What is the ruling on dyeing the beard, and with what dye? And what is the ruling on one who does not dye it?

The questioner: What is the position on dyeing the beards? And with what dye? And what is the ruling on one who does not dye it?

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commands in this hadith to dye, saying: , so he (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to dye our gray hair, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) had not been fully gray-haired, but rather there were about ten hairs that had turned gray, and yet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to dye with henna and katam, and Abu Bakr and 'Umar and others of the Companions did the same, so the command to dye here contains a wonderful matter that Islamic groups overlook, except for one who is eager to adhere to the Sunnah in action.
Gray hair is a matter of the Sunnah of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), which He has decreed upon humans when they reach a certain age, so this is a matter shared by the Muslim and the disbeliever, and the righteous and the wicked; one of them may turn gray before another, and that does not indicate that he is better or worse than the other, and the Muslim may turn gray before the disbeliever, this is a matter decreed upon people and does not indicate anything, but for the Muslim it indicates something; that is that when he turns gray, he hastens to obey the command of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as mentioned earlier .
The point is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic), although He has decreed gray hair upon all people—as we said—Muslims and disbelievers, righteous and sinners; such that no one can say: so-and-so who is gray-haired is imitating the gray-haired Jew or the gray-haired Christian, this cannot be said; why? Because this gray hair is not of his making, and it is not of his earning, so it cannot be said: why did you turn gray? Rather, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has decreed gray hair upon His servants, and yet—here is the lesson—we find that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded the Muslim when... gray hair appears to dye in order to differ from the disbelievers, who turn gray by the Sunnah of Allah but do not dye... they do not dye, so the Muslim must affirm his difference from the disbelievers even in a matter that Allah has decreed upon him and compelled him to, which is gray hair, but He said to him: differ from the disbelievers by dyeing; so what about one who comes to a matter that Allah created in him, which is to distinguish him from the woman, so He created for him the beard and commanded him to maintain it and let it grow, and he comes and imitates in a reverse manner, there in the case of gray hair we said: no... the Muslim does not imitate the disbeliever; because... but here he shaves his beard, so he achieves imitation of the disbeliever by his own earning and action, and in that he is contrary to the command of his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
I intended to explain this point so that I could return on the occasion of this hadith and the question written there to say: the dye that the Messenger (peace be upon him) commanded is any dye except for one type and one color; namely black; so it is not permissible for the Muslim who fears Allah and knows the hadith of the Messenger of Allah and follows his Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him) to dye his gray hair black; and that is due to two hadiths:
The first: the hadith of Muslim in his "Sahih" in the story of the father of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Abu Quhafah, when he was brought and his beard was white like the thughamah, so the Messenger (peace be upon him) commanded the people of Abu Bakr to change his gray hair and to keep him away from black, and some people say: this is a specific command for him with a philosophy in this matter that is not good or beautiful at all; they say that he was severely gray-haired; because he is described in the hadith as being like the thughamah, which is a white plant like cotton in whiteness... this prohibition is specific to Abu Quhafah, then comes to them the hadith that includes all the contrary; namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
So the command to dye includes every color except black due to the prohibition of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding that, I return and say: if all the groups claim the Book and the Sunnah, the important thing in this call is two things; the first is that their claim is accompanied by action according to the Book and the Sunnah, and not just by speech and... and the like, and the other thing is that their action according to the Book and the Sunnah is in the detail that we explained yesterday; which is that they seek out the authentic Sunnah, and that they do not take the hadith from here and there, so they fall into lying about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) as we also explained that.
In summary: we are not in need.

Another questioner: ... would he be a follower of the Salaf in this? Would he be a follower of the Salaf in that?

The Shaykh: The Salaf?

Another questioner: The righteous Salaf, the believers; because he may think about the same hadith and act upon it, and it may be contrary to what the Salaf were upon.

Another questioner: Meaning the second condition.

Another questioner: The Book and the Sunnah with the understanding of the righteous Salaf.

The Shaykh: Yes.

Another questioner: In light of these people.

The Shaykh: ... I say: on the condition that the saying is accompanied by action; that is: that following the Sunnah appears in their approach in their entire lives.
And the second condition: that they seek to know what is authentic from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of commands and rulings and prohibitions and the like.
And the third and final condition: that they receive the explanation of that from what the righteous Salaf were upon; either in their approach in their lives, or in their analysis and explanation of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and perhaps it is appropriate that I remind of a matter that is among the problems of the time, there is a hadith in "Sahih Muslim" in which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: , so we heard that some people declare others disbelievers because of the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him): they declare disbeliever the one who dies and does not have a pledge of allegiance on his neck, this is a new contemporary misguidance in the name of following the Sunnah; because the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him): does not equal their interpretation which says: he died the death of the disbelievers; that is: he died a disbeliever apostate abiding in the Fire; no, for it has come in some authentic hadiths in al-Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to Abu Dharr: . He said: this is a declaration of disbelief by the Messenger (peace be upon him) of Abu Dharr!! Far be it from him!! But the meaning of this phrase here and there: , ; that is: in you is a characteristic of the characteristics of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance from which you must purify yourself, and you must not fall into it, so our hadith: ; that is: he dies as the disbelievers of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance used to die, they have no head, they have no imam who leads them and directs them, and as he (peace be upon him) said: , so they lived as tribes as we know that, so if the Muslims live like this and die and do not have a pledge of allegiance on their neck, one of them dies the death of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance; so it does not mean the pre-Islamic age of ignorance in the sense that he is a disbeliever apostate from the religion, it is one thing.
And another before that: , all of us today, unfortunately, die and do not have a pledge of allegiance on our neck; because there is no caliph pledged to by the people of authority and responsibility that we must what? pledge to him; so does this warning include us even with the correct interpretation that we mentioned: ?
The answer is that this... on his neck a pledge of allegiance by pledging, he died the death of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, so today there is no caliph; does this warning and this severe description include every Muslim who lives today even if he is eager to adhere to the Book and the Sunnah and to the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and is eager with all eagerness to resume Islamic life and achieve the Islamic society and establish the righteous caliphate? Does this warning include even such people?
Answer: If we understand that the clear, immediate meaning of the hadith is: for the one who has pledged allegiance, that does not mean we are free to remain in a state like the first age of ignorance, with no leader over us and no caliph. Therefore, we can expand our understanding of this hadith and say: in action or in effort. In action, we have understood; in effort, it means not thinking about it, not caring about it, and not striving to establish the society from which this pledged leader emerges. In that case, one must pledge allegiance to him. That is, this hadith can be interpreted in the manner of another hadith I mentioned earlier on the occasion of hypocrisy. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So, this hadith clarified that it is obligatory for the Muslim to participate in the expedition. If he is unable to do so, as is our reality today—also, with great regret—then at the very least, he should occupy his mind with the expedition. Occupying one's mind with the expedition necessitates stirring up one's feelings to work so that he can be able to participate in the expedition. Similarly, the previous hadith: , he must strive to establish the society from which that pledged leader emerges, so that he becomes one of those who hasten to pledge allegiance to him.
Yes?