The Difference Between Cleaning the Beard and Washing the Face, and the Hadith Regarding Lengthening the Forelock

Question:
Your Eminence the Shaykh, is there a difference between combing the beard and the food on the spoons?

Answer:
The beard is the forelock. It was mentioned in a hadith of Abu Hurayrah: Some scholars interpreted this marfu' (report traced to the Prophet) and said that it is like what was mentioned in the hadith of 'Ali, where he pours water on the front of the head until it descends onto the face, this forelock. However, a group of scholars said that it is mawquf (stopping at a Companion) with Abu Hurayrah, and that this was part of Abu Hurayrah's practice. It is well known that this was something Abu Hurayrah added, saying: "Whoever is able to let his forelock hang down, let him do so." This is mawquf with him, based on his ijtihad (independent legal reasoning). The Sunnah is to wash the face only. As for washing the beard so that it extends the shortness to the armpits, or washing the face so that it takes the hair of the top of the head, there is no explicit evidence for this; rather, it is from the action of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction).
The *wajib* (obligatory) is to wash the face only, to wash the face, and to wash the hands up to the elbows, as came in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, up to the elbows, meaning he washes his elbows, and he washes his ankles up to the shins. As for washing the entire leg or the bone in it, no, that is a mistake from the action of Abu Hurayrah by his *ijtihad* (may Allah be pleased with him). Rather, the *marfu'* (report traced to the Prophet) is to wash the head until he washes the two temples and reaches the bone, and to wash the feet until he reaches the bone, up to the shins by washing the ankles. This is how the *sunnah* (recommended practice) came from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Yes.