just want to point out that many North African brothers are not able to grow beards, especially some Egyptians. But if the Imam says that there is no concept of beard in Islam, then he would be totally wrong. As for wajib or sunnah, there is a difference of opinion, but I consider it to be wajib.

why, whenever the subject of beard comes up, someone has to bring up "some people cannot grow beards"?

duh, thats obvious

the issue is not, nor has it ever been about people who cannot grow beards

i know many muslims (my son is one) who cannot grow a beard (my other son has a complete beard)

that is not part of the discussion, we are discussing people who shave, thats it. no more, no less

[AbuMubarak]

salaams to all

is the imam Indo-Pak or Arab?

just want to know.

ive been to most of Florida and what i noticed was that you get clean shaven, clad in suit n tie with pants well below the ankles Arab imams.
this is only in musjids/islamic centres run by arab muslims or where they have strong influence on the musjid committee etc.

on the other hand, the Indo Pak people, even though many of them dont have beards etc, will not employ that type of imam in musjids run by them.
their imams/ulama generally follow sunnah with respect to dressing & appearance.


and Allah ta'ala knows best
jazakallah

akhi, i know african american muslim imams who shave

why does race or nationality enter into the picture?

this has to do with those who obey Allah and His messenger vs those who disobey

[RRIIZZZ]

Yes muslim men are suppose to keep a beard.

Importance of the Beard in the words of
Prohet Muhammed
(1) Prohet Muhammed said "I have no connection iwth one who shaves, shouts and tears his clothing eg. in grief or affication."
- Reported by Abu Darda (R.A.) in Muslim, Hadith no. 501

(2) The teachings of Hadhrat Ammar Bin Yaasir, Abdullah Ibn Umar, Sayyidina Umar, Abu Hurairah and Jaabir (R.A.), indicate that ALL used to keep beards that were one fist length or more. Hadhrat Jaabir (R.A.) had said: "We used to grow long beards and only during Hajj and Umrah did we trim them to the required length (i.e. fist length)."

(3) Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Umar (R.A.) relates that: "He who imitates the kuffar (non-believers) and dies in that state, he will be raised up with them on the Day of Qiyamat (Judgement)."
(4) Prohet Muhammed says: "Trim closely the moustache, and let the beard flow (Grow)."
- Narrated Ibn Umar (R.A.) in Muslim, Hadith no. 498
(5) Prohet Muhammed ordered us to trim the moustache closely and spare the beard" says Ibn Umar. - Muslim, Hadith no. 449
(6)) Prohet Muhammed said: "Act against contrary to the polythesists, trim closely the moustache and grow the beard."
- Reported by Ibn Umar (R.A.) in Muslim, Hadith no. 500
(7) ) Prohet Muhammed said "Trim closely the moustache and grow the beard."
- Reported by Abu Hurairah (R.A.) in Muslim, Hadith no. 501
(8) ) Prohet Muhammed said: "Anyone who shaves has no claim to the mercy of Allah"
- Reported by Ibn Abbas (R.A.) in Tibrabi

(9) Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Umar (R.A.) used to cut that portion (which exceeds the grip of the hand) of the beard.
- Tirmidhi

http://www.islam.tc/beard/beard.html

[.mirror.]

Brother Ahmad, I'm happy that you came here to clarify this issue and didn't just follow what your co-worker said.

There are hadiths that explain directly the outer appearance of Rasulullah

He doesn't know what he's talking about.

Grow your beard, InshaAllah. Why would Rasulullah tell us to grow a beard (and trim the mustache) when he doesn't have one himself?
It doesn't make sense.

Rasulullah's beard was so long that it could be seen by people walking behind him. Sahabas (RA), when they used to pray Dhur (or Asr) salah behind Rasulullah would know that he is reciting quietly because his beard would move.

SubhanAllah.

May Allah guide us all.

[Wolfn]

salaams to all

is the imam Indo-Pak or Arab?

just want to know.

Arab

[Sirius]

asalamu alaykum,
please share with us what happens when you go back to your friend/co-worker to tell him how it is.

