A Guiding Address to Those Who Shave Their Beards and Those Who Absent Themselves from the Congregational Prayer

Question:
We ask you to deliver a word to those who shave their beards and do not pray with the congregation?

Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. As for these people who shave their beards and do not pray with the congregation, they have committed a forbidden act and abandoned an obligatory one. As for the forbidden act, it is shaving the beard, for it is a disobedience to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who commanded the beard to be grown, honored, left long, and let down, and forbade encroaching upon it by shaving, cutting, plucking, or otherwise. Growing the beard is among the characteristics of the fitrah (the innate natural disposition) and among the sunnah (recommended practice) of the Prophets; growing it is obligatory, and shaving it is forbidden because it contradicts the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It is also forbidden because it involves imitating the disbelievers. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade [shaving] and commanded the honoring and growing of the beard, he said, "Differ from the Magians; differ from the polytheists." As for their abandoning an obligatory act, it is because the congregational prayer is obligatory for men as an individual obligation, and no one is excused from it except one who has a valid excuse.
One who has a valid legal excuse, such as the sick or the fearful, among those who have legal excuses that prevent them from attending. As for one who has no legal excuse, it is obligatory for him to respond to the call to prayer and to pray with the Muslim congregation. For a blind man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and complained to him of the hardship he faced on his way to the mosque, and he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to grant him a dispensation to pray in his house. He said to him, "Do you hear the call?" He said, "Yes." He said, "Then respond, for I find no dispensation for you." Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: And they are among the sunnahs of guidance. And I have seen us, and none used to be absent from them except a known hypocrite whose hypocrisy was known. He said: , . And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) intended, in the authentic hadith, to burn the houses of those who are absent from the prayer. He also informed that this is among the characteristics of the hypocrites. He said (peace and blessings be upon him): So it is obligatory for these people to repent to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, to maintain the congregational prayer in the mosques, and to abandon this bad habit and ugly appearance, which is shaving the beard. Yes.