A Warning on the Issue of Shaving the Beards in This Chapter, and on Men Imitating Women and Women Imitating Men

The Shaykh: Likewise — and this is what I am eager to reach — also, after drawing attention to the etiquette of listening to religious lessons; when a man adorns himself in his clothing and imitates his women in that, or rather, when he imitates the most distinctive characteristic of women in appearance — which is shaving the beard — he imitates the woman. We must know that shaving this beard — I do not wish to enter into the topic of the ruling on the beard, for I think you are aware of it — but I want to draw attention to the fact that this sin which a man commits against himself when he shaves or trims his beard and imitates the woman; there is no doubt that this sin will cause in his nature a preoccupation with trivial matters and a lack of concern for the serious matters; for this is the nature of women, whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created to achieve a goal in life, and among that is to be a wife for this husband or this man, and that he finds tranquility in her and she in him. But Allah singled her out for a duty He did not assign to the men; as is known, for example, that jihad is obligatory upon men and not women, and working outside the homes is obligatory upon men and not women. And as it was said:
"Killing and fighting are prescribed for us, and for the women, dragging their tails."
So this man who imitates the woman and shaves his beard, and may go further by completely removing the hair of his mustache as well, so that the resemblance between him and women is completed in general. And at that point, we are not surprised by the hadith of Ibn Abbas, which the Imam al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih from Uqalah: . And in another hadith: , which means the women who imitate men.
And just as we observe in the men who imitate women a certain softness and preoccupation with trivial matters that is not befitting for men; likewise, we feel, indeed we touch, in the women who imitate men that they become bold and become like men in strength and manliness, forgetting their femininity and softness because of the imitation of men. And all of this aligns with the fact that the outward is connected to the inward. Therefore, what I want to conclude is that we should always and forever remember not to take lightly the rectification of the outward. Included in this, besides the imitation of men by women, is the imitation of Muslims by disbelievers. And this imitation also has tangible effects in that this imitator of the disbeliever no longer retains that Islamic dignity and strength that would carry him to fight the enemies of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), even intellectually; because he imitates them.
And it is established in the philosophy of history, which the famous historian Imam Ibn Khaldun discussed in his Muqaddimah, that the weak imitates the strong. This is a factual reality; the one who imitates the other is the weak one imitating the strong. Therefore, it is not permissible for a Muslim to imitate the disbeliever either, because he will take on the nature of this disbeliever. And at that time, it is as if it is a preparation for the occupation of the disbelievers of those lands that have found the customs of the disbelievers palatable and have taken them lightly, or rather, have deemed them permissible.
So it should be that we stand by the guidance of Islam in that the outward — as the scholars say — is the title of the inward. The outward is the title of the inward because of the connection between each of them in validity and weakness. And the most deserving to hold fast to this Islamic guidance are the scholars, the students of knowledge, and the teachers among them, who are hoped to be a good example for the confused nation today, which is lost between the Muslims' ignorance of Islam and their imitation of the Westerners. It is upon us to deepen our understanding of our religion, and to call people to act upon the guidance and light therein, so that it may be written for us with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) the reward of those who followed us and those who took us as an example until the Day of Judgment, as He (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: .
And perhaps this extent is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.