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Question: After
reading your answer on this issue, I am deeply interested in knowing the
arguments of your viewpoint. Please furnish them at your earliest convenience.
Answer: Before I present detailed
arguments for my view point on this issue, I shall first allude to three
important principles of understanding the Shari‘ah.
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.
As far as the sphere of Innate
Guidance is concerned, it needs to be appreciated that man has been
given certain faculties and abilities which are enough to guide him in
deciding the right course of action. He does not basically need any external
guidance in this regard. For example, his intuition leads him to the conclusion
that there is a Creator of this Universe; his conscience very ably guides
him about good and evil; his instincts pronounce that anal intercourse
and homosexuality are some very blatant forms of sexual deviations; his
taste tells him that beasts like lions and dogs and birds like eagles and
vultures are not meant to be eaten; his common sense affirms that the difference
in the external appearance between men and women should be maintained;
his intellect says that taking drugs or intoxicants are bad habits. There
may be slight differences in this sphere, but generally the dividing line
is very clear.
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 Qur’an 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 Qur’an 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 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).
If we collect and analyze these Ahadith
and historical reports, it can be said with considerable surety that
this material is basically of the following three categories as far as
its content is concerned:
(i) ‘A’ishah (rta) narrates
from the Prophet (sws):
Ten things are from among [the attributes of] human nature:
clipping of moustache, growing of beard, use of the miswak; snuffing
up water in the nostrils; cutting of nails; washing of joints; removing
of hair under the armpits; shaving of pubes; cleansing the private parts
with water [after relieving one’s self]. The narrator said: ‘I have forgotten
the tenth but it may have been: rinsing the mouth’. (Muslim: Kitabu’l-Taharah)
(ii) The celebrated historian Ibn Jarir
Tabari, (d: 310 AH) while reporting the visit of two emissaries of
the king Persia to the Prophet (sws) records:
… The two [emissaries] with shaven faces and dangling
moustaches came to the Prophet. Disgusted to see their faces, he turned
away from them. Then he faced them and said: ‘Woe be to you! Who told you
to adopt such an appearance’. They replied: ‘Our Lord, the king of Persia
bade us so’. The Prophet (sws) then remarked: ‘But my Lord has directed
me to shorten the moustache and lengthen the beard [instead]’. (Tabari,
Tarikhu’l-Umam wa Al-Maluk, vol. 3, (Beirut: Daru’l-Fikr, 1979],
pp. 90-1.
(iii) This category has three sub-categories
which are very similar to one another. Except that the first one mentions
the idolaters, the second one the Majus (the Magians) and the third
one, the People of the Book, the rest of the reported words are virtually
the same:
a. Ibn ‘Umar narrates that the Prophet (sws) has
reported to have said: ‘Do not follow these idolaters: Clip your moustaches
and lengthen your beards’. (Bukhari, Kitabu’l-Libas)
b. Abu Hurayrah reports from the Prophet:
‘Clip your moustaches and lengthen your beards and do not follow these
Majus’. (Muslim, Kitabu’l-Taharah)
c. Abu ‘Umamah reports from the Prophet: ‘Clip
your moustaches and lengthen your beards and do not follow these People
of the Book’. (Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hambal, vol. 5 p. 264 )
If all these three category of narratives
are accepted as they have been reported, a look at their contents reveals:
1. The very words of the Hadith
reported by ‘A’ishah (rta) in the first category and the expression
of dislike of the Prophet (sws) and his words: ‘But my Lord has directed1
me to shorten the moustache and lengthen the beard [instead]’ reported
by Tabari in the second category seem to relate the directive of
growing a beard to the category of Innate Guidance. In other words, the
Hadith and the historical report say that growing a beard is from
among the attributes of human nature. As such, they reinforce the view
of the scholars who regard the directive of keeping a beard from this category.
2. The narratives of the third category
clearly mention 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 …’ The addition of this note
changes an explicit directive to a conditional one. The note shows that
there is something wrong in some sections of the society in which it is
being uttered and that the addressees of this note should desist from following
them. Sense and reason entail three possibilities for stopping Muslims
from following the people of other religions:
(1) Muslims are merely asked to make
themselves distinct from the followers of other major religions present
at that time. If the basis of this distinction is to fix a certain appearance
for the Muslims, then this must have some basis in the two categories of
Innate Guidance or Divine Guidance. It seems that there is
no such basis, and if someone says that there is some basis then the onus
of presenting it lies on him.
(2) The followers of other religions
present at that time had adopted something as a religious innovation (bid‘at),
and the directive of mentioned in these narratives actually reforms and
corrects it. As an example of such innovations and subsequent corrective
measures, consider the following Hadith. (The third subcategory
quoted above [iii(c)] is actually a part of it as well.)
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 colours 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]2’.
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 one’s 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.
(iii) 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.
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