THE BEARD

B Y A B U TLIB AL-MAKK

The fdtaSJUSg- translation, without commentary, is based on a

printed edition of Qt al-Qulb, II (Cairo, 1351/1932), 9-14. The
text is in Part IV, Chapter 36. This well known work, "Food for
Hearts," by the Sufi Abu Tlib al-Makk (d. A.D. 996), is one of the
early sources of information on Muslim mystical theology.
[Translation]
THE BEARD

Wrong Usages and Modern Innovations

Some traditions relate that God has angels whose oath is : "By
Him who has adorned Adam's progeny with beards." Also it is said
that the beard serves to perfect the natural characteristics of the
man, and by it men are distinguished from women with regard to
their external natural characteristics.
The Messenger of God is described as having a thick beard, as
had Abu Bakr. e Uthmn had a long and slender beard. 'Ali had a
wide beard that filled the space between his shoulders.
It is said that the inhabitants of Paradise are beardless except
Aaron brother of Moses. Aaron had a beard that descended to his
chest as a favor granted especially to him.
Someone of the Ban Tamm described a kinsman, al-Ahnaf (the
club-footed) ibn Qays. He said : "We would have liked to purchase
for al-Ahnaf a beard for twenty thousand." No mention was made
of his being club-footed or his blindness in one eye. But mention was
made of the disgust of his being without a beard, though he was
intelligent and mild-tempered.
We have been told of a rare interpretation of God's saying, He
increases in creating whatever He wishes (S. 35:1) ; i.e., He was speaking
about beards. On this subject there are many points of view. Someone
has related that Shurayh the Qd said : "Would that I had a beard
in exchange for ten thousand."
A certain writer has said : "The beard has advantages and excellent
qualities. For example, it magnifies the importance of the man;
people look upon him as a man of learning and dignity. He has an
100

THE BEARD

101

elevated rank in the assemblies and people approach [to greet him].
He is held in high honor over the crowd and people hold him to be
intelligent. The beard safeguards his dignity. That is, if people intend
to vilify him, they confront him with the beard and that safeguards
his honor."
Ab Ysuf the Qd said : "He who has a large beard has licit
knowledge." In the beard, however, reside hidden fancies and minute
spiritual perils. Among the modern innovations there are twelve
vices, some of which are graver than others. All of them are disapproved. We treated them all together at length in the chapter on
spiritual perils. The explanation of it is this. The beard is dyed black
out of fancy and to conceal the gray hairs. It is dyed red and yellow
without specific intent in imitation of the pious men and Qur'anic
readers from among the followers of the Sunna. Dying the beard
white with sulphur or other materials is for the purpose of hastening
the appearance of advanced age and concealing the appearance of
youth for the sake of [showing] authority and magnifying [one's
importance] in order to give testimony before the magistrates or
thereby make credible one's tale, or pretend with age to have seen
one whom one has not seen. Some of the moderns and witnesses have
done that.
Another innovation is that they pluck out the beard or they pluck
out the white hairs in the beard to conceal the fact that they are of
mature age. Or they clip (taqsls) the beard as though arranging tuft
on tuft for embellishment and affectation. Or they shorten it or
lengthen it. That is, they add to the hair on the cheeks below the
temple the hair of the head until it surpasses the bone of the lower
jaw, and that is the [lower] extremity of the beard. Or they shorten
[the beard] of the two sides of the bone [of the lower jaw] to the
middle of the cheek. That is a mutilation, a diminishing of the beard.
There is also the way of combing the beard for affectation before
men, or leaving it uncombed out of regard for people, disheveled,
twisted, covered with dust, to give the appearance of practicing
asceticism or of having no regard for self-grooming, because in that
way they gain recognition.
There are some who look at the black color of the beard with pride
in it, vanity, youthful guile and self-glorification. Or some look at
its whiteness while boasting of having reached the age of maturity,
or acting arrogantly toward young people. So looking at the beard
instead of toward themselves prevents them from acquiring a knowledge of the religious sciences and of the Qur'an, or knowledge that
their ignorance cannot comprehend and [precludes them] from asking

