As-salamu 'alaykum I would like to add something to my last post, but I cannot edit the post: It is okay to follow a strict opinion (by oneself) when there is ikhtilaf, but unfortunately I see that many (so-called) following strict opinions, just "skip" them when it is a matter of there own 'ulama. One could ask, how many of you would leave the jama'at and consider the imam fasiq and fajir if for instance Shaykh Ninowy (hafidhahullah) or Shaykh Pir Thaqib ibn Iqbal (hafidhahullah) were to lead the jama'at? Not many... I am just trying to point out, that if you follow an opinion, then follow it whole-hearted for Allah's sake, and not just to put down some group or 'ulama. When 'ulama has ikhtilaf about the beard-matter, I think for others one should follow the easier one, and for oneself, one may follow the stricter one. But think about, if 'all' without a fistful beard are fasiqs, then a number of our prominent 'ulama today would be on that list... Allah Hafiz Ibn Amin I just saw that the debate has been running before. A brother posted scanned copies of the pages from Sharh Sahih Muslim by Allama Ghulam Rasul Sa'idi, http://www.sunniport.com/masabih/showthread.php?t=4271&page=2 - they are worth reading.
As-salamu 'alaykum According to many sunni hanafi 'ulama the length is sunnat muakkada while beard mutlaqqan is wajib (or near wajib). Therefore the prayer will be valid behind a person without full beard. This is written by Allama Ghulam Sa'idi with a number of evidences - and should be studied. (See both Sharh Sahih Muslim, and Tibyan al-Quran, 1st volume). However, the fatwa of Alahadrat, the Imam of ahl al-sunnat (rahimahullah) is more strict, and according to him, the prayer behind such person would be makruh tahrimi and wajib to repeat. See http://www.islamicacademy.org/html/Fatwa/English/Imamat.htm Imam Shafi'i, rahimahullah, himself was very strict about having beard, but according to the majority of the shafi'i 'ulama it is only mustahabb to keep a beard. (Note, I have only read this on SunniPath). Hence, praying behind such person would be permissible, as he is not regarded as fasiq, as long as he following the legal rulings of his school. Allah Hafiz Ibn Amin
"As shaving the beard will cause fitna in a place where it is a custom to grow a beard, so it may arouse fitna to grow a beard in places where it has become customary to shave the beard. Growing a beard shorter than a handful, however, is a bidat. In order not to cause this fitna or bidat, it becomes wajib for a Muslim to shave his beard to follow the custom of the country in which he lives." Does anyone else find this argument very bizzare?
It is written on the twelve hundred and twenty-ninth page of the second volume of the 1284 - Istanbul edition of the book Bariqa by hadrat Muhammad Hadimi (rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih): "It is not permissible for women to shave their hair and for men to shave their beard. If a woman has a beard she is permitted to shave it. A hadith ash-Sharif declares: "Shorten your moustache! Grow your beard." According to this command, it is against the sunnat to shave the beard. If this hadith ash-Sharif denoted wujub, it would be haram to shave the beard. The book Tatarhaniyya says, borrowing from Tajnis, that this hadith ash- Sharif means: 'Do not shave your beard, nor grow it shorter than a small handful'. Such statements as, 'A person who shaves his beard or who grows it shorter than a handful is not permitted to be the imam. Also the namaz which he performs alone becomes makruh. He is accursed and refused both in this world and in the next,' which are said to have been derived from Tahtawi, or words like them that are said to have been derived from Tafsir-i Qurtubi, do not have any foundation, nor have they been proven to be true." It is written on the thirteen hundred and thirty-sixth page, "It is also haram for women to slenderize their eye-brows by plucking them, and it is permissible for them to pull out or to shave the hairs growing on their foreheads, cheeks, and chins." After cutting the hair, the beard or other hairs, the hairs cut must be buried or put on a grave or on a place that is not trodden upon, or in the sea. It is not sinful to throw them away. It is makruh to throw them into toilets or into wash-basins where kitchen utensils are washed. It is makruh to cut the nails with the teeth. It causes the disease called speckles. It is haram for women to show their cut parts to men. It is sunnat for men to shave their head or to grow their hair and comb it by parting it into two. It is makruh for them to curl or plait their hair. It is written in the book Bahr-ur-raiq, in the chapter Al-karihiyya: "It is permissible for a man to shave the top of his head and grow the surrounding hair. Yet it is makruh to curl and plait it. To plait the hair is to be like some kafirs (disbelievers.)" Also it is seen that it is makruh, not haram to do something forbidden because it is like the customs of disbelievers. Therefore, the hadith ash-Sharifs "Do not be like mushriks (polytheists). Grow a beard!" and "Perform your salat with na'ls on. Do not be like the Jews!" shows that it is makruh, not haram to shave the beard and to perform salat with bare feet. See the chapter on the makruhs of namaz, article 25!
