What is the ruling on the beard in Islam?

The questioner : ... The ruling on the beard in Islam ...?

The Shaykh : The ruling on the beard in Islam—may Allah (Mighty and Majestic) bless your beard—[Everyone laughs!].
As for the ruling, it is obligatory. The beard is not as you know it in Egypt, where you see the scholars of al-Azhar afflicted with deviating from the noble appearance that our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) maintained throughout his life, and so were all the prophets before him (peace be upon them). He had a beard. As for those afflicted with shaving it, they cannot be grabbed by their beards because they have no beards; in that case, they are grabbed by their heads! [Everyone laughs!]. This means that Harun (peace be upon him) had a beard, and so did the messengers.
The reason for this is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: , There is no altering of the creation of Allah. The creation of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), without doubt, as He said, created man in the best of forms. And man, as is observed, is male and female. So the creation of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) differentiated between the appearance of the woman, outwardly and inwardly, and the appearance of the man who alters his outward appearance to imitate women, just as one who alters his inward appearance to imitate women, and vice versa. So when He (the Exalted) said: , it is very clear that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created males with beards and females without beards. The authentic hadith came to confirm to all people that they should not fall into the saying of some who are influenced by what they call today the so-called Western civilization, Western culture, and Western softness, saying: "The beard is a customary matter; if a person wishes, he grows it, or if he wishes, he throws it to the ground; both are the same to him!" So that no one would say such a thing, his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying came: . The most famous hadith is his saying: . The hadith in "Sahih Muslim": , mentioning cutting the moustache and letting the beard grow. So the beard is part of the fitrah (innate natural disposition); preserving it and not shaving it or uprooting its roots. Then other matters, many in this topic, confirm that it is not permissible for a man to contradict the fitrah of Allah with which He created him. Among these is his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: . And among these is the hadith of Ibn Abbas, the previous hadith in "Sahih Muslim," the hadith of Ibn Abbas in "Sahih al-Bukhari," he said: . If we were to strip away desire—or at least the influence of the environment that follows desire—a person might not shave his beard out of following desire—we say this fairly for some individuals—but rather to keep pace with the society in which he lives, and he is not aware of the ruling of Islam in this issue in his Islam; so he keeps pace with people based on the saying of one who said:
"And their way is as long as you are in their land *** And their land is as long as you are in their land."
So that no one would say that there is no harm in this, we bring this hadith, the hadith of Ibn Abbas: . None of us would doubt, absolutely, if he saw a woman putting on a fake beard in the style of what is it called? A wig, false hair; a woman puts a fake beard on her cheeks in the style of the English lords in their parliament in the past, and perhaps this custom is still continuing with them now; they shave their beards, but when the time comes for the assembly of the House of Parliament, they put the fake beards on their cheeks. So I said in some of what I wrote: There is a custom among us in Syria, influenced by some weak, sick hadiths; one of them is shaved and bare-headed as is the common custom today in many Islamic countries. What does he do? He takes a handkerchief from his pocket and rolls it on his head. Why? He says: Because prayer with a turban is seventy times better than prayer with a bare head. And the turban is actually not the turban they imagine, the Turks and the countries influenced by Turkish customs and Turkish concepts. Perhaps you have seen some turbans, either Lebanese or Palestinian, where the saying of "Muhammad Abduh" in his time applies: "Turban like a dome and robes like a sack." They roll the turban on their head in layers until it actually becomes large, and they imagine that in every layer there is a degree in Paradise! All this is based on hadiths that exist, mentioned by Ibn Hajar al-Haytami in his book "Al-Libas" (Clothing); I forgot what the first name is.
The important thing is that one of them, when he wants to pray, is shaved and bare-headed in his house... and he prays with a turban on his head, in his claim, and the prayer becomes seventy degrees! As for the beard, he gives it no weight. But I want to say—and here is the point—since they do not wear turbans in their attire, in their customs, on Friday, on the day of Eid... but if they enter prayer, they cover their heads with a handkerchief. So I said: What I fear most is that a day will come when religion becomes a farce with them, more than what you have heard now; he takes a fake beard from his pocket, sticks it on his cheeks, and prays; because this attire is more complete Islamically. But this is a false attire! Because the Messenger (peace be upon him) came in some authentic hadiths that the woman whose hair falls out, and she adds strands of hair from another person, he called this hair "false" (zawr), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . If this is the ruling of Islam in such a false attire, then without doubt, if a woman puts on a fake beard, she has put on or made a false attire on one hand, and imitated men on the other hand. So, is it logical—and I do not say is it religious or scholarly—to say: that if a man throws his beard to the ground, he is not imitating women, but if a woman lifts the beard from that ground and puts it on her cheeks, she is not imitating men? Both are the same in desire. For this reason, it is not permissible to shave the beard for the following reasons:
First: It is altering the creation of Allah and the fitrah of Allah. And our Lord said in the Qur'an, narrating the saying of Iblis the accursed: ; so the shaving of a man's beard is altering the creation of Allah—obeying the devil and disobeying the Most Merciful. This is first.
Second: Imitating the disbelievers. And you have heard the hadith: .
Third: Imitating the women whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created without beards, and that is a distinction of women over men, as is not hidden from everyone.
So if one of these violations, growing the beard or shaving the beard, stood alone, it would be sufficient proof of the prohibition of shaving it; what do you say when you see that they all gathered in shaving the beard? Therefore, all Muslim scholars up to this present age, or before this present age, were in agreement that growing the beard is obligatory and that shaving it is open sinfulness (fisq), and they ruled that the testimony of the one who shaves is not accepted, and .