Where's your beard, bro?

 

ANONYMOUS: SALAM. JUST WONDERING WHY YOU SHAVE YOUR BEARD IF IT'S FARD? I'M A SISTER AND I HONESTLY AM CURIOUS WHY BROTHERS SHAVE THEIR BEARDS WHEN PROPHET MUHAMMAD SAW HAD ONE HIMSELF AND COMMANDED HIS FOLLOWERS TO TRIM THE MUSTACHE AND LET THE BEARD GROW.

Wa alykum as-salaam,

First point: I have a beard. I just don’t update my icon picture.

Second point: The way you phrase your question is really off-putting and I would suggest you learn to ask questions like this in a better manner.

Third: Why do you wonder about things that do not concern you? The Prophet, in Tirmidhi, is reported to have said:

“From the excellence of a man’s Islam is to leave that which does not concern him.”

Fourth: The Hanafis, the Hanbalis, and the Malikis opine that the beard is Fardh (obligatory) for a man. The Shafi’is, however, write that the beard is Sunnah (highly recommended) not Fardh.

Therefore, the reason why men shave is because they follow the Shafi’i opinion, or, as is also possible: they are unable to grow a beard. There are many more reasons, as well.

I hope this helps, insha Allah.

From the excellent http://partytilfajr.tumblr.com/

Remedy for ignorance

Alhamdulilah wonderful excerpt from the book by Malauna Wahiduddin, one of the greatest Islamic scholars produced by India in my humble opinion.

According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam once remarked: "The remedy for ignorance is asking questions." If the ignorant man does not inquire; his ignorance will stay with him. But if he has a questioning mind, some knowledgeable person will answer him, and he will no longer remain ignorant.

There is a saying in Arabic to the same effect: To know that you do not know is half the knowledge itself. If an ignorant person is not aware of his ignorance, he will continue to remain in the same state. But when he becomes aware of his ignorance, he sets about seeking for knowledge.

He will try to turn his ignorance into knowledge. In this way his awareness of his ignorance will become the stepping stone leading towards full and comprehensive knowledge.

This is called, in present-day speech, "the spirit of inquiry", and is given extensive importance. It is this spirit of inquiry which has played the greatest role in bringing about the age of science. It is the zeal to discover which has led humankind to knowledge. In ancient times the phenomena of nature were considered to be manifestations of God. The sight of the manifestations of nature, therefore, aroused in man the spirit of worship. It was only when these natural phenomena were divested of their divinity that the spirit of inquiry could be aroused in man. As a result, many of the mysteries of; nature now lie unraveled.

An inquisitive mind is an absolutely essential element for the acquisition of knowledge. Only those who are possessed of this quality will achieve great success in intellectual and academic fields. Those devoid of this spirit will remain static, and will fall short in reaching their fullest potential.

It is this spirit which is the foundation of all progress.



Excerpted from the book Simple Wisdom by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Dont ask (ridiculous) questions about religion

Narrated Al-Mughira bin Shu'ba (Radi Allah Anhu): The Prophet (sal-allahu- alleihi-wasallam ) said:

"Allah has forbidden for you:
(1) to be undutiful to your mothers,
(2) to bury your daughters alive,
(3) to not to pay the rights of the others (e.g. charity, etc.) and
(4) to beg of men (begging).

And Allah has hated for you
(1) vain, useless talk, or that you talk too much about others,
(2) to ask too many questions, (in disputed religious matters) and
(3) to waste the wealth (by extravagance) ."

[Sahih Bukhari: Volume 3, Book 41, Number 591]


Muslim also records the above tradition and gives another version with a different isnad:

It is reported from Abu Hurayrah that he heard God’s Messenger as saying: Avoid what I forbid you to do and do what I command you to do to the best of your capacity. Surely the people before you went to their doom because they had put too many questions to their prophets and then disagreed about them. (Muslim; this hadith has been narrated on the authority of Ibn Shihab with the same chain of transmitters.)


Muslim gives a similar hadith, in which the words of the Prophet are connected with a specific question:

It is reported from Abu Hurayrah: God’s Messenger gave us a sermon, saying, “O people! Hajj has been made obligatory for you, so perform it.” A man asked: “Every year, O Messenger of God.” He kept silent until the man asked him three times. He then said: “Had I said ‘yes’, it would have become obligatory for you and you would not have been do it.” He then added: “Leave me with what I leave you. Surely the people before you went to their doom because they had put too many questions to their prophets and then disagreed about them. So when I command you something, do it to the best of your ability and when I forbid you something, abstain from it.”


The Holy Qur'an 5:101 states: "Believers, ask not questions about things which if made plain to you may cause you trouble when the Qur'an is revealed. Some people before you asked questions, and on that account lost their faith."

Maulana Maududi, in his commentary, The Meaning of the Qur'an, explains: "The Prophet forbade people to ask questions or to pry into such things."

If God can do everything, why can't He become a man?