What is the ruling on what some Sufis say: "Do not grow your beards so that you do not imitate the Wahhabis"?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. You are answering now, and the people are pleased. But what is this talk? Someone says, "Do not grow your beard, oppose the Wahhabis." Where are they?
The questioner : We have Sufis who shave their beards, and they say...
The Shaykh : But do they explicitly say, "We shave it to oppose the Wahhabis"?
The questioner : Yes, this is written in the book.
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah! Well, why are they not given *Al-Muntaqa* and the other books that contain the hadith?
The questioner : They say... growing the beard is one of the signs of the Wahhabis, shortening the garment and growing the beard are signs of the Wahhabis.
The Shaykh : That means they lengthen it? We have not heard this from anyone but you. But in any case, if these people know that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and they have rejected it because it is a recommended practice, then they are in great danger, because they have hated what Allah has revealed. As for declaring them disbelievers, that is difficult; a person cannot declare anyone a disbeliever except with clear evidence, because if he declares him a disbeliever and he is not, it will return upon him.
The questioner : We have Sufis who shave their beards, and they say...
The Shaykh : But do they explicitly say, "We shave it to oppose the Wahhabis"?
The questioner : Yes, this is written in the book.
The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah! Well, why are they not given *Al-Muntaqa* and the other books that contain the hadith?
The questioner : They say... growing the beard is one of the signs of the Wahhabis, shortening the garment and growing the beard are signs of the Wahhabis.
The Shaykh : That means they lengthen it? We have not heard this from anyone but you. But in any case, if these people know that it is a recommended practice (sunnah) and they have rejected it because it is a recommended practice, then they are in great danger, because they have hated what Allah has revealed. As for declaring them disbelievers, that is difficult; a person cannot declare anyone a disbeliever except with clear evidence, because if he declares him a disbeliever and he is not, it will return upon him.