Hi I'm new to this forum, and to Islam also. I could recommend Imam Tahir to you, he's good. He is an expert in Princilpes of Shariah, of Fiqh, Quran, Hadith and comparative fiqh. He doesn't have a website but you could visit: www.tmkiani.blogspot.com may God be with us all.
This is why Abdulhak-i Dahlawi (rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih) in the first volume, page two hundred and twelve of Ashi'at-ul-lama'at, has said it is wajib to grow a beard as long as a handful in his explanation of the hadith ash-Sharif, "Ten beautiful things are Prophets' sunnats." The reason why he says wajib about growing a beard, separating it from the others while these ten things are clearly classified as sunnats in the hadith ash-Sharif, is because it will cause fitna to shave or to grow a beard shorter than a handful in places where it is customary to grow a beard. For, a person who incites fame or arouses fitna has been cursed in a hadith ash-Sharif. As shaving the beard will cause fitna in a place where it is a custom to grow a beard, so it may arouse fitna to grow a beard in places where it has become customary to shave the beard. Growing a beard shorter than a handful, however, is a bidat. In order not to cause this fitna or bidat, it becomes wajib for a Muslim to shave his beard to follow the custom of the country in which he lives. It is written on the one hundred and forty-eighth page of Al-Hadiqa: "Committing a bidat is more harmful than abandoning a sunnat. A bidat should be avoided while a sunnat need not be done." It is necessary to follow the custom of a country in order not to cause fitna concerning the mubahs and the things that are permissible, and in the sunnat-i-zawaids. But, in doing things that are fard, wajib, sunnat-i huda, and in keeping away from harams, makruhs and bidats, customs are not to be followed. These may be altered only in cases involving appropriate excuses and to the extent prescribed in the fiqh books. This hadith ash-Sharif shows clearly that growing a beard is not Islam's characteristic sign, that it is not peculiar to the din of Islam, and therefore, that it is not sunnat-i huda. Hence, it is seen that growing a beard is sunnat-i zawaid. For the professional men of the din, it is never permissible, that is, not even with an excuse to follow the customs, to omit the sunnat-i zawaid or the mustahabs. Such people should always grow a beard as long as a handful. It is an alteration of the sunnat to keep a beard shorter than a handful. Calling the short beard a sunnat is bidat, which is a grave sin. It is written in fiqh books that no savant said it is mubah to keep a beard shorter than a handful. A handful is four fingers in width. Measuring it is done by beginning from the lower lip. It is fard for a person who keeps a beard to wet the skin under the beard when performing a ghusl. If he does not wet it, his ghusl and his ablution and consequently his namaz will not be sahih.
