The length of beard

[muhammad.abdullah]

assalam o alaikum wr wbrkt

my brothers and sisters, i hope you are fine. I have a serious question about beard. Some people trim their beards while some dont, some people grow it as long as Allah wills it to grow while others cut it short to a fist length. Can someone throw light on it with reference to hadith or quran.

jazakallah
ws

 

[Globalpeace]

Is there any recommended length of the beard?

Source: http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=6657&ln=eng&txt=beard


Question:
is there any recommended length of the beard traceable from Prophet Muhammad SAAW

Answer:

Praise be to Allaah.

There is no recommended or specified length of the beard, because nothing to that effect has been narrated from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). What has been reported is that the beard should be left as it is.

Muslim (2344) reported that Jaabir ibn Samurah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to have a very hairy beard.”

An-Nisaa’ (5232) reported from al-Baraa’ that he (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) had a thick beard; according to another report, he had a bushy beard; according to another report, he had a wide beard.

Some scholars permit cutting the hair of the beard that exceeds the amount that may be grasped in the fist, because Ibn ‘Umar did this; but most of the scholars regard this as makrooh, which is more apparent because of the reports referred to above.

Al-Nawawi said: the best is to leave it as it is and not touch it or shorten it at all. (Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi, 8/39).

- As for the hadeeth, “He used to reduce the length and width (of his beard)” – this is a false and fabricated hadeeth.

See al-‘Ilal al-Mutanaahiyah by Ibn al-Jawzi, 2/686

Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Indeed in the Messenger of Allaah (Muhammad) you have a good example to follow for him who hopes for (the Meeting with) Allaah and the Last Day…” [al-Ahzaab 33:21]

“And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it).” [al-Hashr 59:7]

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him) said: The definition of the beard as stated by the scholars of (Arabic) language is: the hair of the face, jawbone and cheeks, in the sense that all the hair on the cheeks, jawbone and chin is part of the beard and removing any of it is counted as a sin, because the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Let your beards grow,” “Leave your beards alone,” “Let your beards increase,” “Let your beards be full.” This indicates that it is not permissible to remove anything from the beard. But the sin may vary in degree – shaving the beard is worse than shortening it, because it is a more obvious contradiction of the Sunnah.

For more information, see Question # 1189.

And Allaah knows best

Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

 

[Umm Aysha]

Asalaamu Alyakum

Hope the link below helps brother

http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5835

 

[TheHumbleWun]

Some brothers told me it should be the length of the fist.

walaakum salaam

 

[Globalpeace]

Minimum length of Beard by Hanafi & other Scholars?

Asslamo Allaikum,

The answer quoted above does include the opinion of the Hanafi Madhab & others by saying, "Some scholars...based on the actions of Ibn-e-Umar (RA)..."

The Hadeeth is as follows:

When ‘Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both), went for Hajj or Umrah, he used to hold his beard with his fist and cut whatever extended beyond his fist. [Al-Bukhari]

These reports are also narrated by Abu Hurayrah (RA) & and Ibn-Abbas (RA)...Please note that Several such authentic reports are compiled by Shaykh al-Albani (RA) in ad-Da’ifah

The opinion that you refer to in the Hanafi Madhab is as follows:

“It is prohibited for a man to cut his beard ... as for cutting it shorter than a fist-length - as is done by some people from the west and by the effeminate men- no one permits this. And as for shaving it completely, it is the doing of the Indian Jews and the Persian Magians” [Persian Magians-Followers of an old religion, possibly the same as the "Zoroastrians"] [Ad-Durr ul-Mukhtar].

But even in the Hanafi Madhab & elsewhere it is BEST and STRONGEST opinion to lengthen the Beard; having said that it is obviously permitted and proven (as quoted above)

Some brothers told me it should be the length of the fist.

walaakum salaam

 

[alkathiri]

So we are suppose to let the beards flow....

How about hair on the adams apple and surrounding it, just before the soft part within your jaw ...Is it Okay to shave them

How short can u trim your moustache ? How abt this very short that from far , it is like there is no hair there?

 

[Abdul Hasib]

Sideburns are also considered to be part of the beard right? Cause whenver I get a hair cut the barber always shaves my sideburns

 

[alkathiri]

Growing the beard is a command from the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) to the men of his Ummah. More specifically, the prohibition is to not shave the beard (that is, a man who simply cannot grow facial hair at all has not disobeyed this command). Although Imam as-Shafi'i wrote an opinion that shaving the beard is haram...the mu'tamid or most relied upon opinion in our madhab is that shaving the beard is makruh.

Letting the beard grow is a sunnah that is highly recommended by our fuqaha, may Allah have mercy on them. Anyone who loves the Messenger of Allah (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam) should know that following his sunnah is a sign of sincere love. Anyone who despises the beard or makes fun of it should know that belittling or making fun of the sunnah is prohibited.

Now, we must be clear as to what the definition of "beard" is. The arabic term is "liHya." The scholars of the Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki madhabs take the linguistic definition of the word "liHya" to be: the hair that sprouts from the chin. In fact, as can be found in "Nayl ar-Rajaa'" the sharh of the text "Safinat an-Najaa'" the author, as-Sayyid Ahmad b. Umar as-Shatiri lists 20 different hairs on the face that have been defined by the fuqaha. some of them (with my own translations) are as follows:

liHya (beard): the hair that sprouts from the chin (goatee region).

`aariDayn (sideburns): the two patches of hair that descend from the ear level to the chin, along the jawbone.

shaarib (mustache): the hair that sprouts above the upper lip.

sibaalayn (connectors): the two lines of hair that extend from the ends of the mustache and connect to the goatee (not all men have this)

`anfaqah (soul patch): the tuft of hair that sprouts below the lower lip.

nafakatayn (I don't know how translate this): the two patches of hair on either side of the `anfaqah (some men don't have this).

khaddayn (mid to upper cheek hairs) the two patches of hair that sprout on the cheeks... it was named after its location.