[wsbizwsa]

I know there's a beard thread going on already, but this is something that is aggravating me lately. I have been trying my best to follow the sunnah and let my beard grow long. Unfortunately, my father keeps bugging me about trimming it (at first, he used to tell me to shave it, but alhamdulillah, he's given up now). And now because he sees certain imams and people with trimmed beards, he has even more ammunition, because if those people, who are better/more religious than me can have trimmed beards, why not me? No way I can possibly explain to him about madhahib/etc because unfortunately he's come under the modernist mentality a little bit and he wouldn't listen to me anyway ("you're just a kid, you think you know more than me?").

So those of you who are imams with trimmed beards, I am telling you- you're making it harder for the youth.

[BruceQW]

Salam

oil your beard every third day or so, it works wonders, makes it look smoother healthier, and neater. you'll get less objections....

also just mentions that rasulullah's (peace be upon him) beard used to cover most of his chest and you want to be like him...that should be enough to quell any potential arguments.

[wsbizwsa]

Salam

oil your beard every third day or so, it works wonders, makes it look smoother healthier, and neater. you'll get less objections....

also just mentions that rasulullah's (peace be upon him) beard used to cover most of his chest and you want to be like him...that should be enough to quell any potential arguments.

I wish that were true. You can't win an argument with someone who doesn't think logically.

My beard is relatively sparse, so that's why it looks "scruffy"...oiling it won't really help.

[BruceQW]

abu Bakr (ra) had a sparse beard and you want to imitate him then

[Heopretg2006]

I wish that were true. You can't win an argument with someone who doesn't think logically.

My beard is relatively sparse, so that's why it looks "scruffy"...oiling it won't really help.

Trim/thread the hair on your cheeks and trim the hair on your neck. You will get a neat look

[Avaboormavoro]

Also try black seed oil brother (order online if can't find in stores). It's not the best 'smelling' but if you put it in your beard about 3 times a week (more if you can manage it) overnight and wash out in the morning, it helps make your beard nice, black, and thick Insha'Allah.

I commend you for your steadfastness, Masha'Allah, as I can sort of relate to the situation (though I kind of do what I want in the end...lol).

May Allah grant you, your father, and all of us understanding of this beautiful deen. Please keep my family and I in your dua's.

[Avaboormavoro]

also just mentions that rasulullah's (peace be upon him) beard used to cover most of his chest and you want to be like him...that should be enough to quell any potential arguments.

I should have tears flowing down my face as I write this, but I have a hard heart so that's not happening. It is utterly, despicably, absolutely, most positively beyond SAD that that doesn't even work these days. It's like "Sunnah? What Sunnah? Get out of here." People are soo embarrassed to have anything to do with practicing a "visible" sunnah, such as beard, dressing, etc, that they would rather continue butchering these sunnahs (clean shaving daily) every chance they get.

I understand the size of one's beard doesn't determine someone's tawqa, trust me, but my point is with certain people if you say you're practicing the sunnah of the Prophet , that doesn't even work. They run from it. They'll even go as far as saying "that's fine but it doesn't look good for your job so you should trim it down nice and smooth.", and many other sentences of the same variety.

It is sad.

[wsbizwsa]

I'll try the oil thing if I get a chance. I like my beard how it is, though. Still, I want to know what excuse imams have for trimming their beard so short that you can't even tell it's a beard- it just looks like they forgot to shave for a few days. I understand if it's permissible in their mazhab, but why not adopt a sunnah which requires absolutely no effort at all?

In the first post, I called it salafi mentality...that wasn't the right word. It's modernists who have gotten people to abandon shariah like this where everything becomes ok and Islam and love for the Prophet is "in the heart".

May Allah bless all the Muslims with the ability to please Him.

[wsbizwsa]

Trim/thread the hair on your cheeks and trim the hair on your neck. You will get a neat look

I do remove the neck hair, but I leave the cheeks alone. I think it looks a bit silly to have that "chin-curtain" with hair only growing on the jawline.

[BruceQW]

I do remove the neck hair, but I leave the cheeks alone. I think it looks a bit silly to have that "chin-curtain" with hair only growing on the jawline.

Salam I agree,

but i still pluck the cheek hairs (only the top ones) to get a nice line, otherwise i end up with a sparsely covered top half and a thick bottom half.

using oil is definately a good idea, i started using it a few months ago (some high quality olive/hair oil) and it makes it much neater and somewhat straighter...my hair is really curly.

