Shave my beard?

Abbas —

Assalamualaykum,

Recently with the birth of our first child I felt it more appropriate than ever before to start to grow my beard, and I have done.

Within the last 2 months my father has asked me three times to shave my beard as he does not think it is appropriate with the current hostilities within the UK.

At first I thought that he feared for my safety but it seems more apparent that this is not the case.

I researched and embraced Islam myself and have been following the path of the Sunni mainly, however my father is Iranian (shia) and I think this is another issue he has. The first was with the naming of our daughter "Aisha".

It is possible that he has still not understood or learnt anything?

Forum
General

zara — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 16:30

what i always do when i have a problem is i get 2 bits of paper and mix them up and pick out one and then do what it says on the paper. if you want to make it more 'islamic' then read bismillah at the beginning.

Omrow — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 16:35

Abbas
It is possible that he has still not understood or learnt anything?

Why is it not also possible that perhaps it is you
who has " still not understood or learnt anything " ?

Snoopz — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 16:50

you shoudnt shave your beard just because your dad asks you to.. i kno keepin rents is also key in islam bt growing the beard is sunnah right? surely thas more important.

Noor — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 16:58

Snoopyyou shoudnt shave your beard just because your dad asks you to.. i kno keepin rents is also key in islam bt growing the beard is sunnah right? surely thas more important.

Spot on Snoop.

BTW where have u been?! Not seen or spoken to you in ages!

TEX — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 18:34

salam abbas,

your father has a point, i know too many very intellegent brothers that cant get decent jobs because of there beards, the Revival editor is a perfect example.

Abbas — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 18:36

OmrowWhy is it not also possible that perhaps it is you
who has " still not understood or learnt anything " ?

Omrow, if you have the will, please enlighten me.

Brother Noor...* I have been attending to our new born Aisha. Lots of work and little attention to spare time unfortunately although it is very much enjoyable.

Brother TEX, luckly I run a company so do not have the worry of looking for a new job. I am not familiar with your second comment but to be honest I do not curse or swear at anyone.

Noor — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 18:38

TEXsalam abbas,your father has a point, i know too many very intellegent brothers that cant get decent jobs because of there beards.

Simple really,

Whats more important to you? Dunya or Deen?

Adopting the sunnah by growing a beard may be the one thing that saves you from the punishment of the hell fire..

Noor — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 18:42

Abbas
Brother Noor...* I have been attending to our new born Aisha. Lots of work and little attention to spare time unfortunately although it is very much enjoyable.


Im a sis and i wasnt aiming the Q at u.. lol

It was @ Snoopy.

My fault, sorry.

TEX — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 18:50

Noor...*

TEXsalam abbas,your father has a point, i know too many very intellegent brothers that cant get decent jobs because of there beards.

Simple really,

Whats more important to you? Dunya or Deen?

Adopting the sunnah by growing a beard may be the one thing that saves you from the punishment of the hell fire..

if u earn more money u can give more money to charity

less ppl die of starvation

saving the life of ONE person is equivelent of saving the whole of humanity

that is more important then some beard

besides he would be happier, and could provide more for his family, which are part of the deen, god sed he dont want us to be unhappy and he gave men the burden of providing for the family

Learn to see the bigger picture 8)

Noor — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 20:28

TEXif u earn more money u can give more money to charity

less ppl die of starvation

Its not about HOW much you give. A person can ear up to £1000 and say they give only half of it and another earns £100 and gives all of it, the person who gave all of his money will recieve the greater reward.

TEXsaving the life of ONE person is equivelent of saving the whole of humanity

that is more important then some beard

It aint some beard uno, this is a Sunnah act which was praticed by Rasulallah saw so show sum respect yeh.

TEXbesides he would be happier, and could provide more for his family, which are part of the deen, god sed he dont want us to be unhappy and he gave men the burden of providing for the family

Learn to see the bigger picture 8)

It is Allah hu gives happiness not the affairs of the Dunya, by making Allah and his Rasul happy what more happniess can any1 ask for?

khan — Fri, 6 Oct 2006 - 22:50

keep ur beard bro.. inshAllah I am trying to psyche myself up to start keeping one.

someone posted this on another forum which I thought was thought provoking:

ShowkatSalaams all

An article from mpacuk.org, a response to my article by a brother called Fraction man i just copied and pasted his article, enjoy, i hope some people are happy now, we have equality at last. lolz

OK, following on from Showkat's post about excuses by women who don’t wear the Hijab here is a list of top ten reasons why Muslim men don't keep beards.

Not judging anyone, just posting for info, tell me what I've missed.

IN ORDER:

10. Still finding the right style - There are so many different types of beards, and I'm still looking for the one that will depict my personality and my love for the deen the best.

9. I'm too young - Beards are for old fogies. I'm young and want to enjoy my time. I'll keep a beard when i'm slightly older.

8. It doesn't suit me. - I have a round face and if I keep a beard it will make me look like a clown

7. Takes too much time to maintain a beard - Shaving only takes 10 seconds. swish, swosh, wash. Beards take too much time to maintain, trim here, trim there, make sure it doesn't grow up to my eyes, and then comb it all the time

6. People with beards are backwards - Muslims who keep beards burp during prayer, do this, do that. In general they have attrocious manners and I don't want to be associated with them in anyway

5. Its not Fardh to keep a beard - Its Wajib/Sunnah/Nafl (delete as appropriate to your madhab) not Fardh. So basically there is choice and I choose not to keep a beard. Period

4. My wife/fiancee doesn't like it - She just doesn't like it. Women!! Can't live with them, can't live without them

3. Judge not by appearance - Keeping a beard doesn't make me a good Muslim. Iman is in the heart and I don't need to prove my Iman to anyone. I'm improving my inner self first.

2. Now is not the right time - I'm waiting to get a promotion. I'm waiting for a job interview. I have to meet a few very important clients. Basically delaying till you have gone past a career milestone.

1. People will mistake me for a terrorist - The idea here being that the brother will get stick for keeping a beard because people will identify him as someone who supports terrorism. If the brother didn't keep a beard pre 9/11 and keeps one now people will think that he has been spending too much time with radical Muslims.

peacegirl — Sat, 7 Oct 2006 - 06:35

there is nothing wrong in growing a beard!!! its not like you are covering your face!!! and that is another topic! lol! as far as finding a job is conserned............. you wouldn't wanna work for some1 who isn't in favour of beards!

Seraphim — Sat, 7 Oct 2006 - 11:27

Aslong as you're beards nice and tidy not too long it should be fine.

My Beard My Rules... if employers dont like it... they can....

Omrow — Sat, 7 Oct 2006 - 16:22

Abbas
Omrow, if you have the will, please enlighten me.

You are too wet to be enlightened.

Dry yourself first.

The Great 100 — Sun, 8 Oct 2006 - 23:17

Grow it if you like, shave it if you like. I don't know what you call "current hostilities within the UK", we don't have a civil war here. If you are a nice guy you can be a nice Muslim with a beard and that will reflect well on Muslims. If you are an unpleasant guy then you can be an unpleasant Muslim with a beard and that will reflect poorly on Muslims.

As I have gone about this weekend with my Jewish Kippah and my lulav and etrog I have had smiles and frowns and I have smiled back. Maybe the people who frown at Jews will still frown but the sight of me and my get-up won't really have made an impact. Conceivably smiling helps.