Discussion of the issue that the outward appearance is a title for the inward state, giving examples of this, the most important of which is shaving the beard, and explaining the harm of imitating the disbelievers.

The Shaykh : The outward appearance is a title for the inward state, contrary to what many people who do not understand imagine. Perhaps it would be beneficial to mention one or more examples of what most people overlook, namely that it has a connection to the rectitude or corruption of the heart. This is what the majority of Muslims, especially the young among them, have been afflicted with: adorning themselves and imitating the disbelievers. The worst of this imitation is in matters that explicitly contradict the authentic hadiths, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) . First, shaving the beard contradicts this explicit command . Second, it is an imitation of the Christians, as you heard in the hadith and as is the reality. I do not wish to lengthen the discussion of this issue, despite its importance, because I only touched upon it incidentally. Part of this adorning is turning away from the dress of Muslims in their countries. Each of them should maintain the dress of his country, but we see Muslims in all countries, despite their differing customs and attire—as indicated by what we observe in this country, which gathers people from all corners of the lands of Islam—wearing many styles, but there is no uniformity among them. There is no doubt in this, because the Wise Lawgiver did not impose a specific dress on Muslims that they must adhere to. However, at the same time, He imposed on them not to adhere to a specific dress, which is the dress of the disbelievers. So it is as if Muslims today have agreed to unify their attire in the style of the disbelieving Europeans. Therefore, you find the Syrian, the Egyptian, and so on, all wearing the shirt and pants, which is European attire, and few of them maintain the dress of their country.
This imitation has its effective impact on the hearts of Muslims without them realizing or being aware of it at all. Therefore, we must focus on rectifying the outward appearance as well, along with rectifying the inward state, because this rectification of the outward appearance leads to rectitude in the inward state, and corrupting the outward appearance leads to corruption and evil in the inward state. This is a word I intended, or was inspired to say, on the occasion of that dispersal that occurred among some of you when you found the ground empty, without any crowd. We want to maintain proper conduct; we are not forced to do so, but rather we are among those who follow the commands of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his authentic Sunnah.