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questions about that of which they have no knowledge. At the same

time they belittle other young people, either out of shame for or
pride in their gray heads. So in their ignorance they suppose that the
abundance of days that whitened the hairs of the beard has given
them a position of superiority or bestowed knowledge upon them.
They do not know that intelligence is one of the natural dispositions
of the heart and that knowledge is one of the bestowals from One
Who knows the unseen.1 If one's native disposition is stupidity and
his nature is ignorance, his stupidity increases as he grows older and
his ignorance become greater with age. We have seen all that in the
lives of many men, and it is all modern. I t resembles the sunna
regulations regarding the body, twelve in number. 2
Among the many meanings we have mentioned concerning what
is disapproved is this saying of the Apostle of God : "Shave (huff*)
the mustache and let the beard grow." 3 Now the expression "shave"
means "make it shaved" with regard to the lip, that is, "around it,"
for the hiff of anything means "around" it. Thus there is His
saying : Thou shah see the angels going round about (hfn min hawl)
the throne (S. 39:75).
Some of the theologians have disapproved the shaving (halq) of
the mustache in such a way that the skin shows. They consider it
an innovation (bid^a). Mlik b. Anas and some of the theologians
of Medina used to say : "Shaving off of the mustache is a mutilation."
This [shaving] is removal of part of it only until the itr shows.
The itr is the edge of the upper lip.
In traditions (hadlth) there is another expression : "Clip (ahf,
pluck out), the mustaches." This clipping (ihfff) is the complete
extraction by the roots (al-isti'sl wa'1-istiqs') and the fullest meaning
of the Apostle's saying : "Shave (huff) [the mustaches]." Furthermore
there is His saying : If He asks you (yas'alkumh) for them, and
presses (urges, yuhfikum) you, you are niggardly... (S. 47:37/39); that
is, "If He inquires about (goes to the root of) you." 4
Many of the companions of the Apostle of God used to clip (yuhf)
their mustaches. One of the followers (tbi'n) saw a person who had
clipped his mustache and said : "You have reminded me of the
companions of the Apostle of God."
"Is that how they used to clip their mustaches ?" I asked.
1
S. 5:109/108 et passim (for Qur'anio references the Cairo verse number is followed
by that of FlgePs edition whenever different). All notes are by the translator.
2
Mentioned in a preceding paragraph of chapter 36 of the Q&t al-Qulb, p. 8.
3
Cited in A. J. Wensinck, Concordances et Indices, I, 479, as from A^mad b. Hanbal.
4
Here is a play on the tenth form of q-s-y which may have more than one meaning.

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103

"Yes," he replied.
Anything stronger than that would be like shaving (halq), and
clipping is not shaving. It only resembles it.
With reference to this tradition we have recited three other
expressions. They are : (a) "Take away (khudhu) from the mustaches,"
for the Apostle of God used to take away (ya'khudhu) from them,
(b) There is a reading, "Cut off (qussu) the mustaches," and (c) another
reading, "Shear (juzz) the mustaches." These three have one
meaning. That is, it is required to take away a part of it and leave
a part. This is not the same as clipping (ihfff) it.
Al-Mughra b. Shu'ba related : The Apostle of God looked at me
at a time when my mustache was long. He said : "Come here."
[I came] and he cut (qass) it for me in "tooth-pick" style. That is the
exact term to describe his action [of cutting] in trimming (taking
away, akhdh) the mustache.
I have heard used a rare expression : "Cut mustaches very short
(turr... tarran)" The word tarr means that [hair] is taken from
both above and below the mustache so that it becomes very slender.
The slender cut (tarr) [of the mustache] is elongated, drawn out from
something more abundant than itself, so that it refers to the
description of something else, or something smaller than itself.
From this it is named turra, as if it were projecting itself from
something of some size and to describe something elegant.
Some of the early Muslims used to leave the sides, that is the two
extremities, of the mustache and clip (yuhf) the middle of the
mustache. That is related about c Umar and others. I saw Abu
-Hasan b. Slim do likewise.
With regard to the Apostle's saying, "Let the beards grow," it
means to let them become more abundant. With reference to that
there is the word of God : Until they grow long (S. 1:95/93), that is,
become abundant. In a tradition (khabar) it is related that the Jews
let their mustaches grow and cut (qass) their beards. But some
disagreed with them. 'Urnar b. al-Khattb and Ibn Ab Layl, judge
of Medina, rejected the testimony of a man who used to pluck out
(yantifu) his beard, for the plucking out of the faynakayn is an
innovation. By faynakayn 5 is meant the two sides of the tuft of hair
between the lower lip and the chin anfaqa). Once a certain man
who used to pluck out his faynakayn gave testimony before c Umar
b. 'Abd al-'Azz. But 'Umar rejected his testimony.
8
Lane, Lexicon, p. 2450, and Dozy, Supplement aux Dictionnaires Arabes, , 295,
give variants in spelling and meaning.

