Taking from the beard and the ruling on exceeding a handful?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. A question was asked of one of the brothers regarding the permissibility of taking from the beard, and whether leaving the beard that exceeds a handful is a religious innovation?

The Shaykh : Yes, we always and forever affirm that not taking from the beard at all is an exaggeration in religion and a distortion of the application of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): . Understanding this issue relates to our Salafi methodology. We do not constantly and forever repeat in all our gatherings and lectures that we must understand the Book and the Sunnah as the righteous Salaf did? We do not repeat this condition regarding the methodology of the righteous Salaf in vain. Rather, I believe that any Muslim, no matter how knowledgeable he is in the Book and the Sunnah, if he does not acknowledge the necessity of understanding these two noble sources according to the methodology of the righteous Salaf, he will not be correct in his knowledge and jurisprudence. This is because there are matters that admit of many directions and meanings, and sometimes they do not become clear except through practical application. Also, the Sunnah related to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is divided into three categories: saying, doing, and approving. We, who follow the necessary path of receiving the understanding of the Book and the Sunnah from the righteous Salaf, this reception from them also fits that threefold division: it is either a saying from them, or a doing from them, or an approval from them. So, first: we found many texts from some of the early Salaf, let alone those who followed them, that they used to take from their beards. This is first, absolutely. And more important than that, they used to take what exceeded a handful. This means that we should take a position regarding them from two positions, and there is no third. Either they misunderstood the hadith and its application, or they hit the mark. And my belief is that if it were one person, it could be said that he erred. But since the matter is not so, then we must say the second possibility, which is that they hit the mark.
Among the famous texts among scholars and even students of knowledge is that 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to take from his beard what exceeded a handful. But some of these students stopped at a text that explicitly states that he did this in Hajj or 'Umrah, so they restricted this action to Hajj or 'Umrah. This benefits us, but I want to mention that there are other narrations that generalize the taking and do not restrict it, and this generalization includes what came in the narration restricted to Hajj or restricted to Hajj and 'Umrah. In that case, I say that even with the other restricted narration, it benefits us, because some people of knowledge, especially in the present age, who insist on taking the hadith in its generality: , they do not follow Ibn 'Umar in Hajj or in 'Umrah. So here, one of us must also take a position from two positions: either we say that Ibn 'Umar erred in taking from his beard in his Hajj or 'Umrah and these later people hit the mark, or we say the opposite, and the opposite is undoubtedly the truth for two reasons. The first reason: 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar was a noble Companion, and this needs clarification. The second reason: he was a witness, and as was said earlier: the witness sees what the absent one does not see. He was a witness to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and a witness to his noble beard. So I imagine that it is impossible for Ibn 'Umar, who is known for his extreme exaggeration in following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), even in the Sunnahs that some scholars call, and we follow them in this naming, meaning he followed him (peace be upon him) even in the Sunnahs of custom and not the Sunnahs of worship. A man like Ibn 'Umar, whose exaggeration in following the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in such matters, and even in what is more amazing than that, which cannot also be classified as customary matters but as incidental matters, reached such a level. It is narrated, for example, that he went around a circle and urinated in a place. Why did you see the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) do that? We do not know what the circumstances of the Prophet (peace be upon him) were until he went around that circle and reached a place, and this place may have been, as in some narrations, a tree, so he urinated under it. This is not one of the customary matters; this is an incidental matter. And on the contrary, it is established from his father 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) that when he performed Hajj during his caliphate and descended at one of the known stations on the traveler's path from Madinah to Makkah, he saw people taking a side path off the main road. So he asked, "Where are these people going?" It was said to him, "These people intend to pray at a station where the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) had stayed." So he addressed the people and said: "O people, whoever catches the prayer at one of these stations, let him pray, and whoever does not, then do not follow the stations, for only the destruction of those before you was by following the traces of their prophets." This is the jurisprudence of 'Umar, not the jurisprudence of Ibn 'Umar. But my intention here is Ibn 'Umar, who used to exaggerate this exaggeration in following, and he saw the Messenger (peace be upon him) not taking even a stray hair like this, for example, and then he takes what grew long of the beard. This is almost impossible for this man. Nevertheless, the possibility that he erred is present because he is a human being, not infallible. But we find another companion who did his action and took from his beard with a sound chain. And this is from the obscure reports among the majority of scholars, unfortunately, let alone students of knowledge, because no eye has seen it in print yet; rather, it is in a manuscript I have not seen, and I have reached old age as you see, and I have reached old age. I did not see it except a few years ago in a photocopy of a manuscript I have not seen with my own eyes, but I saw its image. And it is the book *al-Tarjal* by Abu Bakr al-Khallal, who had a special concern for tracking the statements of the Imam of the Sunnah, Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him). So he narrated there the report of Ibn 'Umar, in addition to the report of Abu Hurayrah, with a sound chain.
Then I previously saw in a photocopy that is still with me, and this photocopy, praise be to Allah, was printed, so the book came into the hands of students of knowledge, and they may have reached this place and stopped at it, or not. The important thing is that this manuscript, which returned and became printed, is *Shu'ab al-Iman* by Abu Bakr al-Bayhaqi, where he also narrated with a sound chain from Ibrahim ibn Yazid al-Nakha'i: "That they used to take from their beards." This is what he says. "That they used to take from their beards." There is no doubt that he means the Companions or the great Tabi'un. So these are our Salaf. Also, Ibn Jarir al-Tabari mentioned in his great and grand tafsir some reports from Abu Hurayrah and Mujahid in the interpretation of the word of the Exalted: "What is their taththith?" What is the verse: In the interpretation of the word "taththith," he mentioned that the Salaf, among them Abu Hurayrah and among them Mujahid, used to say that one should take from his hair and beard. So when these Salafi reports were available to me, I became certain that the generality of the hadith mentioned at the beginning of this speech is one of the generalities that should not be taken in this specific detail regarding the absolute leaving of the beard. I have a long speech, and I do not want to lengthen it more than I have. The root of the spread of innovations among Muslims, old and new, is their taking of generalities that the practice of the Muslims did not follow, neither the old Salaf nor the new Khalaf. And let us give a new example here now in this country: one adhan called the unified adhan. This is undoubtedly a recent innovation that the practice of the Salaf did not follow, and rather this is a nullification of an Islamic symbol. I do not know who innovated it. But it is undoubtedly applicable to it his saying (peace be upon him): . There is no doubt that he held fast to some generalities, as do those who add to the adhan, either dhikr or salawat upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), to generalities that you know, but these generalities were not followed by the practice of the Salaf. Therefore, we say with the saying of the scholars:
"And all good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in innovating what those who came after have introduced."
This is the answer to this question.