What is the ruling on one who insists on shaving his beard to avoid the mockery of his friends?
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Question:
What is your opinion regarding one who insists on shaving his beard, and when he is told that this is wrong, he says, "When I let it grow, I am exposed to mockery from my friends"?
Answer:
The one who insists on shaving the beard: the scholars mentioned that the one who insists on a minor sin makes it a major sin; he becomes an open sinner. The open sinner is the one who commits a major sin or insists on a minor sin from the minor sins. So if he insists on it and continues with it, he becomes an open sinner.
It is not permissible for a person to yield to people and fear people; he should fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If people mock you, or if they mock or ridicule you, does this harm you? Does it benefit you with Allah? It benefits you with Allah. But if you anger Allah the Exalted and disobey Him in order to please people, will people benefit you?
They do not benefit me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So you must fear Allah and be mindful of Allah, and do not fear people; do not be afraid of people.
What is your opinion regarding one who insists on shaving his beard, and when he is told that this is wrong, he says, "When I let it grow, I am exposed to mockery from my friends"?
Answer:
The one who insists on shaving the beard: the scholars mentioned that the one who insists on a minor sin makes it a major sin; he becomes an open sinner. The open sinner is the one who commits a major sin or insists on a minor sin from the minor sins. So if he insists on it and continues with it, he becomes an open sinner.
It is not permissible for a person to yield to people and fear people; he should fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic. If people mock you, or if they mock or ridicule you, does this harm you? Does it benefit you with Allah? It benefits you with Allah. But if you anger Allah the Exalted and disobey Him in order to please people, will people benefit you?
They do not benefit me. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Whoever seeks the pleasure of Allah through the displeasure of the people, Allah will be pleased with him and He will make the people pleased with him. And whoever seeks the pleasure of the people through the displeasure of Allah, Allah will be displeased with him and He will make the people displeased with him.
من التمس رضا الله بسخط الناس رضي الله عنه وأرضى عنه الناس، ومن التمس رضا الناس بسخط الله سخط الله عليه وأسخط عليه الناس
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم من يصر على حلق اللحية تجنبا لاستهزاء الأصدقاء؟ للشيخ الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.