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The prohibition of the plucking of white hairs has come down

from the Apostle of God. He said : "They are the illumination of
the believer." Also he prohibited dyeing [the beard] black. He said :
"It is the dye of the inhabitants of the Fire." Another way to express
it is : "Dyeing with black is the dyeing of the infidels."
The Apostle commanded Abu Bakr to change [the color of] the
hoary head of his father, saying, "Have him avoid black," adding,
"it is the color of the inhabitants of the Fire."
A certain man was married in the reign of 'Umar. This man used
to dye his hair black. But the dye came off and the whiteness of
his hair appeared. The family of the wife arraigned him before 'Urnar
who annulled the marriage and beat him until he suffered with pain.
e
Umar said, "You have deceived the people with [your pretense of]
youth and concealed from them your old age."
The Apostle of God has said, "Yellow is the dye (khidb) of Muslims,
and red is the dye of believers." They used to dye [the hair] with
henna to make it red and with a compound of saffran (khalq) and
katam to make it yellow. There is a saying : "The first one to use
black dye was Pharaoh (Fir*awn) ; may God curse him !"
Sari b. al-Mughallas al-Saqati said with regard to the beard : "There
are two acts of polytheism (shirkn) : combing it for the sake of men
and leaving it uncombed to make it appear as if one were practicing
asceticism." He also said : "If someone should come to me and I
should anoint my beard for his sake, I think I would be a polytheist
(mushrik)."
Ka e b and Abu al-Jalad described people who, in the last days,
would cut (qass) their beards to resemble the tail of a pigeon and
turn up [the points of] their sandals like the curve of a sickle. They
will have no happiness [in the after life]. He also mentioned, according
to a certain group of people, that that [style of cutting the beard]
is one of the signs of the last hour.
Sa'd b. Jubayr said, on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas, that the
Prophet said : "In the last days there will be people who will dye
[their beards] black like the black feathers on the crop of the pigeon.
They will not breathe the fragrance of Paradise."
Abu -Mihzam related on the authority of Abu Hurayra that the
companions of the "liar" (dajjl)6 wear dark cloaks, have mustaches
like cock's spurs, and sandals turned up. That is, their mustaches are
sleek and they shine. The root meaning of cock's spurs (says) is
6

Variously called the liar, tempter, deceiver, Anti-Christ, Pseudo-Christ, etc. See
Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, p. 67.

THE BEARD

105

horns (qurn); it is the plural of sisa (horn). From it derives slsat

al-dlk, spur of the cock, the second talon, smooth, behind his foot,
resembling a bone. When he said "wearing dark cloaks (svjri)," he
meant Persian mantles (taylisa). Sij is the plural of sj. When he
said "the sandals are turned up," he meant that they had long necks
curved like the spouts, that is, the sleeve-like tubes, of ewers.
Ibn c Umar used to say to the barber : "Reach the two bones, for
they are the extremity of the beard, that is, its limit." For that
reason it is called "beard" (lihya), for its limit is the lower jawbone
(lahy). So to add to that limit or to diminish it is an innovation
(muhdath).
Some Practical Applications and the Preferable
There are theologians who used to take from (trim, akhadha min)
the beard in the rites [of the pilgrimage] and on other occasions.
If a man should grasp a handful of his beard and take away what
remains below the grasp there is nothing wrong with that. Ibn 'Umar
and a group of his followers of the second generation [after the
Prophet] did that. Al-Shacb and Ibn Sirin approved it, while alHasan and Qatda disapproved it. To me it is preferable to leave it
uncut, natural as it grew.
A tradition was related to us that among the causes of happiness
is the scantiness of one's beard, but some narrator transmitted it
with another meaning ; if he did not mistake the reading of it, it is
a rare traditionand he used to say about it that the scantiness
of his beard came from the recital of the Qur'an. I do not believe
this to be [a tradition] preserved [from alteration].
The Apostle of God and the pious Muslims after him used to comb
their beards for the sake of religious practice and the sunna, as a
measure of cleanliness for ritual purity, to get rid of the filth of lice
and other causes, and to remove dead hairs if there were any.
There are ascetics who leave the beard twisted and uncombed,
unmindful of themselves. Sincerity (sidq) in itself is good ; sincerity
in everything is good. One of the ascetics said : "I saw Dwd alT' with beard disheveled and I asked, Abu Sulaymn, [what
would happen] if you combed your beard V
"He replied, that case I would be unemployed (frigh) [with
the things that matter].' "
However, the Apostle of God was accustomed to anoint his hair
and comb it from time to time, and did he not order [others to do]
likewise ? Indeed, he said : "Anoint [the hair] from time to time."

