Question :
A question was asked about the ruling for those who say that shaving the beard and shortening the thawb is considered from al-qushur.
Fatwa in Brief: The consensus of the scholars (ijma‘)
is that it is obligatory to grow one’s beard. It was
also mentioned that wearing one’s trousers above the
ankle, out of arrogance or for any other reason, is
illegal.
Shaykh Ibn Baz, al-Da‘wa Magazine, no.1607
Response:
Trimming or shortening one’s beard is not illegal
according to all [four] Imams. Growing the beard is
described as obligatory, or recommended. Likewise, the
scholars disagreed over whether a Muslim man can shave
his beard off; some considered this haram, while
others did not. Regarding the length of one’s trousers,
if someone wears long trousers out of arrogance, then he
breaks Muslim law. If he does not do so, then he does
not break the law.
Commentary:
In the hadith collection of al-Tirmidhi, there is
a tradition attributed to ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb. In this,
‘Amr reports that his father learnt from his own father
[i.e. ‘Amr’s grandfather], “that the Prophet (upon him
be peace) used to remove something from the width and
length of his beard”.[1]
A group of the Companions used to trim and shorten their
beards. No one should think that the Companions acted
leniently regarding their
religion, or contrary to the demands of the Sunna. The
scholars disagreed upon considering the hadiths
on growing the beard as obligatory or recommended.
After mentioning a great
number of traditions ascribed to the Prophet and to his
Companions, Shaykh al-Albani finally ruled: “I have
talked at length on this subject, appealing to the texts
of the pious predecessors and the Imams, because most
people [incorrectly] believe that trimming one’s beard
runs counter to the meaning of the hadith [in
which the Prophet says] ‘grow your beards’.[2]
Regarding the subject of
shortening one’s trousers above the ankle, Bukhari
includes a tradition in which the Prophet (upon him be
peace) states: “When you eat, drink, give charity
and wear clothes, let no extravagance or pride intrude
upon your actions”.
This indicates that what renders an action prohibited is
that it involves extravagance, and thus suggests
arrogance. If neither condition exists, however, there
is no harm in doing so. Abu Bakr (r.a.) said “O
Messenger of God, my waist-wrap (izar) trails
unless I take extreme care of it”. The Prophet (upon him
be peace) said, “You are not like those who do this out
of arrogance”. Arrogance is vilified, even for
those who roll their clothes up. As for those who wear
good clothes – thanking God for them and not scorning
those who cannot afford such clothes – there is no harm
in doing so, even if these clothes are very precious. In
Sahih Muslim, one hadith shows that the
Prophet (upon him be peace) said: “a person will not
enter heaven if s/he has a smallest tiny weight of
arrogance in their heart”. To which a man replied: ‘[but
what if] a person likes to wear beautiful clothes and
shoes?’ The Prophet (upon him be peace) replied: ‘God
the Exalted is beautiful, and He loves beauty. Arrogance
[in contrast] is ridiculing and rejecting the Truth, and
despising people’”.
Dr. Ahmad ‘Id
[1]
Al-Tirmidhi, Sunan, 2988.
[2]
Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani, al-Silsila
al-Da‘ifa, Part V, p. 375 and following.