It is sunnat to make a ghusl ablution, to put on fragrant scents (alcohol-free), to put on new, clean clothes, to have a haircut, to cut the nails, to burn incense in the mosque, to make Tabkir [to come to the mosque early] for Friday prayer. It is written in the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtar: "It is sunnat for every Muslim to have a haircut and to cut his nails before or after Friday prayer on Fridays. It is better to do these after the prayer. As a matter of fact, these are done after the hajj. He who does not cut them on Friday has to cut them some other day. He must not wait until next Friday to cut them. In war time it is mustahab to grow the nails and moustache. It is mustahab to get clean by bathing and shaving the hairs in the arm-pits and pubes every Friday. It is permissible to clean the hairs with a chemical [with a razor blade, or Rosma powder] or by plucking. It is permissible to clean them every fifteen days, too. It is tahrimi makruh not to clean them for more than forty days." It is written in the Imdad explanation of Tahtawi that it is mustahab to remove the hairs around the anus.
The sustenance of a person with long nails comes with difficulty, with trouble. A hadith declares: "A person who cuts his nails on Friday becomes safe from calamities for one week."
It is bidat to shave the moustache. 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.
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."
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.
