The hadiths concerning the mustache have come in different wordings: (shave it), (cut it), and it is mentioned that trimming the mustache is part of the fitrah (the innate natural disposition).

The questioner : A questioner says: It came from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , so he mentioned trimming the mustache. And it came from the hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saw a man with a long mustache, so he called for a miswak and a razor, and he trimmed the man's mustache on the stick of the miswak. And it came from the hadith of Ibn 'Umar from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . And it came from the hadith of Anas similarly, and he added: . And it came from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; so what is the correct reconciliation between these different wordings? And how is the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith clarified, when we see today that the Jews have shaved their mustaches and let their beards hang down? Give us a ruling on that, and may Allah guide you?

The Shaykh : The answer is clear by returning to a rule that I also consider one of the general principles of Islamic jurisprudence, which is interpreting verbal texts with practical actions, interpreting verbal texts with practical hadiths; because some of the texts of the Shari'ah, like these, are susceptible to more than one meaning, so the Lawgiver inspires our Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) to clarify these verbal texts by his action.
What did we say?

The questioner : About the hadiths.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The verbal hadiths are explained by the practical hadiths, and this is among the meanings of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , and his explanation (peace be upon him) is mostly by action, even though sometimes it is by speech, but the specific speech that does not allow for different interpretations, of this type—for example—his saying (peace be upon him): , so he specified what is permissible for the hand to be cut, while the verse is absolute: , so whether he stole a quarter of a dinar, an eighth of a dinar, a qirsh, or a fils, linguistically his name is a thief, so were it not for this hadith, it would have been obligatory to apply the verse in its absoluteness and comprehensiveness, but most of the explanation of the Messenger (peace be upon him), as we observe, is by his action; even in this verse , this hand is all a hand, but sometimes the hand is mentioned and the palm is intended, sometimes the hand is mentioned and the forearm is intended, sometimes the upper arm with the forearm is intended, and so on; so where is the hand cut? We have no explanation from his saying (peace be upon him), but we have an explanation from his action at the wrist. And so it is with many of the rulings of the Shari'ah, the verbal hadiths come in a general or absolute or comprehensive manner, so the Sunnah comes to clarify that.
These statements that came in the hadiths... the mustache or shaving the mustache and the command to cut the mustache and the like; it must also be in another hadith... .