[saruxanset]

Subhanallah!
Good advice from the brothers about oiling of th ebeard .. JazakAllah
I too have been growing my beard it's the longest it's ever been and even thou not a lot of people say it to me they feel it is nu-necessary to keep it a fist length and feel it should be kept trim and manageable as it has started to curl.
At first my beard has quiet low on the cheeks so now i have started growing it on the cheeks and just trimmed above the cheeks to make it look neat, the hair on my cheeks are a lot shorter than the rest of the beard but inshallah with time it will grow and blend in.
I recently went to the barbers to get a hair cut and just to neaten the beard, the barber got one of them brushes (round one used for curling http://www.sakshertford.com/xphotos/30616/1.jpg) and with a blow dryer and straightened my beard ... have to say never thought my beard could look so neat and straight

[rNr5Di3S]

A similar query answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani:

Registration Login Helpdesk Donate
AcademicsCoursesResourceseCampus
Qibla > Answers > Marriage, Family & Divorce > Family Relationship > Beard & Parents & following another madhhab
Question ID:
9753
Date Published

: March 15, 2006
Beard & Parents & following another madhhab
Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani


Question:

I''m an Indian Muslim. While studying in America, I started keeping a beard, and grew it to a sunna fist-length, and have kept it since (Alhamdulillahi)


However, since I''ve returned to Hyderabad, my father is firmly insistent that I shorten (trim, not shave) my beard in order to be more socially and work-wise acceptable. My father considers my obeying him from a son''s duty towards his parents, and is insistent.

Now: I understand that in the Hanafi school it is wajib. Thus, would it be sinful to trim my beard--following the Shafi`i school that says doing so is not sinful (and the other schools, too, from what I understand)?

I''m very stressed by this, as this is in every conversation with my father, and he is very grieved by all of this. He even ascribes his past and current illness to my full beard.

I try to be a dutiful son, so all this is saddening me. To what extent is a full beard more important than a loving parent''s hurt feelings?

Local scholars (and other Hanafis from the Pakistan as well) have simply stated that the beard is wajib and can''t be trimmed--but I should remain polite with my father.

What do I do? Do I keep my beard full, or trim (intending to follow the Shafi`i position)?



Answer:

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah,

I pray that this finds you well, and in the best of health and spirits. May Allah grant you all good and success in this life and the next.

It would be permitted for you to follow the position of other than the Hanafi madhhab and trim you beard (without shaving it off). This would not be disliked to do, given your circumstances.

At the same time, you are not obligated to obey your father in this matter, as it is your personal right to pursue your religious goals. Note, however, that while obedience to parents is conditional being good and respectful to parents is unconditional, and must be upheld at all times.

Following another madhhab

Following another madhhab completely in a complete action, however, is valid according to the majority of the scholars of usul al-fiqh, and fuqaha, on the condition that there not be a systematic seeking out of dispensations. This was confirmed by Ibn Abidin in his Hashiya, Tahtawi in his Hashiyat al-Durr, Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi in his Sharh al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya and in his treatise on ijtihad, taqlid and talfiq, and is the position adopted by the Syrian Hanafi scholars.

The scholars of the Indian Sub-continent generally do not allow this, except under exceptional circumstances, but not because it is per se invalid, but for obvious reasons:

(a) In their millieu, it is not normally possible for one to find a qualified source or scholar from another school;
(b) To close the door to the systematic seeking of dispensations.

But, even Indo-Pak scholars who advocate this position admit, this is more an answer of prudence than a theoretical impermissibility.
I wonder whether the position enunciated in the major texts of the school is not more suited to our situation in the West. People have a lot of difficult situations and challenges in their lives, and this makes things easy for them while remaining within the boundaries of sound sunni scholarship, instead of running to the modernists and salafis...


Sticking to One School
It is not religiously binding on the Muslim to stick to one school on all matters, without exception, as both al-Tahtawi and Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on them), the two leading late authorities for fatwa in the Hanafi school, both explain. Rather, there is nothing wrong with taking a dispensation if there is a need; what is impermissible is to make it a habit to seek out dispensations (i.e. even if there is no hardship or need).

The Path of Taqwa
The path of taqwa, as the scholars and sufis explain, is to avoid taking dispensations unless there is genuine hardship in following one''s own school. In fact, they say that those who have learned their own school should seek out the strictest positions from other school whenever reasonably possible, so that one''s worship and practice is sound without argument.


May Allah grant us beneficial knowledge, and the success to act according to it, on the footsteps of the His Beloved (Allah bless him and give him peace), with the secret of sincerity, without which actions are but lifeless forms.

Please search SunniPath Answers (http://qa.sunnipath.com) for related answers. Search for: (1) following another madhhab; (2) obedience to parents.

See also:

Choosing between madhhab positions

Prophetic Guidance on dutifulness to parents (Nawawi's Riyad al-Salihin)

Fatwa on Trimming the Beard in the Shafi`i School

(Shaykh Amjad Rasheed, who issued the Shafi`i fatwa above, is an upright, godfearing mufti-level Shafi`i faqih)

And Allah alone gives success.

MMVIII © Faraz Rabbani and Qibla.

http://spa.qibla.com/issue_view.asp?...D=9753&CATE=87