What is your opinion regarding what is reported from Ibn 'Umar that he used to trim from his beard whatever exceeded a handful?

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : , Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy, may Allah reward you.
What is your opinion regarding the wording in the hadith of Ibn 'Umar: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to trim from his beard whatever exceeded a handful," given its conflict with his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in the authentic, frequently transmitted hadiths where he said: , , ?

The Shaykh: In my opinion, this type of situation should not be called a conflict; because a general text may not always remain in its generality and comprehensiveness. We mentioned a clear example just now, which is his saying (peace be upon him): , and we explained =
-- What is this adhan?The questioner : Isha' prayer.The Shaykh: The 'Isha' prayer? --
= and we explained that this generality is not to be acted upon; because the practice was not carried out in accordance with it. So do you think that his saying (peace be upon him): , and , and ; was this generality acted upon by the Salaf?
The truth is that the principle I mentioned just now is a very important principle, from which it branches out that we can discern matters that many people think are acts of worship, but they are not acts of worship in any way. So was this generality in: acted upon by the Salaf or not? If the Salaf acted upon it—this is a cautious, precautionary answer—if the Salaf acted upon it, then things are proceeding smoothly; even if a person, may Allah bless him, has a beard that he drags on the ground just like the Salaf! And so we do it. But if the Salaf did not act upon this generality; is it permissible to act upon it? We knew the answer just now: No. Any general text that was not acted upon, the meaning of our understanding of the text as general, which obligated us to do an action that the Salaf did not do, is proof that our understanding is wrong. And the matter in this hadith is exactly of this nature; that is: the Salaf did not act upon this absolute and comprehensive statement , but their practice was contrary to that. And at the head of them is Ibn 'Umar, who is one of the narrators of this hadith. Here lies a very... benefit; which is what the scholars say regarding its context: The opinion of the narrator or the understanding of the narrator is more knowledgeable about his narration than others. So when we hear this hadith after fourteen centuries: , , it comes to our mind that the intended meaning is absolute growth without limits.
But if we remember the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): , and his other saying with the other wording: , at that time we say: We, after fourteen centuries, can understand this hadith better than the one who spoke it. The one who spoke it is the Messenger of Allah, and its narrator is 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar... whatever was under the handful, Ibn 'Umar used to trim it. So we, in this situation, if he were alone in this matter, we could not say he contradicted the hadith of the Messenger, because the contradiction would be manifest if he said—for example—"Do not trim anything from the beard" and then trimmed it, that would be a contradiction. But: this is a general text that can be with this absoluteness, and it can be with that specific limitation that Ibn 'Umar did. I said: This is if Ibn 'Umar alone was doing this trimming; how much more so when it was reported from others of the Salaf, among them Abu Hurayrah, among them Mujahid, among them Ibrahim ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i, where he said: "They used to trim from their beards." If Ibn Yazid is a Tabi'i and al-Nakha'i is a followed scholar, "They used to trim" means the Companions. And nothing was reported from others that contradicts what they adopted. In such a case, Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi says in his book "Al-Mughni": "It is established that there is no disagreement, so it is consensus (ijma'), no one is known to have opposed it." This is what he sometimes says—may Allah have mercy on him—regarding a single Companion if he said a saying or did an action and no one is known to have opposed him, it is in the position of consensus; meaning it is a proof. So if we note here what follows:
First: Ibn 'Umar is the narrator of the hadith; so he is more knowledgeable about his narration than others.
Second: That Ibn 'Umar was the most eager of the Companions, absolutely, in following the Messenger (peace be upon him) in his actions, even in actions that some scholars call non-ritual, but rather ordinary actions. So it was the habit of the Messenger (peace be upon him) sometimes to unbutton his shirt, so Ibn 'Umar did that; so he was asked: Why? He said: I saw the Messenger of Allah doing that. Perhaps the Messenger was in a hot atmosphere like now in this room and unbuttoned one or two buttons; so this is not a matter of worship, this is a matter of custom. Or the general atmosphere outside the building, as is the case in Arab countries, especially in the days of summer, was hot, so he (peace be upon him) wanted to cool off and relax, so he unbuttoned some buttons; this has no relation to worship. Nevertheless, Ibn 'Umar used to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him) even in these things. He has other examples mentioned by al-Hafiz al-Mundhiri at the beginning of his book "Al-Targhib" in the chapter of the Sunnah, the book of the Sunnah. If this is the state of Ibn 'Umar in his eagerness to follow the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) even in ordinary matters; how would he contradict the Messenger (peace be upon him)? How can it be imagined that he would contradict him in a ritual matter and a command issued from his saying: ? This is the furthest thing if Ibn 'Umar were alone in this matter; how much more so when we mentioned that there are other people with him from the Companions and the Tabi'un, so the matter mentioned in the hadith is not in its absolute form; so it is not correct for us to say that Ibn 'Umar contradicted the hadith of the Messenger.

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : , You taught us precision in all matters. You drew attention here, saying: In the hadith of Ibn 'Umar: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to trim from his beard, and what attributed it to Ibn 'Umar?

The Shaykh: No, it is not.

The questioner: ... The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh: This is not correct. If it were correct, the case would be ended. This is a hadith in which there is a man of severe weakness, and therefore we classified it in "Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Da'ifah" (The Chain of Weak Hadiths). The wording of the hadith is: "He used to trim from its width and length." If this hadith were correct, the talk and debate in the issue would have ended. But the hadith is not correct, and therefore we returned to observing the action of the Salaf, and we said that his action indicates that this general, indeed this absolute command, is not in its absolute form.

The questioner: And was this command only in Hajj?

The Shaykh: No, in Hajj and 'Umrah and others. Likewise, the other narrations that came from some of the Companions are not related to Hajj.
Yes.