Is it permissible to trim the beard by taking from it, and what is the extent of that?

The questioner : Is it permissible to trim the beard or to define its boundary?

The Shaykh : Trimming the beard is mentioned in the hadith of Ibn 'Umar, who is one of the narrators of the previous hadith . He used to take from his beard what was less than a handful, and this is also established from others of the Salaf, such as Abu Hurayrah and Mujahid, that they used to take from their beards. Personally, I see that this absolute text, "Let the beards grow," is restricted by the action of Ibn 'Umar. Now, the issue of the action of a Companion arises:
Ibn 'Umar is the narrator of the hadith, and he heard the hadith directly from his Prophet, from his mouth to his ear... Then we see in the authentic narration from him that he took what was less than a handful and cut off what was more. There is no doubt that the action of Ibn 'Umar is either in accordance with the practical Sunnah of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) or it is contrary to it. We must now prefer one of the two possibilities. I am of the opinion, without doubt or ambiguity, that he did what is permissible, and indeed he did what he saw his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) doing. Why? For the following reasons:
First: He was not unique among the Companions in this action.
Second: No one among the Companions is reported to have differed from him, neither in speech nor in action.
Third: Ibn 'Umar was unique among all the Companions in his extreme and intense manner to a degree that is incomprehensible, or at least we do not comprehend this exaggeration in following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). He was the most strict of the Companions in following the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) to the extent that it can be said, and may Allah reward him with good, but below him it was not to this degree. For example, he was seen with the buttons of his shirt undone and his chest exposed, and he was asked why? He said, "I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) with his shirt buttons undone." He was seen holding the reins of his camel and circling with it during the tawaf. Why? "I saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) do this." Perhaps he had a need. He came to urinate at a tree. Why? "I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) urinate here." That is, following... These types of things we mentioned earlier, we cannot say are from the Sunnah, but let us leave these issues aside. The beard, which he narrated and was transmitted to us the saying of his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) , is it conceivable for this man who exaggerates in following the Messenger, even in matters of the type I mentioned some of to you, that he saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) with a long beard, more than a handful, handfulls, because he (peace and blessings be upon him) died after sixty-three years, he saw him like this, and then he contradicted him, knowing that his hadith is absolute, "Let the beards grow"? This is an argument for those who see that it is not permissible to take from the beard what has grown, absolutely. The wording of the hadith is absolute. I have arrived, in my limited knowledge, at a very important rule in my opinion, which is "That absolute texts or general texts, if the practice of the Salaf did not follow their absoluteness or their generality and comprehensiveness, even in some of their parts, then we are not to take that absoluteness or that general text with all its parts".
So with... the fact that his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) "Let the beards grow" is absolute, and I say frankly, were it not for this report and that one from Ibn 'Umar and from Abu Hurayrah and Mujahid and others, I would have agreed with those who say to keep the text on its absoluteness, because that is what the science of usul al-fiqh (principles of jurisprudence) says. But the witness of Ibn 'Umar and Abu Hurayrah and others indicates to us that this absoluteness was not acted upon. And I give a very clear example to understand this rule that I have arrived at, in my opinion, and recently I mentioned to some people on another occasion. He (may Allah's prayers and blessings be upon him) said and so on, the more the group, the more the reward. And he said (peace and blessings be upon him) . Two authentic and well-known hadiths. So if a group entered the mosque after the adhan, at any time, for the sunnah before the Zuhr, for example, or the Fajr, they entered the group to pray the sunnah of Fajr, and one of them said, "O group, why are we praying individually? Come, let us pray as a group," and and to the end of the hadith. And indeed, they prayed the pre-Fajr sunnah as a group. What do you say about this group, is it prescribed or not prescribed? Not prescribed. But if you do not pay attention to this rule, you will be overcome in your matter, and the people of innovation will argue against you in your denial of their innovations. If someone says to you, "Why? Did the Messenger forbid this group... on the way of, meaning, boredom in scientific research, because they say scientific research is dry now, we will lengthen the topic a bit, so we say... I say, if someone says, "Why do you deny this group, and it is a group of good, and it is the first hadith and the second hadith, why do you say that this group is not prescribed?"
Whoever knows the answer knows his hand, please?

The questioner : We say, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said and this action did not come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he prayed the sunnah of Fajr as a group, and no one from his Companions, it was not reported from the righteous Salaf!

The Shaykh : This answer is sufficient!

The questioner : It is sufficient for me, and Allah knows best.

The Shaykh : The brother says that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not pray the pre-sunnah... Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : No... who is it? Please.

The questioner : Action is not to be done except through the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), unless it comes in... everything is invalid except what was done by the Messenger.

The Shaykh : He says that everything that does not come through the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), this is correct in itself, but it is not the argument against the one who argues with us with what we mentioned earlier from him, other than this, please?

The questioner : Acts of worship... .

The Shaykh : What about others?

The questioner : The hadith and the verse are general, the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is specific to him, and the prayer of the group, and the hand of Allah is over the group, on the basis that in the obligatory prayers it is not in... .

The Shaykh : Good, this is the best answer we have heard, and it is the result of the following research: We say to this objecting innovator who wants to legislate for people the prayer of sunnahs as a group for the two previous hadiths, we say... .