What is the ruling on shaving the beard, and is shaving it one of the major sins?

The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. Shaykh Salih also asks about shaving the beard, and he says: We hear that leaving it is a recommended practice (sunnah), and that shaving it is one of the major sins. What is your opinion, Honorable Shaykh?

The Shaykh:
That leaving it is a recommended practice (sunnah), and that shaving it is one of the major sins.

The questioner:
Letting it grow is the intention; perhaps he means letting it grow, that letting it grow is from the recommended practice (sunnah), and that shaving it is one of the major sins.

The Shaykh:
What is from the major sins cannot be a recommended practice (sunnah); rather, it is obligatory. Letting it grow is obligatory, unless he means by "sunnah" the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

The presenter:
O Allah, send blessings upon him.

The Shaykh:
Yes, letting the beard grow is established by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); it is established by the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And with his command (peace and blessings be upon him) to let it grow, he prohibited shaving it and cutting it, and counted that as imitating the disbelievers, the Zoroastrians, and the polytheists. All of this indicates the prohibition of shaving the beard. It indicates the obligation of letting it grow, and that it is one of the characteristics of the innate natural disposition (fitrah) upon which the Prophets (peace be upon them) were. Being lax in this matter by imitating the disbelievers, the open sinners, and bad customs, all of this is not permissible for a Muslim to submit to. Rather, it is obligatory for the Muslim to act according to what is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even if the majority contradicts him, and even if it contradicts customs and traditions. As for the claim that shaving the beard is one of the major sins, this does not appear to be the case. Although it is forbidden and involves sin and contradiction, it does not reach the level of a major sin.
Because a major sin, as defined by the scholars, is everything for which a fixed punishment (hadd) is established in this world, or a warning in the Hereafter, or which is concluded with anger, a curse, or the Fire. This is the criterion for a major sin. None of these things has come regarding shaving the beard; rather, the prohibition has come, and the prohibition indicates that it is forbidden. Not every forbidden thing is a major sin among the major sins. Yes.