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Also he said : "If anyone has [but] one hair, let him groom it." When
a man with hair disheveled and beard disordered came to him, he
asked : "Does this man have no ointment with which to put his hair
in place?" Then he commented : "One of you comes in as if he were
a satan."
Someone related to us in a rare tradition (khabar) : "The Apostle
of God used to comb his beard twice every day." In another tradition
still more rare, ''isha is reported to have said : "Some people
assembled before the door of the Apostle of God, and he went out
to them. I saw him look into the cistern to put in order [the hairs
of] his head and his beard." According to the widely known tradition,
he used to brush his beard every day and his brush and comb were
never far from him on his travels or at home in the city. That was
the custom of the Arabs well known among them. The Prophet
observed it and it was part of his habitual conduct.
The young people used to imitate the older people in showing
honor and respect for the older generation without pride of youth
or boastfulness of young age. In one tradition (khabar) [occurs this
statement] : "The best of your young people are those who resemble
your elders, and the worst of your elders are those who resemble
your young people."
In another tradition (hadth) are found these words : "The exaltation of the Muslim possessor of gray hairs is part of the exaltation
of God." Now the older people used to give precedence to their
young people and look upon their superiority in knowledge and
religious practice with humility and lowliness, not puffed up with
pride or bigotry. c Umar used to give precedence to Ibn c Abbs while
still young in years over the older companions [of the Prophet] and
ask [advice] of him rather than of others.
Someone related on the authority of Ibn c Abbs and others : "God
never gave knowledge to any person except to a young man, for all
that is good [is found] in youth." Then he recited God's word : They
said, we have heard a youth making mention of them, one named
Abraham (S. 21:60/61). He also recited from God's word : They are
youths who believed in their Lord (S. 18:13/12); and His word: We
gave him wisdom while still a lad (S. 19:12/13).
Whenever Anas b. MHk mentioned God's Apostle, he used to say
that he passed away (qubid) while there were not twenty white hairs
on his head or in his beard. Someone asked : "How was that, O Abu
Hamza, since he was advanced in years?" "God," he replied, "did
not mar his appearance with white hair." He was asked : "Is it a
marring thing ?" He said : "You all dislike it."

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107

It is reported that Yahy b. Aktham was entrusted with the

judgeship when he was twenty-one years old. One day a certain
person in his assembly, wishing to shame him for that, asked him :
"How old is the judge (may God help him) ?"
"The same as the age of 'Itb b. Usayd," he replied, "when the
Apostle of God charged him with the emirate and justice over Mecca."
So he silenced his inquirer.
Someone reported to us about Malik b. Mu'awwal, who said :
"I read in one of the books of God, 'Let not beards deceive you,
for the goat [also] has a beard.' " Some literary man has said : "The
longer the beard grows the more the intelligence shrinks."
Abu *Amr b. al-'Ala' said : "Whenever you see [a person] tall in
stature, with a small head and a wide beard, condemn him as a
stupid fellow, even though he be Umayya b. cAbd Shams." Mu'wiya
said : "A man's stupidity is shown by the height of his stature, the
breadth of his beard, his surname, and the engraving on his signet
ring." Ibrahim al-Nakha'i and others like him of the earlier generation
used to say : "I wonder why an intelligent man with a long beard
does not trim (akhadha min) it, and make it between two beards
[the short and the long, i.e., not too long and not too short], for the
medial position in everything is good."
I recited [these lines] by a witty writer :
Be not proud of a beard grown to a lengthy spread,
The gale blowing through it as if it were the tail of a young lizard.
The young man may one day attain honor when his beard is [still]
sparce.
I recite from a certain Arab :
By thy life, manliness is not measured by sprouting beards;
but it is every young man who is generous.
The older men were not loath to learn from young men what they
did not know; nor would they upraid them because of their young
years, since the bounty is in the hands of God Who gives to whom He
wills (S. 3:73/66). There is no way at all to hold back what God gives
either to a child or other person, and no one can give what God
withholds from an adult or some other person.
Abu Ayyb al-Sakhtiyn recounted that he overtook the master,
a man over eighty years old, who was following the slave boy and
learning from him. Someone asked him : "Are you learning [something] from that [person]?" "Yes," he replied, "I am his servant
so long as I learn from him."

