The Shaykh's Jurisprudence on the Issue of Differing from the Disbelievers

The Shaykh : We must live, as long as we have life in our bodies and minds, in accordance with our Shari'ah and with our Lord, Mighty and Majestic. To the extent of our ability, we do what we can. For example, if we do not have the ability to invent a Salafi-style watch that is attached here, we do not have that ability. But if we have the ability to set it up here and place it here, where did this come from? They do not dye their hair. Our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in His perfect wisdom, prescribed stages for human beings. Stages while they are a fetus in the womb, stages while they walk on the earth, and so on. One of these stages is that gray hair begins. Professor Khalid, gray hair has begun to appear, which is a sign of light, meaning that, if Allah wills, this whiteness is prescribed for all human beings, whether they are believers or disbelievers, righteous or wicked. The Shari'ah came and established a distinction, saying: Therefore, differing is a goal intended by the Wise Lawgiver. The intention to differ from the disbelievers is a deliberate aim. So we differ from the Jews and the Christians in what the Lawgiver explicitly stated, and then in what the Wise Lawgiver alludes to by saying: The hadith is in Sahih al-Bukhari: He used to let his hair hang down, then he parted it. Why? Because that was how the People of the Book were before. The Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, grew up, as you know, unlettered, and Islam was revealed to him gradually, not all at once with all its countless rulings. He saw that the state of the People of the Book was better than that of the idolatrous polytheists of his people among whom he lived. He found the Jews and the Christians to be on a straighter path and in a stronger position than the polytheists. What did the People of the Book do? They let their hair hang down. So he later parted his hair. When? When the rulings began to be revealed to him from the Lord of Mankind, sometimes explicitly and sometimes by allusion, to differ from the People of the Book. Among these is the aforementioned hadith that the Jews, the Christians, the Buddhists, the polytheists, and the atheists all wear their watches on their left hands. We are required to wear them on our right hands. This is a matter of differing. I do not say this is a matter of imitating them, but I say this is a matter of differing. Unfortunately, today, very few, very few, of the scholars, let alone those below them from the students of knowledge, let alone the general public and the common people, ever think of anything that Islam brought and encourages its followers to do except that it is a matter of differing from the disbelievers. This is as if it is not part of the rulings of the Shari'ah, even though the rulings of the Shari'ah are explicit in this ruling, and among the strongest of them are , The Jews do not pray in their sandals. What are the Muslims doing today? They do not pray in their sandals. If they saw one of us praying in his sandals, they would raise a commotion. They would say, "This is impure, how can you pray in it," and so on. I am pleased with the following athar: The Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were in a gathering, and the prayer time arrived and the iqamah was called. Among them were Ibn Mas'ud and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari. Ibn Mas'ud, by his virtue and perfection, and this is a character trait that we must adopt, if the expression is correct, that we must adhere to it. What is this character trait?
The character trait of humility, the character trait of recognizing the rights of people and the stations and ranks of people. These are two noble Companions, Ibn Mas'ud and Abu Musa, in the gathering. The iqamah was called. Who would lead them? If we hear the saying of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, regarding Ibn Mas'ud: It is Ibn Mas'ud. A beautiful Arabic expression, Some non-Arabs, like our story, God forbid, what is the roundabout way? "Ibn Umm Abd" is the saying of Ibn Mas'ud and it is finished. But what is more beautiful for it? A softness, a special tone, A great virtue. The other party, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, passed by him one night while he was reciting the Qur'an, so he listened to him and said: When morning came and the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, told him the story, he said: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, if I had known that, I would have adorned it for you with adornment." The point is: each one has his virtue, and each one is permitted to lead the people in prayer as an imam, but Ibn Mas'ud had a virtue in this gathering because he was the one who had precedence in offering it. So he offered Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, when he knew of his virtue and his precedence in Islam, and the Messenger's, peace and blessings be upon him, commendation of him with this hadith and others. He stepped forward and prayed, but what did he do? He was moved and took off his sandals to pray for the people. He said: "What is this Judaism?" Here is the point: "What is this Judaism? Are you in the Holy Valley?" You are Moses in the Holy Valley, and our Lord commanded you to take off your sandals? The point is: We are commanded to differ from the People of the Book, let alone others. Differing is today abrogated from the minds of the scholars, let alone others. So we must revive it first in the depths of our hearts, and second in our approach in our lives and in our actions. And this is from this category. Yes.

The questioner : Regarding the disbelievers today, they grow their beards. So how do we differ from them?

The Shaykh : I do not hear...

The questioner : Regarding the disbelievers today, they grow their beards?

The Shaykh : The question is wrong. What Allah wills, today there are many questions, but they all need correction.

The questioner : A doubled benefit.

The Shaykh : Yes, we say and bring hadiths that the Jews and the Christians do not dye their hair. You are now saying that they grow their beards. This is wrong, my brother. And the correct thing to say is that there are some among them who grow their beards. But I will not blame you if I tell you that if you said it that way, my question would come to you from me: "What about the others?" You would say to me, "They shave." A third question would come to you: "Are there more who shave or more who trim?" You would say, "More shave." So you see, your question has fallen and it no longer has value. This is how this subconscious mind works, but it is not, of course, supported from the heavens, but supported from the earth. It suggests to the questioner that he generalizes the question. So if the answerer, what should we say? If he is ignorant, like our story, the question passes him by, and then he finds an answer for it. But if we want, by the grace of the Sunnah of our Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, rarely do we miss a scientific error. These questions that come from a mistake, so the question that they trim is wrong. If we want to say, do they shave or do they trim, what do we say? Is not the criterion the majority? So we say, do they shave or do they trim?

The questioner : They shave.

The Shaykh : So the question has fallen. And if you want to sing, and I do not think you are singing, that these few who do this, you want to find a weight for them, the answer is also known. I will assume for you that your question is correct, that they trim their beards... like our story. Well, is the strength for the Muslims to imitate the polytheists or the reverse? The polytheists imitate the Muslims. What is the strength, the strength of personality, is it that the Muslims imitate the disbelievers or that the disbelievers imitate the Muslims?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, and it is the imitating of the disbelievers by the Muslims, in my opinion.The questioner : They let their beards grow. What is the problem with that? They are imitating us. It is better that we imitate them. I say the truth, and the truth I say, and this is known in the science of philosophy, the philosophy of ethics as they call it today, that a people and a nation strong in their personality impose their behavior, morals, and etiquette on others, and the reverse is the reverse. When Islam was a state and the Muslims had power, until recently, you would find the Westerner coming to the lands of Islam, he was tired like in my story, wearing an abaya, not coming in pants and a jacket. But the state of the Muslims and their power vanished, because they saw that the disbelievers, these Muslims are imitating them, so they no longer had this personality, even the disbelievers imitate the Muslims. So the conclusion, my brother, if the disbelievers adopted something of the etiquette and morals of the Muslims, then that calls for the Muslims to increase their adherence to their religion and their morals, because they increased in knowledge that what their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) brought them is the truth and it is the true religion. And among the evidence, and I do not say the evidence, and among the evidence for that is that these disbelievers, this reality became clear to them as Allah the Exalted said: . So there is no problem that there are among the disbelievers those who let their beards grow, although, unfortunately, and if Allah wills, our Lord will increase their number and they will become bearded, but not at the expense of the Muslims; they grow beards and we shave. No, rather we remain preserving the etiquette of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his rulings, and they are far away, so let them imitate us, and let us not imitate them.

The questioner : Shaykh, is it not said that the command to let the beard grow is not related to the disbelievers?

The Shaykh : We said in answer, yes?