Miftah-ul-Janna (Booklet for way to Paradise)

concerning beard-growing are in keeping with the teachings of the
Hanafî Madhhab in this respect, it has been deemed apropos to
refer the readers to them as evidential informants. Hadrat ’Abdul-Haqq-i-Dahlawî
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ (958 [1551 A.D.] –
1052 [1642], Delhî) states as follows in the third volume of Eshi’atul-leme’ât:
“Islamic scholars followed the local custom of the place
they lived in concerning hair and beard-dying. For, it incurs
notoriety not to follow the custom of one’s locality [in matters that
are mubâh, permissible], which, in turn, is makrûh.” Muhammad
bin Mustafâ Hâdimî ‘rahima-hullâhu ta’âlâ’ (d. 1176 [1762 A.D.],
Hâdim, Konya, Turkey) states in his book entitled Berîqa: “It is
stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: ‘Grow your moustache short and your
beard long.’ Therefore, it has been prohibited to shave one’s beard
or to grow it shorter than a small handful. It is sunnat to grow one’s
beard until it becomes as long as a small handful. It is sunnat also
to pare it when it becomes longer than a small handful.” A small
handful is a length equal to the sum of four finger widths,
beginning with the lower side of the lower lip. When the Sultân
commands something that is sunnat, even if it is something that is
mubâh (permissible), it becomes wâjib to do it. Its being done by
the Sultân and by all Muslims means a command. At such places it
is wâjib to grow one’s beard as long as a small handful. To grow it
shorter than a small handful or to shave it means to abandon
something that is wâjib. It is makrûh tahrîmî. (Please see the next
chapter for terms such as wâjib, makrûh, etc.) It is not permissible
for a person who does so to be îmâm in a mosque (and to conduct
namâz in jamâ’at). In the Dâr-ul-harb, however, it is permissible,
nay, it is a must to shave your beard lest you should be persecuted
or (lose your job, which in effect means to) be unable to make a
living and/or so that you can perform amr-i-ma’rûf, serve Muslims
and Islam, and protect your faith and chastity. Without an ’udhr, it
is makrûh to shorten or shave it. And it is bid’at to (continuously)
have a beard shorter than a small handful and to believe that
thereby you are performing an act of sunnat. It means to change
the sunnat. Committing an act of bid’at is a sin graver than
homicide.]
Supposing a girl and a boy reached the age of discretion and
puberty, they were married under the contract of nikâh, and yet
they failed to answer a question asked concerning the attributes of
îmân, that would mean that they were not Muslims. The nikâh
between them would be sahîh only after their being taught the
tenets of îmân and thereafter their contract of nikâh being
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