The Importance of Consistency Between a Person's Appearance and His Actions and Dealings

The questioner : In the previously mentioned hadith of Abu Sa'id, and in his mention of the characteristics of the man to whom the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Fear Allah, O Muhammad," one of those characteristics is a man who trims his beard. The point, Honorable Shaykh, is that if a person hears about a man who claims to be among the people of religion and is known for displaying the Sunnah of growing the beard and shortening the garment, among other Sunnahs, and then sees him doing something ugly, he says, "Look at this man; he has a beard, his garment is short, and yet he does these things." Is this permissible in light of the Sunnah?

The Shaykh : If the intention is that this man, may Allah protect us from that, has a heart empty of faith, even though his outward appearance suggests righteousness. His appearance means righteousness, even though growing the beard at that time did not necessarily indicate that a person was holding fast to the religion, because shaving the beard was very rare at that time, even among the disbelievers, who had beards that might have been longer than those of the Muslims. But the intention here is to verify his characteristics and that the narrator has accurately described him, similar to what is known among the people of hadith as continuity.

The questioner : But they occupy people these days with what? Mockery and lust?

The Shaykh : No, it is not about the outward appearance. Their point is that a person may be deceived by another person's outward appearance, and this is a reality. Some people may be deceived by a man who has graduated from the Shari'ah, whose outward appearance in prayer is good, but when you investigate his circumstances, his dealings, and the things that serve as a test for a person, you find him to be the opposite of his outward appearance. But this does not mean that all people are like this. No, the default is that the inner state corresponds to the outward appearance; that is the default.