[umar_khalid]

growing beard in Islam is wajib, and you have asked from one of your co-worker, you have to ask him, about the hadith, about the Quran verse about it,,, so he might be mistaken, it the sunnah of our beloved prophet Muhammad (PBUH), AND every Muslim should have to follow, this,,,

[Zarvan]

Assalaam Alikum. I was talking with my Muslim co-worker tonight about how I admired how devout Sikhs are to their religion because they grow beards and wear turbans to identify themselves as Sikhs which is something we don't see in Islam. I mentioned how at our masjid, only one person has a Sunnah beard, and maybe 10 others have facial hair at all. Even our imam is clean-shaven.

To which my Muslim co-worker responded by saying that there is no benefit for growing a beard in Islam, which is why our imam, Muslim boss, Muslim co-workers, and all the other Muslims at our masjid don't make any effort to grow beards at all. To which I responded that I thought Muslim men were supposed to grow fist-long beards and trim mustaches, to which my Muslim co-worker replied that Muhammad (SAW) was clean-shaven except for a mustache.



Am I missing something here? This all seems very different from what I've been following the past 4 years.

Man who gave you that answer is either not a Muslim or he has not studied a single thing about Islam because no Muslim can lack this knowledge

[$HugoBoss$]

i couldnt pray behind a man who doesnt have a beard

how can an imam give a khutba about obedience to Allah and His messenger, while not wearing a beard?

There are several people who have great knowledge with little beards and there are some men with beards with little knowledge. I would stand behind the imam who has the most knowledge about the quran.

[Excuse_me]

i couldnt pray behind a man who doesnt have a beard

how can an imam give a khutba about obedience to Allah and His messenger, while not wearing a beard?

Asalamu Alaikum,

This question was asked to one Scholar and replied that it's best to not pray behind a person that shaves unless it is the Imam of Masjid. In this situation you pray behind the Imam and he stated that the Imam will be held reliable for all the people who prayed behind him and account for all those sins.

I personally wouldnt take knowledge from one though. Also a person who gives a Khutbah in a suit and tie.

Wallahu Alim

[truepath]

There are several people who have great knowledge with little beards and there are some men with beards with little knowledge. I would stand behind the imam who has the most knowledge about the quran.

In Islamic context, knowledge becomes mere information if its not applied at a practical level.

If a person cannot grow beard or his beard doesn't grows because of his hereditary or lineage then thats a different thing. Its not his fault.

However, one who has knowledge of Quran and holds a responsible position such as Imam, khateeb or is an Islamic scholar, yet doesn't grows beard to match the sunnah criteria, then in reality, he doesn't have knowledge of Quran at application level. The knowledge of such a person is confined to information level. Otherwise, there are several verses in Quran, where Allah has said obey Messenger So even though there is no direct order in Quran to grow beard, however, there is direct order to obey Messenger And in ahadith, prophet have advised to grow beard and have even shown displeasure against those that doesn't grow beard. So, one who is going against the Prophet sunnah is infact going against Allah and Quran as he's not really obeying the prophet which is a direct order in Quran

[truepath]

Today a muslim abadon's a sunnah by saying 'its just a sunnah'. However, that's the very reason sahaba used to practice a sunnah, 'because it's a sunnah of prophet '

[OBL]

There are several people who have great knowledge with little beards and there are some men with beards with little knowledge. I would stand behind the imam who has the most knowledge about the quran.

Great knowledge but don't know about sunnah of keeping a beard?

[ImaanSeeker]

There are several people who have great knowledge with little beards and there are some men with beards with little knowledge. I would stand behind the imam who has the most knowledge about the quran.

One with true knowledge of the Qur'an would know the great emphasis that Allah Ta'ala places on following the Sunnah of our Beloved Nabi .

True knowledge of Deen encourages submission. A submission that manifests itself both in the internal and external aspects of a Muslim.

[Wolfn]

Arab

Further, the Arab imam isn't a good one. All he does is just yell Arabic at the congregation for about 45 minutes. Most of us have no idea what he's saying.

[Kashmir_85]

Should you be following an imam who hasnt a beard?

[Wolfn]

Should you be following an imam who hasnt a beard?

Was this a question for me or in general?

[Kashmir_85]

Was this a question for me or in general?

You

[Wolfn]

You

Well, it's the only masjid around here. I have to attend it.