It is written in the book Al-halal wal-haram: "A hadith ash-Sharif declares, 'Act contrary to polytheists. Grow your beard!' [The author of this book, Yusuf Qardawi, proclaims himself to be a laMadhhabi in its preface. Therefore, his statements cannot be witnesses. Yet he explains this hadith ash-Sharif correctly and compatibly with the Ahl-as-sunnat.] Ibni Taymiyya said that this hadith shows that it is haram to shave a beard. The book Fath, quoting from Iyad, says that it is makruh. There are also those who say that it is mubah. The truth is that the hadith ash-Sharif does not show that it is wajib to grow a beard. No savant has inferred that it is wajib to dye the beard from the hadith: 'Jews and Christians do not dye their beard. Act contrary to them and dye (your beard)!' These hadith ash-Sharifs show that it is mustahab. The Salaf-i salihin did not shave their beards; at that time it was customary to grow a beard." He who slights the beard becomes a disbeliever. It is haram to shave in order to look pretty or to make your face bright like that of a woman or to shave the chin and grow hair on the cheeks. For it is haram for men to imitate women and for women to imitate men. It is written in Kimya-i saadat, at the end of the chapter dealing with wudu that it is makruh to shave the beard in order to look young and beautiful, without thinking of resembling a woman. It is makruh for women to shave their hair without an 'udhr (excuse). It is haram for women to cut their hair like a man's hair. Women have been prohibited by a hadith ash-Sharif to shave their heads or to gather their hair together to make a knot like the lump of a camel on top of the head or on the neck. This hadith ash- Sharif is quoted in Bariqa and Hadiqa, and in Yusuf Qardawi's Al-halal wal-haram fil- Islam. If it is difficult for a woman to cover her long hair, or if it would cause fitna, it is permissible for her to have it cut and shorten it up to the ear lobes. It is written in Hadiqat-un-nadiyya, on the hundred and forty-first page: "Sunnats are of two kinds: sunnat-i huda and sunnat-i zawaid. Sunnat-i huda are like i'tikaf in a mosque, calling the adhan or iqamat, and performing salat in jamaat. They are the characteristic traits of Islam, properties peculiar to this Ummat. [It is written in Ibni Abidin, at the end of the last volume that circumcision of children is also a sunnat of this kind.] If the inhabitants of a city abandon any one of these sunnats, they are to be fought against. The rawatib, that is, the muakkad sunnats, of three of the fard five daily prayers are of this kind, too. Sunnat-i zawaid involve doing the customs which Rasulullah, (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam), habitually did in clothing, eating, drinking, sitting, housing, sleeping, walking, beginning the good deeds with the right-hand side, eating, and drinking with the right hand." It is written in the second volume, page five hundred and eighty-two, "In some hadiths, dyeing the beard has been ordered. In some others, it has been prohibited. It has been declared: "Christians dye. You must not dye. Do not be like them!" This is why some of the salaf-i salihin dyed and some others did not. For, it is not wajib to obey this order or prohibition. Therefore, in this respect, the custom of the city in which one is living is to be followed. It is an act of notoriety not to follow the local customs and usage. It is makruh." In the second volume, page three hundred and twenty-four of the book At-tafhimat by Shah Waliyyullah-i Dahlawi, an alim from India, the great alim Muhammad Thanaullah PaniPuti declares; "Rasulullah (sallallahu 'alaihi wa sallam) used to cover his head with a head-scarf, wear an antari (loose long robe), strapped shoes and the like. The Khalifa 'Umar (radiallahu 'anh) also ordered his soldiers in Azarbaijan to clothe themselves in this way. But, today, it is not customary to clothe one's self in this way. It brings notoriety not to wear things customary in a country. It causes one to be pointed out, fitna. A hadith ash-Sharif declares: "Being singled out is an evil enough for any person." Therefore, it is necessary to follow the Muslims' customary usage in clothing. It was customary among believers in the time of Hadrat 'Umar to wear loose long robes, head-scarfs and strapped shoes. Wearing them in this way did not cause distinction, fame or being singled out." But it would cause trouble today. Imam-i Rabbani states in his three hundred and thirteenth letter: "It is understood from valuable Hanafi books that Muslim women used to wear antaris (long robes) open in the front. It is necessary for men to wear antaris closed in the front in places where women wear them open, and open in the front where women wear them closed. Fame brings calamities. It causes disasters." In the two hundred and eighty-eighth letter, he states: " 'May Allah's curse be upon the one who arouses mischief!' is a hadith ash-Sharif."
As-salamu 'alaykum, Is that your opinion or is it the words of a known scholar? I only heard this from people of Turkish/Kurdish background.
It is sunnat to clip the moustache so as to shorten it to the length of the eye-brows. It is sunnat to grow the beard as long as a small handful and to cut the parts longer than that. It is permissible to pull out the white hairs among the beard and moustache. It has been said by savants that the beard longer than one small handful is a sign of a weak mind. [It is written within the subject concerning the fards of ghusl in [Tabyin], and in its explanation of Shilbi 'rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih': "A hadith ash-Sharif, which exists in Muslim, declares, 'Ten acts are sunnat: To clip the moustache, to grow the beard, to use miswak, madmada, (or mazmaza, to rinse out the mouth with water when making an ablution), istinshaq. (snuffing up water into the nostrils when making an ablution), to cut the nails, to wash the toes, to clean the arm-pits, to clean the pubes, and istinja with water.' " It is declared clearly in the hadith ash-Sharif that it is sunnat to grow a beard. It is sunnat to grow a beard as long as one handful and to cut it when it is longer than one handful. To shave the cheeks and to grow a beard only on the chin, as some people do, is to change the sunnat. Nor is it compatible with the sunnat to grow a beard less than a handful. Maintaining a short beard with the intention of following the sunnat is bidat. It is haram. It becomes wajib to grow such a short beard as long as a handful. It is makruh to shave a beard just because it is customary and in order to do as all other people do. But when you live among disbelievers it is permissible and even necessary to shave it altogether for fear you will be mocked, oppressed, or lest you will commit an act of disbelief or haram, in order to carry out the commandments, earn your living, perform amr-i maruf and nahy-i anilmunkar to youngsters, serve Islam, help the oppressed, or to prevent fitna. These reasons above are excuses for not doing the sunnat. But they are not excuses for committing bidat.
