Is it a condition for the imam in prayer to have a beard?

The Shaykh : The questioner says: Is it a condition for the imam in prayer to have a beard?
We say: It is not a condition for the validity of the prayer that one has a beard. However, I would have wished the question to be as follows: Is it a condition in the faith of a Muslim that he has a beard? This is how the question should be.
And of course, whoever among you is still afflicted by this sin will not find it difficult to rephrase the question in the manner mentioned above, except for one who believes that faith does not accept increase. In that case, he would understand that this question means that the one who shaves his beard is outside of faith and is not a Muslim. But if you know that faith accepts increase and that it has levels known only to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), then you will understand the correct understanding: that the one who shaves his beard has deficient faith, such that if we were to measure by some of the expressions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), we could say: he has no faith. But we do not have such an analogy, and the thing being analogized to is the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): .
In this hadith, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) denied faith for the one who has no trustworthiness; he does not deliver trusts to their owners. This means complete faith, which, if its owner attains it, is glad tidings for him that he is among the people of Paradise. If it falls short of that, he deserves to enter the Fire. As for whether he enters it or not, that is up to Allah, and his reckoning is with Allah. Therefore, we say: shaving the beard is a major sin. Although it is not a condition for the validity of the prayer—because some people may assume that being a condition for the validity of the prayer is a great matter, when in fact the opposite is correct—being a condition for complete faith is more dangerous than being a condition for the validity of the prayer. For example, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . If a person prayed with the upper half of his body naked, this is known to all people except those with knowledge of hadith, that he owes nothing for it, because he prayed covering his private parts. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) draws attention to the fact that there is something else in prayer that befits the prayer, which is to cover the upper part of his body as well, as he said: . But if this man went out walking in the street with the upper part of his body uncovered, there is absolutely no harm in that from the Islamic perspective. As for custom, if you, a man, go out with the upper part of your body uncovered, and it is not a private part, people will criticize you, even women. But if they go out with the lower part of their body uncovered, there is no harm, and that is the fashion!
The important point is that this exposure outside of prayer is not a problem. So if there is a general ruling concerning the Muslim outside of prayer that it is not permissible for him to be beardless, then this ruling is more dangerous than being a condition of the prayer. That is to say, if it were not permissible for a Muslim to walk with the upper part of his body uncovered, that would be more dangerous and stricter in ruling than what is currently the case: it is not permissible to pray like this, but it is permissible to walk like this. Therefore, we must be mindful of matters and place them in their proper positions. Shaving the beard is not specific to prayer; rather, it is a sin outside of prayer and inside of prayer. But if a person prays while beardless, his prayer is valid, just as his faith is valid, but his faith is deficient, and his prayer is deficient by nature.
Therefore, we take this as an opportunity to remind those afflicted to try to be rid of this calamity, because it is a calamity of the age. In reality, one does not feel its ugliness except those whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has spared from what He has afflicted others with. The most dangerous thing to be feared for the masses afflicted by this sin is that they no longer even have the last level of disliking what is wrong, because their sense has died that this is a sin. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, as you all know: . If the heart dies and no longer feels that this is a sin, then there is not an atom of faith beyond that, as came in another hadith. Therefore, I hope that those afflicted will hasten to obey Allah and the Messenger and be rid of this destructive sin.