What is the reality of shaving the beard, and what is the obligatory amount to take from it? In another place, the Shaykh says: Letting the beard hang down is like letting the lower garment hang down.

Abu Malik: Our Shaykh’s question concerns the beard. It is a question containing two or three questions about the beard.

The Shaykh : There is no god but Allah
Abu Malik: The concept of the beard, the amount of the beard, what is permissible to take from it, and what is not permissible?

The Shaykh: What is the first question about the beard?
Abu Malik: The concept of the beard.

The Shaykh: The concept of the beard.
Abu Malik: Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh: There is no doubt that the beard is the hair that grows on the face, which must be washed during wudu. This excludes what grows under the beard on the neck, for that is not part of the beard. However, it includes what grows on the cheeks, for that is part of the beard. So what some people do in some countries, shaving the side of the beard here and there, such that they harm the cheeks, is of course not permissible. It is not permissible to harm them, because the hair growing on the cheeks is part of the beard linguistically, and this is stated in the dictionaries, especially al-Mu'jam al-Muhit by al-Fayruzabadi. This is the linguistic concept of the beard.
As for taking from it.
Abu Malik: Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : The second question: taking from it?
Abu Malik: Taking from it.

The Shaykh: As for taking from it, what is transmitted from the Salaf, without any transmission of disagreement from any of them, is that it is permissible to take from the length of the beard what is less than a handful. This is a handful from here, from the bottom of the chin. The chin is shared by both male and female, as you know, linguistically. And applying the name "chin" to the beard is a case of what is called metaphorical usage.
Abu Malik: Exceeding.

The Shaykh : Incorrectly.
Abu Malik: Error, error.

The Shaykh: But it has a patchwork quality in the Arabic language.
Abu Malik: But even the metaphor does not apply to it here.

The Shaykh: So this hair that grows under the handful, or that lengthens, is what is permissible to take from the beard. In fact, I do not limit myself to saying it is permissible; rather, I see that lengthening the beard beyond a handful is contrary to our Salafi methodology. Therefore, I always and forever say that it is not enough for us to call to the Book and the Sunnah, because no one among the Islamic sects that fall within the circle of Islam says, "We are not upon the Book and the Sunnah." They all say so, but none of them, and praise be to Allah, do we say from our side, because we are distinct from them, and we say, "There is no power and no strength except with Allah" regarding them, because they deviated from us. They do not say: "The Book, the Sunnah, and the methodology of the righteous Salaf." Why do we say more than the Book and the Sunnah? There are many things, and very many. Now, time is short and does not allow for research into this, but I say, in connection with what I mentioned previously, that the witness sees what the absent one does not see. That is, the narrator is more aware of his narration than others. These Companions who narrated to us the hadith of our Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) took from their beards. So it is not permissible for us to understand this text in its absolute sense, as we said earlier. This is absolute, but the narrator of the hadith understood it as restricted by the fasting of a vow. They are the people whose companion does not suffer. So we say: The Book and the Sunnah, and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf. There is no narration, absolutely, I say emphatically: absolutely, absolutely, that a single Companion let his beard hang down, no matter how long it was. No, this does not exist. And even more emphatically, I have said it many times: there is no narration that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not take from his beard. This has become widespread among many scholars and Shaykhs, and my words are recorded, but it has no basis in the books of the Sunnah at all. Rather, they proceed from the generality of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): They infer the understanding, or they infer their understanding of the generality to be a reality, and there is no necessary connection between the two. The previous example and many, many other examples exist.
And on the contrary, there are many athar with authentic chains that Ibn 'Umar, and as you know, he was among the most eager people to follow the Messenger (peace be upon him), even in matters called by the precise jurists "Sunnah of custom." The Sunnah is divided into two parts: Sunnah of worship and Sunnah of custom. The Sunnah of worship is that by which we should draw near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). As for the Sunnah of custom, whether it is done or left, there is nothing; no reward and no blame, let alone punishment in the Sunnah of custom. As for the Sunnah of worship, you know, its doer is rewarded and its leaver is not punished. For example, it is from the Sunnah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had long hair, sometimes to the earlobes, sometimes to the tops of the shoulders. If a man today grew his hair to the earlobes or to the shoulders, we would not say this is upon the Sunnah; it is upon custom, and it is permissible for him to do so, unless he intends to seek fame, in which case it is not permissible for him to do so. And on that basis, consider: he entered Makkah with four locks of hair. Do you know what locks are? They are braids, extra hair. So if a man today braided his hair like some women, this is invalid, just as it is invalid for women. Even for women, it is invalid.
The important thing is, if a man braided his hair, why, brother, are you doing this? Yes, the Messenger did this. There are people who lengthen their hair from those who have not understood the Sunnah and have not known the difference between an innovation in worship and an innovation in custom, and have not distinguished between the Sunnah of worship and the Sunnah of custom. You ask them: "The Messenger did this." Well, the Messenger also wore sandals. What do you call them? "Sharuq"?