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'Ali b. al-Hasan said : "He to whom knowledge came first is your

leader (imam) in that matter, though he be younger in years than
you."
Someone asked Abu 'Amr b. al-'Ala' : "Is it good for an old
master to learn from a younger person ?" He answered : "If he is
good to live, then he is good to learn, for [the master] needs knowledge
as long as he lives."
Yahy b. Mu'in asked Ahmad b. Hanbal, on seeing him walking
behind the she-mule of al-Shfi' : " 0 , Abu 'Abd Allah, do you
disregard what Sufyn 7 has related regarding elevation [in rank] and
walk behind the mule of that young man and receive instruction
from him ?" "If you received from him the knowledge that I receive,"
answered Ahmad, "you would walk on the other side [of him]. The
knowledge of Sufyn, if he surpasses me by elevation, I have attained
by descent (unmounted) ; and the intelligence of this young man, if
he surpasses me, I have attained neither by elevation nor by descent
(mounted on a mule or unmounted)."
I heard Abu Bakr b. al-Jala' say : "I see a lad doing something
and, approving it, I imitate him. So he becomes my mentor (imam)
in that matter." I have not seen a more humble person than he
despite his knowledge and abstemiousness.
As for the meaning of the following tradition (khabar) which has
been quoted : "People will remain in good condition as long as
knowledge comes to them from their elders, but whenever it comes
to them from their young people, they perish," Ibn al-Mubrak was
questioned about it and he replied : "Their young people are partisans
of new doctrines (ahi al-bid'), and there is not one youth from among
the partisans of the traditional way (sunna) who possesses knowledge." Then he [Ibn al-Mubrak] added : "From how many of those
young in years have we carried away mature knowledge?" I t is
said that his remark about their elders means the Companions of
the Apostle of God.
That is the sense usually agreed upon for the other tradition
(khabar) : "My people will remain in good condition so long as there
remain among them some of those who have seen me; but there
will come upon them a time in which they will search in every
corner of the earth and not one will be found who has seen me."
How [can that be], when with that [tradition] has come a saying
that I have mentioned : "People will remain in good condition so
7

Probably the traditionist Sufyn b. 'Uyayna. See Reynold A. Nicholson, A

Literary History of the Arabs (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1930), p. 366;
Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs (London : Macmillan & Co., 1949), p. 395.

THE BEARD

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long as knowledge comes to them from the Companions of the

Apostle of God and from their elders?" Now whenever it comes to
them from their younger people, the older rebel against the younger
and they perish. That is, in that case, out of fear that [the former]
would not learn from [the latter] on account of the shame, pride
and haughtiness that we have stated.
Another way to view it, in my opinion, is to give it a sense of
information regarding past and future, not [a sense] of censure ; for
in tradition (athar) the young people of early times are depicted as
learning from their elders. In later times the elders will learn from
the young. If such be the case, that [implies] ascribing superiority
to the young and attributing to this community more honor than to
earlier nations ; for those received knowledge only from priests, monks,
pious teachers and religious devotees. He has informed that this
community in later days will be superior to earlier nations in their
early days, because the elders will learn from the young as God has
been bountiful to them.
That is the most appropriate sense to give to the other tradition
(khabar) : "My people are like the rain. One does not know if the
early rain is better or the latter."
A similar citation is : "How will a people perish of whom I am at
the beginning and the Messiah Son of Mary is at the end ?" 8
The following has been related to us in tradition (khabar) : "Hold
not in contempt a servant to whom God has brought knowledge,
for God has not held him in contempt if He has appointed him to
be the recipient of knowledge."
Shu'ba used to say, "If I have written a tradition (hadlth) on the
authority of a certain person or gained some bit of knowledge from
him, I am that person's slave abd)." Once Shu'ba said : "Whenever
I have written seven traditions on the authority of a certain person,
that person has enslaved me."
With regard to dying [the beard] black, it is related that one of
the learned men from among those who fought on the pathway of
God used to dye [his beard] black. But he did not do it out of passion
or to conceal the gray hairs. He only reckoned that as part of the
preparation of strength for the enemies of God, according to the
sense of God's word : Prepare for them with as much strength as you
can (S. 8:60/62), for there is strength in appearing to be young.
[Likewise] the Apostle of God walked quickly and wrapped his cloak
8

It is believed that the Messiah will return. Obviously his return will be later than
the present generation. Also naturally he is endowed with superior knowledge.

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over his left shoulder, he and his companions, to allow the disbelievers to see them and thus know that they had stamina and
strength.
If anyone does something with sincere and worthy intention by
which he desires to honor God, and if he is knowledgeable in a school
of thought (madhhab) to which [he professes] to hold, he is superior
in his knowledge and in his action. Even though that be the worst
of his actions, it does not ensue that he will be followed in it, for we
have been told that the Apostle of God said : "Among the most
wicked of men in his standing with God is he who imitates the evil
conduct of a believer while disregarding his good conduct." He has
informed that the believer engages in what is evil, and that one of
the worst of men is he who finds solace in that evil as an excuse for
the craving of his lower nature (nafs).
Penney Farms, FL

Translation from the Arabic

by ELMER H. DOUGLAS

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