the ruling of the beard according to hanafi fiqh

proof #1 for the necessity of keeping a fistful beard

hashiya of imam hasan abul ikhlas al-shurunbulali on durar al-hukkam sharh ghurar al-ahkam 1/207



note : other classical books of fiqh such as bahr al-rayiq of allama ibn nujaym, fath al-qadir of allama ibn humam, hashiya of imam tahtawi, radd al-muhtar of allama shami have the same wording [almost verbatim] in their passages relating to the fistful beard except that they all use the wording [و أما أخذ منها و هي دون ذلك ] meaning they referred to the qubda with a pronoun and allama shurunbulali has explicitly used the wording qubda rather than use the dameer.

 

a mufti sahib recently uploaded an extract of shaykh abu zohra's opinion on the beard on social media.



although similar objections against the necessity of keeping a fistful beard have been answered by ala Hazrat in lamah al-duha, some people seem hell-bent on attempting to weaken the position of the majority of hanafi ulema regarding the necessity of a fistful beard.

mufti sahib also implied that it is permissible to follow other madhhahib when there is some ikhtilaf between them.

questions
1) shaykh abu zohra used to shave his beard, is this permissible?
2) is it permissible for hanafi laymen to trim their beard less than a fistful?
3) what have majority of the hanafi fuqaha stated regarding a fistful beard?
4) is it permissible to follow another school of thought due to their being dispensation?
5) is it permissible for laymen (this includes those who know how to read simple arabic books like aqida tahawiyya etc.) to follow any school of thought whenever they want?
6) does the opinion of mawlana ghulam rasool saeedi (Allah forgive him and shower him with His Mercy), regarding what hanafi fuqaha intended in their ibarat about the beard, take precedence over what shaykh abdul haqq and ala Hazrat (as well as almost every scholar of the subcontinent) said regarding them?