Salamun Alaykum I am sufficed with Fath ul-Bari, and Sharh li-Nawawi, and even Fatawaa al-Ridwiyah li-Imam Ahmed Rida Khan. It has always been the case that the old has more authority over the new, except with the Qur'an as it is Allah that abrogates. I would also advice reading the black scorpions that has been posted here. Finally Dawat ul Islami books with references!
Scans from Shaykh Ghulam Rasul Sa'idi's sharh of Sahih Muslim: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faq...e1Saidip427.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre2Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre3Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre4Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre5Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre6Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre7Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre8Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Pre9Saidi.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-11.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-12.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-13.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-14.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-15.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-16.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-17.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-18.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-1.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-2.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-3.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-4.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-5.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-6.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-7.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-8.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-9.jpg http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faqir/Sh-10.jpg and the final additional page: http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f378/faq...stpageSaidi.jpg Any good Urdu translators want to take this on? A summary was provided by a brother as follows:
Salamun alaykum Arguemnts are unavoidable nowdays, especially when it comes down to issues like these. The simple fact is that many of us have our own way of how we should practice Islam. Unfortunatly, this is due to a lot of secular ideologies that have been implanted in the muslim minds over the last few hundred years. Before this, to even trim the beard below the four fingers was unheard of, and that can be seen by the statements of Imam Nawawi in in sharh of Sahih Muslim, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaani in his commentary on Sahih al-Bukhari. There was a man in the Prophets (peace and blessing be upon him) that trimmed the only two hairs he could grow, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) showed displesure to his action. To to clear this up, it is haram to shave according to all of the four schools. Trimming however, it is makruh tahrimi, close to haram according to the Hanafi school only. With the Malaki, shafa'i and Hanabli schools we find an abudance of different opinions in which i have not got the time of day to sift through, nor do i feel the need to. I feel that the Hanafis have the strongest posistion, and also the Shafa'i scholars that wrote on the two main collections, being Imam Nawawi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalaani. The hadith about Ibn Umar grasping the beard with his fist and cutting the excess suffices for the minimum length. Imam Ahmad Rida Khan, i read his fatawaa concerning this issue, and i respect his strength concerning this. If i was to even repeat his words to some people in our community in this day of age, without telling them it is his fatawaa, they would fight me, and seek to call me self righteous, hollier than thou, etc. I only want to follow the Sunnah, and i strongly desire that othr Muslims do aswell. These are the days when the call to the sunnah is scorned and mocked at, and the doors of bid'ah are decorated with false and fancy arguments. Even if the sterotype of the person with a beard is an evil, self righteous, frowning, argumentative, forceful, so and so, the beard is blessed. There is no action better than the Prophet sal Allahu alayhi wasallam, and his atcion of growing the beard should suffice a person instead of feeling that he should make adjustments in a secular society and become more of a "moderate" and "liberal" Muslim. The hardline is that we will never be respected by the bulk of mankind, even if we was to throw every sunnah in the bin, and follow kufr ways. Shaytaan will never be our friend. However, there is hope in Allah alone. I apologise if anybody feels offended by my words, however i cannot apologise for my attempt to adhere to the Prophetic Sunnah and religous belief.
I know the beard os fard or wajib, but I was asking about the length. I didn't want to cause an argument.
The quote about the beard is much older than tahir ul qadri's mention of it, what tahir ul qadri does not understand is that it is not an excuse to not have the full beard.
and does it mean that we can safely judge people with beards*, but those who are clean shaven - well, we should look at their hearts not their faces? or that we can find umpteen excuses for the clean-shaven ones, but once you wear a beard - you should be infallible like prophets? people with beards are as human as others; and with the same fallibility. if a man with a beard cheats, he would have cheated anyway even if he did not have a beard. don't use this to bash people with beards. i remember a drunkard from our area who would drink in the evening but sober and washed in the morning prayer. when asked, he would reply: 'i do one sin of drinking; would i do another by omitting the prayer?' yes, there might be people who have no value for the beard but just wear it to deceive people - as imam shafiyi said: diyānatuna’t taśannuá wat tarāyī fa naĥnu bihi nukhādiú man yarānā as i have said earlier, these are not mutually exclusive and certainly nobody said that wearing a beard automatically makes you exempt from being honest or truthful; you have to be honest, truthful AND wear the sunnah. the fallacy peddled by people is that: 'someone with a beard cheated me, therefore all bearded men are terrorists.' --- again, that means NOT merely your outward appearance. so your examples of bearded men with deplorable morals fall in this category; not just the exterior, but fix your interior as well. that is the basis and the goal of taSawwuf. that does not mean that exterior is of no importance. it is the same hadith mulHidin quote when asked fulfill islamic obligations like salah and sawm: our heart prays but you people pray with your exterior. *probably because they wear their hearts in their beards; and not the clean shaven.
