Is shaving the beard among the major sins or among the minor sins?

The questioner : Is shaving the beard among the major sins or among the minor sins?

The Shaykh : First: I am not eager to delve into distinguishing between the major and minor forbidden acts, nor am I eager to interpret the hadiths of encouragement and warning; because being eager for the opposite of what I am saying destroys the impact of the hadiths that prohibit and the impact of the hadiths of encouragement and warning in the minds of listeners, when you say: this was said out of exaggeration, so the effect of the warning is gone, and so on. This is first, second.
Abu Malik: And where do they get this from?

The Shaykh : Yes?
Abu Malik: And where did they get this interpretation from, I mean?

The Shaykh : They may be excused; because the Messenger (peace be upon him), as you all know, explicitly stated in more than one hadith that there are sins among the major sins.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes, so there is no doubt that this distinction exists in the Sunnah, but I intended to say that any prohibition or any forbidden act whose prohibition is established in the Shari'ah by a text from the Book or the Sunnah, it is not in the interest of the call and good admonition for us to keep saying: let us see, does this benefit us in knowing whether this sin is among the major sins or the minor sins?
I repeat for the listeners: I am not eager for this, but a person may be compelled at times to enter such a narrow path; if he sees that he must do so, he studies the hadiths; if it appears to him that it is among the major sins, let him say so.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And if it does not appear so, let him look: is it more beneficial in the path of the call and good admonition to keep the hadiths as they came, or to interpret them to mean that it is among the minor sins and not among the major sins? And I am now giving you an example with a text related to the topic of shaving the beard; this shaving that you asked about; is it among the major sins or among the minor sins? In my opinion, you must have touched upon the texts that prohibit shaving the beard in this message.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Is that not so?

The questioner : Yes, the first chapter.

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : The first chapter.

The Shaykh : The first chapter, and this is supposed to be the case, if that is so, what is the conclusion that you... reached from these texts, say it so that we can discuss it, the summary conclusion.

The questioner : The conclusion, the wording of the hadith or?

The Shaykh : No, no, the conclusion.

The questioner : The result of the matter.

The Shaykh : No, this is not the answer to my question.

The questioner : Repeat, repeat, excuse me.

The Shaykh : Okay; I am saying that these texts that you collected either cast in your mind that shaving the beard is among the major sins, or cast in your mind that it is among the minor sins, or that the matter was not clear to you; neither this nor that, so I will then give you the answer.

The questioner : It cast in my mind that it is among the major sins.

The Shaykh : Hmm.

The questioner: Yes.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.

Another questioner : How are you?

The Shaykh : All right.