How is the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith on shaving the beard resolved: (and do not imitate the Jews), if this addition is authentic?

The questioner : There is a question related to this question. I think the Shaykh today, due to the tightness of time, meaning the time did not allow for an answer to it, which is: How is the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith on shaving the beard resolved, if we see today that the Jews have shaved their beards and let their beards hang down, and in Anas's hadith there is the addition: if this addition is authentic?

The Shaykh : Imitating the Jews and the Christians is for the Muslim to do what he is not permitted to do; for the Muslim to do what the disbelievers do of their customs, traditions, and attire, as we mentioned. As for the Muslim doing what the wise Lawgiver commanded him to do and encouraged him to do, and perhaps even forbade him from leaving it, and then some disbelievers do the same as his action, this is not imitation of the disbeliever by the Muslim; rather, the opposite is the truth; that is, the disbeliever is the one who imitates the Muslim. It is established in the science of sociology that it is the nature of the weak to imitate the strong, and it is not the nature of the strong to imitate the weak. So it is no wonder that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded in the hadiths previously referred to, he commanded the Muslim community to maintain their customs and their guidance and the Sunnah of their Prophet, and not to imitate the disbelievers, in order to preserve their Muslim identity. If the opposite occurs; that is, the disbeliever imitates the Muslim, then that is strength for the Muslim and weakness for the disbeliever, not the opposite. Therefore, if shaving is commanded in the Shari'ah, and we have known that the command pertains to shaving the edge of the beard and not the beard itself, if the disbelievers do that, it is for the honor of Islam and its strength and the Muslims' adherence to it. There is no difficulty in that case. The difficulty only arises if the Muslim does the action of the disbeliever, and the Muslim is not commanded by the Shari'ah to do it.

The questioner: Yes, may Allah reward you with good.