btw these posts of mine,are not, as aH hinted, meant to be sorry excuses to justify my own lack of a full beard!
actually aH and aN i agree wit your responses; though aH all that proves is that our experiences are different that's all. And that's probably because the people we socialise with are different. I went through a long phase of hanging out with bearded Muslims and, overall, found them no better as human beings than the people who didn't have beards except they tended to be more judgemental. still your replies were overall excellent and i was generalising but it is borne of experience; the fact is that if someone has a sunnah length beard people assume he is a decent, religious, guy. When then people see these bearded ones then go on and do things which are not v islamic or decent it is worse than if someone who is not outwardly pious or practising does the same because the latter is not putting on false pretences. In the end the beard per se does not a good Musulman make; and the same goes for the hijab. Both are good practises but instead of focusing on them it is better to have a pure heart and good character; of course it is best to have both inward and outward but rare indeed are such folks.... and what about the hadith sharif paraphrased that says that Allah does not look at your outward appearances but what is in your heart?
i do not know why people accuse ordinary muslims who seek to follow the orthodox path as being rigid; whereas, it is they themselves who want to impose their own view - liberalism, libertarianism, secularism, what-have-you-ism - upon us. look, the beard is wajib in our madh'hab, even though it is labeled as sunnah muakkadah. if you don't have one, just accept that you have missed a wajib. don't try to convince every Hanafi that it is not wajib at all. or attempt to trivialize the act. let me remind you of a story:I[SIZE=-1]T[/SIZE] happened that a Fox caught its tail in a trap, and in struggling to release himself lost all of it but the stump. At first he was ashamed to show himself among his fellow foxes. But at last he determined to put a bolder face upon his misfortune, and summoned all the foxes to a general meeting to consider a proposal which he had to place before them. When they had assembled together the Fox proposed that they should all do away with their tails. He pointed out how inconvenient a tail was when they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly conversation with one another. He failed to see any advantage in carrying about such a useless encumbrance. “That is all very well,” said one of the older foxes; “but I do not think you would have recommended us to dispense with our chief ornament if you had not happened to lose it yourself.” [SIZE=-1]“DISTRUST INTERESTED ADVICE.”[/SIZE]---- these are not mutually exclusive things. a man has to be honest, truthful, worshipping and follow the sunnah. indeed, those who cheat and lie are committing sins but so also is the person [according to hanafis] who is shaving his beard. they are cumulative - not mutually exclusive. a loose analogy, i think, is like getting a diploma or a degree; one has to take half a dozen subjects that year/semester. suppose this includes physics and math, one cannot say that i have 99% in physics but i will skip math. after all my companion's aggregate is lesser than mine. does it work? our honorable teacher did not ask people to keep a beard. but plenty of those around him kept fistful beards by themselves without being told to do so. he used to say: 'ignite the spark inside, which will set fire to the outside.' he also used to say that 'tabligh-e-Haal is better than tabligh-e-maqaal' / preaching by practice is better than preaching by words. if an fly-by-islamic-interested visitor peeked in, as is their wont, they would have also said that my teacher was 'obsessed with the beard.' [i am not accusing nj of being partially interested]. --- and pray, which personage made that statement? or hinted that it was? some beginners do it but why generalize? not only is this ridiculous statement peppered with fallacies, this also brings to mind another fable which i am sure, you must have enjoyed in youth. i can also make a similar claim: the best muslims i have come across have been people with a beard and a fistful. they have been with me through thick and thin and supportive throughout. you ask them to help and they are ready to help even dropping their own business. they share your views, and you meld with them happily. they are happy and content; patient and forgiving; fearful to commit excess and people with scruples. i have never felt threatened by them and if there is a misunderstanding, it is easy to patch up with them. one can go to kiryat arba and claim that all those who have a beard are jewish.
great question. such a person with pure heart is still a fasiq, and the freeloader will still be considered an adherent of the physical sunnah and NOT a fasiq in his outward appearance. what anyone irrespective of his beard, does in his dealings is a different matter and he will get the punishment or reward accordingly. what is keeping the one with the pure heart to keep the beard, if it is the malamati line of thought then that is the very reason why the aimma of fiqh have ruled against malamati sufi teachings. if it is hatred for the ones with bad amal with beards, then it is a misdirected anger, which should be towards the amal and not his appearance.
