Is there a hadith that a man came with disheveled hair and beard, and the Messenger ordered that he be groomed or combed? Is this correct?

The questioner : The second hadith, which I do not recall the exact text of, is that a man came with disheveled hair and beard, and the Messenger ordered that he be groomed or combed. Is this correct?

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : Is there a contradiction in it?

The Shaykh : No, within the scope of the details mentioned previously.

The questioner : Okay, let it be like this today.

The Shaykh : Be patient, let us finish this point.

The questioner : It may be that today is one of the days when he does not comb his hair, for example.

The Shaykh : And I say it may not be! Now, who is the judge between you and me? It is the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), whose character, as Aisha said when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said , is such that the Messenger’s look at this man is not like our look at a person in this gathering or any other. First, his look is above being human in his morals, as the Exalted said . So he is chosen by the message and prophethood, and revelation is sent down to him... So I do not think his look at this man was superficial, as is the case with one of us, but rather his look was not as we say about each other, "he does not look beyond the tip of his nose." No, his look is far-reaching. I do not think he judged him based on this quick, hasty, objective glance, but rather he understood that this is his life. And indeed, they were like this before the coming of Islam, in their cleanliness and their manners, which came in the Noble Qur'an as a principle: . The Arabs, especially the Bedouins among them—this reminds me of the story of that Companion, Ka'b ibn Ujrah, when he performed Hajj with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). He saw him lighting a fire, and lice were falling from his hair while he was in the state of ihram. Can you imagine today having something like that? So he ordered him to shave his hair so that he would be relieved from these insects, and to pay the fidyah. And in that, the verse was revealed: . The point is, when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) saw that man, do not imagine that he looked at him only in that moment, but rather he understood that this is his life, so he ordered him to correct it. As came in another hadith, that the father of Abu al-Ahwas al-Jash'ami, or what do I think, it came like this, came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a state of tattered clothes, aside from the issue of his hair. He said to him: . He said, "O Messenger of Allah, from whatever wealth you wish, Allah has given me." He (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) said: . Then he established the rule: . These are guidelines. We now, and you may be surprised by what I am going to say, we do not need them. We need the opposite. We adjust the scale a little. But those people needed them because they were on the other side of us, a group living a life of austerity, a Bedouin life, an old Arab life, and so on. They did not know anything of the civilization that we are afflicted with today. And I say it frankly, so it is upon us now to adjust the scale and return to the saying of the Exalted: , no excess and no deficiency.

The questioner : We return to the hadith .

The Shaykh : Yes, and at that time, it reminds me, Abu 'Adnan, of repeating the hadith we mentioned earlier, that this hadith does not contradict the verse I cited earlier: . No, there is no conflict, but rather: , meaning exaggeration in luxury, because luxury has been ordered by the Lawgiver and encouraged, as you heard, but everything, when it exceeds its limit, becomes its opposite! Yes.