It is reported in a hadith of Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said

The questioner : A questioner says: It is reported in a hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said and he mentioned trimming the beard. It is reported in a hadith of al-Mughirah ibn Shu'bah that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) saw a man with a long beard, so he called for a miswak and a razor, and trimmed the man's beard on the handle of the miswak. It is reported in a hadith of Ibn 'Umar from the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said . It is reported in a hadith of Anas to the same effect, adding . It is reported in a hadith of Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said . What is the correct reconciliation between these different wordings? And how is the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith resolved, given that we see today that the Jews have trimmed their beards and let their beards hang down? Please give us a ruling on this, may Allah guide you.

The Shaykh : The answer is clear by referring to a rule that I also consider one of the general principles of jurisprudence, which is interpreting verbal texts with practical evidence, interpreting verbal texts with practical hadiths. This is because some of the sacred texts, like this one, are susceptible to more than one meaning, so the Lawgiver inspired our Messenger (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) to clarify these verbal texts through his action... What did I say?

The questioner : About the, that the hadith...

The Shaykh : Yes, verbal hadiths are explained by practical hadiths, and this is among the meanings of the saying of Allah the Exalted . His clarification (peace be upon him) is mostly by action, although sometimes it is by speech, but the specific speech that does not allow for different interpretations of meaning is of this type. For example, his saying (peace be upon him) specified what is permissible to cut from the hand, while the verse is absolute . This applies whether one stole a quarter of a dinar, an eighth of a dinar, a qirsh, or a fils; linguistically, he is called a thief. So if it were not for this hadith, it would be obligatory to apply the verse in its absolute and comprehensive sense. But as we observe, most of the clarification of the Messenger (peace be upon him) is by his action, even in this verse . The hand, all of this is a hand, but sometimes the word "hand" is used to mean the palm, sometimes to mean the forearm, sometimes to mean the upper arm along with the forearm, and so on. Where is the hand cut? We have no clarification from his speech (peace be upon him), but we have clarification from his action, at the wrist. And so it is with many of the rulings of the Shari'ah: verbal hadiths come in a general, absolute, or comprehensive form, and the Sunnah comes to clarify that. These statements that came in the hadiths... or trimming the beard, and the command to cut the beard, and the like, must also be in another hadith...