The questioner: Sharuq.

The Shaykh: Sharuq.

The questioner: ... and slippers.

The Shaykh: Yes? This is a leather shoe, this is the sandal that is worn with four toes in one strap and the thumb in another strap. This is what the Messenger used to wear. They do not look at those who lengthen their hair and what they wear of this type of sandal. All of this is from the Sunnah of what? Custom, and not from the Sunnah of worship. The point is that shaving the beard is an obligatory, fard, necessary matter. We ask Allah to heal everyone afflicted, not only with shaving the beard and shortening it, but also with lengthening it beyond that, that Allah may heal them. But as they say in our region in Sham, and perhaps you say it with us, because we are all in the land of Sham, there is no difference; Syria is from Sham, Jordan is from Sham, Palestine, etc., "the excess is the brother of the deficiency." Do you not say this with us?

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh: "The excess is the brother of the deficiency." So, lengthening the beard beyond a handful is contrary to the Sunnah of the righteous Salaf. Where did they take it from? From what they saw of the Messenger of Allah and his Companions, etc., including Ibn 'Umar, Abu Hurayrah, the Tabi'un, 'Ata ibn Abi Rabah, Ibrahim ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i, and so on. There are many, many texts. Therefore, we advise whoever is afflicted with lengthening the beard beyond a handful to be gentle with it and not to burden it beyond its capacity. And whoever is afflicted with taking more than that, and even more so with shaving, should repent to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because this is considered open sinfulness in the Shari'ah.
Abu Malik: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh: It is considered open sinfulness in the Shari'ah, and the books of the jurists state that the testimony of one who shaves his beard is not accepted. The testimony of one who shaves his beard is not accepted. And what is amazing are very strange differences. Previously, if they wanted to insult a person, they would shave his beard. Now, the Muslim insults himself with himself, and he does not know and does not feel it. This is a calamity. Another calamity, and a greater one, is that on Friday, or at least on the day of 'Id, he wants to adorn himself because he claims that the Sunnah is to adorn oneself for the day of 'Id. I say this is not in the Sunnah, but this is from the custom of the righteous Salaf. But on Friday, he is also to adorn himself, take a bath, wear his best clothes, and perfume himself if he has perfume, or otherwise with the perfume of his family, meaning internally, etc.
So, after he goes to adorn himself, he goes to shave his beard and spends an hour in front of the mirror. He is going to scrape it, scraping it like the skin of a goat, etc., and then throws it on the ground. What? He adorns himself? Allah is the Greatest. He adorns himself with the disobedience of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and does he not know and not feel it?
The third of the three, as they say, on the day of Hajj, the person removes his state of ihram with what? With shaving. He has become one who shaves—(laughter)The Shaykh : —his head, he shaves his beard, because he will be coming out, meaning in the days of Hajj, people... he lengthened it a little.
Abu Malik: ... it is prescribed for the beard, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : It is prescribed, but the project quickly fell apart. On the Day of Sacrifice, he comes and shaves his beard. These are farces; these are very great calamities. These calamities did not befall us except first because of our ignorance of our Shari'ah, and second because the disbelievers made our lands permissible to them and imposed their styles of dress upon us, which do not prohibit or permit anything. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to guide us all to the path of guidance.