well sidi it is not wajib in the other schools nor is it fisq - but yes it would be for those who take the hanafi stance on this issue. insha'allah i will try and ask someone but bear in mind that some of those fatwa books you are quoting from - the ruling therein may have been specific to a certain place / time eg subcontinent where everyone was hanafi perhaps, our current situation re. madhab following, etc is also different so it would be good to check with contemporary shuyukh as well
I have read in fatawa books that if imam from another mazhab, for example shafi'i, leaves an action which is wajib then it is makrooh to pray behind him and wait for hanafi jama'ah (if possible). I also have read that to trim beared less than a fistfull is fisq, and to pray behind a fasiq is makrooh. In hanafi fiqh beared is wajib, and pray behind an imam who does not have a fistfull beared is makrooh and has to be repeated. this is what I have read. my sources are bahar-e-shariat, an encyclopedia of hanafi fiqh complied from major works such as alamgiri, durr-al-mukhtar, raddul muh'taar, qazi khan and others, fatawa razawiyyah, and fatawa mustafawiyyah (molana mustafa raza khan barailvi). can you shed some light with hanafi references that there is no problem praying behind a maliki or shafi'i if he does not have a fistfull beared or if he leaves which is wajib in wudu or pray. for example in hanafi fiqh masah on 1/4 of head is farz and in shafi'i mazhab it is not, even if a single hair is wet, farz is fulfilled. so, would it be okay to pray behind such an imam whose wudu is not valid according to hanafi fiqh. mind it that I am not leaving the clause of husn az-zan which is present in those fatawa. my question is related to a fistfull beared which is of course very obvious than any other action like masah, which may not be known.
A fistful is not wajib / fard in the Shafi'i or Maliki schools - as such, I cannot see why it would be a problem praying behind one who takes the ruling from either of these two schools
Salam The beard can be no less than sunnat ul muakkadah. Something the Prophet saaws did and never left out. If i was told to do the azaan and i just got up and said "Allaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" then sat down, the people would ask me what the hell i am playing at. The azaan is a sunnat ul muakkadah! The Prophet saaws clearly said to oppose the idolators by trimming the mostache and growing the beard. Regardless of who it is their is no permisability of opposing the Prophet by trimming the beard or shaving it. The four finger debate comes from a hadith in which umar radiallahannhu trimmed his beard to his fist length before going on umrah. As he was one of the scholars of guidance is was acceptable to do so. The Malikis really have me confused on this issue and i demand to see how the evidence is derived. Only then can i be truly fair to this subject. These are my thoughts and not my fatawaas. wasalams
As-salamu 'alaykum, I am not sure... That's why I wrote this on another forum: I still haven't had that question answered (apart from people's 2 cents etc.).
we need hüsn-i zan .maybe his beard is new.. if he has regularly sort beard (bid'a) we perform our salat again .we should avoid perform salat behind him
To repeat myself: Would like people's feedback on this issue. What do the scholars, past and present, say on this issue?
the answers are all on sunnipath.com if you fail to find them, then please re-post the question to Sidi Faraz and there are a number of Hanafi 'ulama waiting to answer sunnipath.com is a recommended link, please use it.
Salam, a) would you pray behind someone who had less than a fist length beard? I would, believing that possibly the Imam is of the shafi madhab, for whom a few hairs on the chin is a sharie beard. I would, even though i know that the hanafis are so strict on this. b) would you pray behind someone who was clean shaven? I would, but then would repeat my prayer. Would like people's feedback on this issue. What do the scholars, past and present, say on this issue?
