How is the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith on shaving the beard (and do not imitate the Jews) resolved, if this addition is authentic, given that we see today that the Jews have shaved their beards and let their beards hang down?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : There is a question related to this one. I think the Shaykh today, due to the tightness of time, meaning the time did not allow for an answer to it. It is how the difficulty regarding the meaning of Anas's hadith on shaving the beard is resolved, if we see today that the Jews have shaved their beards and let their beards hang down, and in Anas's hadith there is the addition if this addition is authentic?
The Shaykh : Imitating the Jews and the Christians is for the Muslim to do what he is not permitted to do, for the Muslim to do what the disbelievers do of their customs, traditions, and attire, as we mentioned. As for the Muslim doing what the wise Lawgiver commanded him to do and encouraged him to do, and perhaps even forbade him from leaving it, and then some disbelievers do the same as his action, this is not the Muslim imitating the disbeliever. Rather, the opposite is the truth, meaning that it is the disbeliever who is imitating the Muslim. And it is established in the science of sociology that it is the nature of the weak to imitate the strong, and it is not the nature of the strong to imitate the weak. So it is no wonder that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded in the previous hadiths, to which reference was made, the Muslim community to maintain its customs and its guidance and the Sunnah of its Prophet, and not to imitate the disbelievers, in order to preserve its Muslim identity. So if the opposite occurs, meaning the disbeliever imitating the Muslim, that is strength for the Muslim and weakness for the disbeliever, not the opposite. Therefore, if shaving is commanded in the Shari'ah, and we have known that the command pertains to shaving the edge of the beard and not the beard itself, then if the disbelievers do that, it is for the honor of Islam and its strength and the Muslims' adherence to it. So there is no difficulty then. The difficulty only arises if the Muslim does what the disbeliever does and the Muslim is not commanded to do it in the Shari'ah.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.
And do not imitate the Jews
ولا تشبهوا باليهودThe Shaykh : Imitating the Jews and the Christians is for the Muslim to do what he is not permitted to do, for the Muslim to do what the disbelievers do of their customs, traditions, and attire, as we mentioned. As for the Muslim doing what the wise Lawgiver commanded him to do and encouraged him to do, and perhaps even forbade him from leaving it, and then some disbelievers do the same as his action, this is not the Muslim imitating the disbeliever. Rather, the opposite is the truth, meaning that it is the disbeliever who is imitating the Muslim. And it is established in the science of sociology that it is the nature of the weak to imitate the strong, and it is not the nature of the strong to imitate the weak. So it is no wonder that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded in the previous hadiths, to which reference was made, the Muslim community to maintain its customs and its guidance and the Sunnah of its Prophet, and not to imitate the disbelievers, in order to preserve its Muslim identity. So if the opposite occurs, meaning the disbeliever imitating the Muslim, that is strength for the Muslim and weakness for the disbeliever, not the opposite. Therefore, if shaving is commanded in the Shari'ah, and we have known that the command pertains to shaving the edge of the beard and not the beard itself, then if the disbelievers do that, it is for the honor of Islam and its strength and the Muslims' adherence to it. So there is no difficulty then. The difficulty only arises if the Muslim does what the disbeliever does and the Muslim is not commanded to do it in the Shari'ah.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah reward you with good.