What is the ruling on a man who shaves his beard leading the prayer, and does this have a negative effect on the people?

The Shaykh : This imam who leads the people in prayer while being beardless, in the opinion of those specific individuals you mentioned and described as being lower than him in knowledge, jurisprudence, and recitation, but better than him in practicing their religion and fearing their Lord, these pious and righteous people are falling short with this community, which, as I said, is impressed by this beardless imam and by seeing an imam leading the people while beardless. So, shaving the beard is not a problem as long as it does not affect the public. When those pious and righteous people are not fulfilling the obligation of teaching and reminding, it is clear?

The questioner : Clear.

The Shaykh : I mean, the imam’s action is a call to the idea that shaving the beard is not a sin, and this undoubtedly has an effect. However, the effect of this action will disappear if the righteous and knowledgeable people stand up and declare that shaving the beard is a sin, and a great sin. The people who are forced to pray behind this beardless imam will become aware and know that what the imam is doing is like some of the imams we hear about who are merchants and usurers, yet they still lead the people in prayer. So, it is up to us to clarify to the people that this action is not permissible in Islam, and thereby the scales will be balanced. As Allah the Exalted said: I am now reminded of an incident appropriate to this issue during the time of one of the Abbasid caliphs. A zindiq (atheist) was arrested and brought in to carry out the death penalty. When he saw that death was approaching, he wanted to vent his anger at the Muslims and said: "I will not die until I have placed such-and-such a number of hadiths on the tongue of your Prophet." The caliph said to him: "You are wretched! These hadiths will not take hold as long as we have so-and-so." I think he mentioned Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak or one of the other imams who was sifting these hadiths with a sieve. So, this zindiq who spread fabricated hadiths, these fabricated hadiths will not have an effect as long as there are people on the other side sifting them. So, be you the sifters.

The questioner : A second question, my master.

The Shaykh: Yes.