It doesnt matter. You could think your as good as you like. What is Wajib is Wajib. We dont make up the religion to suit ourselves.
what about the one who is clean shaven but has a pure heart and does good deeds and follows the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in many other things of the inward compared to an outwardly bearded person who lies and cheats and is a freeloader etc.? btw, sidi, that last quote about the beard was from shaykh tahir ul qadri...
you should say to every idiot who says that - "thug bhi aajkal dadhiyan rakhte haiN" I met a senior gentelmen who was advising a youngster to shave off his beard using the same logic above. 'Log aaj kal apnay saaray gunaaH daaRhii mein chhupaa lete haiN!' [Nowadays people hide all their sins behind their beards!] Indeed without a doubt a sinner who hides his sins from others and even tries to outwardly look like the ones who truly follow the blessed messenger is anyday better than the open fasiq who neither follows the messenger in th eoutward or the inward. it is a hallucination that people live in when they say that they will rectify their inward and then the outward, there is no disconnect between the two when you come to rectification, the outward being the elementary and smaller step and easier, how many have acheived the more difficult of the two goals by not acheiving the easier one first. you sound like nasiruddin shah's tirade that i saw on youtube in the film that is supposedly "rocking" pakistan.
Having a beard is a blessed sunnah but this obsession with it--as if a beard was the be-all-and-end-all of Islam is really scary! 'The beard is in Islam; Islam isn't in the beard!' I have to say that if you ask the common Muslim they will say, 'daariyoN waalay sab se baRay Thugg hotay hain!' [Bearded folks are the biggest thugs!]. As a wise man used to say to me, 'Log aaj kal apnay saaray gunaaH daaRhii mein chhupaa lete haiN!' [Nowadays people hide all their sins behind their beards!] Of course, there ARE genuinely pious people who keep beards for all the right reasons but in my experience the best Muslims have often been clean-shaven.
To perform Imamat without Shar'i beard (one fist) (Darul Uloom Amjadia, India, Printed in Monthly Kanzul Iman-India) Q: In the absence of Imam his student( who does not keep beard ) performs the Imamat, how is it to pray Namaz behind him? And is it allowed to pray Juma Namaz behind him? If about this matter Imam does not say anything to this student then how to treat him, should he be removed from the duty of Imamat or not? A: To shave beard is definitely not allowed and Haram. In Darr-e-Mukhtar with Shami in part six on page 407 it is mentioned that *1. Therefore if the mentioned student shaves beard or trim it down less than one fist it is a sin to make him Imam and to perform Namaz behind him is makrooh-e-tehreemi and wajib to repeat. In Fatawa-e-Rizvia on page 271 in part three Alahazrat Imam Ahmad Raza Muhadis-e-Barelvi radiallha anhu writes "The one who shaves beard is Faasiq and Muallin. To make him Imam is a sin and to perform Namaz behind him is Makroh-e-Tahrimi (wajib to repeat namaz)" And if for Jumma one can not find an Imam even in another nearby Mosque who follows Sharia't then because of this situation pray Jumma behind this student (later on repeat your namaz as of Zuhr). It is stated in Fatwa-e-Rizvia on page 273 in part three that if not able to find an imam for Jumma beside a fasiq & muallin imam then pray Jumma because it is fard and fard is important (later on repeat your namaz as of Zuhr). If the mentioned Imam does not prohibit his student from imamat then he is committing sin. It is narrated in Hadis Shareef that *2,(Mishkat on page 436). It is must for him to ask mentioned student to stop imamat. If he does not do so then he (imam) must be removed from the duty of imamat. ALLAH Ta'ala says *3. But if he (student) does not have beard by nature and there is nothing wrong with him according to Shri'at then all the prayers can be performed behind him. Allah Ta'ala Knows the best. Source: http://www.islamicacademy.org/html/Fatwa/English/Imamat.htm The website of A'llamah Shaykh Ahmad al Qadri hafizahullahu Ta'ala (the student of al Muhadith al Kabeer A'llamah Zia ul Mustafa al Qadri hafizahullahu Ta'ala )
Sadr us Sharia'h Badr ut Tariqah A'llamah Shaykh Mufti Amjad A'li al Aa'zami radi Allahu Ta'ala a'nhu writes after quoting many Ahaadith about the beard: To grow the beard is the sunnah (way) of the previous Prophets a'laihim us salaam, to shave the beard or to trim it less than one fist is haraam. Yes if it grows over one fist then what is extra can be cut. ad Dur ul Mukhtaar by Imam Muhammad bin A'li al Haskafi radi Allahu Ta'ala a'nhu Bahaare Shari'at volume 2 part 16 page 743.
I read this the other day. Take a look. http://www.dawateislami.org/library/download/pdf/2008/lit-452-1.pdf
As Salaam Alaikum, I am confused about the beard issue. Wherever I check, people tell me that Hanafi's beleive it has to be longer than a fist length. But what about Shaykh Ul Islam Dr Tahir ul Qadri, SHaykh Hamza Yusuf and many other Ulema and Shuyukh. Or is there different opinions in Hanafi Madhab, because if someone like Shaykh Ul Islam Dr Tahir ul Qadri does it then he must have a logical explanation... right? JazakAllah Khair.
