Assalaamualykum Warahmatullahi wabarakaatuhu two questions
1.i have little beared less than one fist i know less than fist is haram prohibitted in islam. i have intention to grow beared more than one fist but my mother says to grow beared after marriage. and all other brothers and sisters says either grow one fist or clean shave do not trim. because trimming and shaving are same sinns. my question to you is that shaving the beared and trimming it both have equal sinns? so either i have to shave or keep the one fist? what to do?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
It is compulsory to lengthen the beard up to a fist length. It is prohibited to trim the beard lesser than a fist length. This is a well-known ruling. You may read more on this at: http://www.askimam.org/public/question_detail/18364
http://www.askimam.org/public/question_detail/16493
Your issue is since it is prohibited and sinful to trim the beard lesser than one fist, then rather shave the beard and do not keep a small beard as the sin of trimming and shaving is equal.
Brother, the equating of trimming the beard lesser than one fist length to shaving the beard is not correct. While they both are common in sin, it can never be said that having a small beard is exactly the same as not having a beard. Consider the difference from the following example:
There are two wealthy persons. One person’s entire wealth has been looted and the other persons 90% wealth has been looted. One has nothing left and the other has 10% left. Truly both are not equal. The person with 10% is at an advantage.
Likewise, while a person’s 90% beard has been removed by himself, he is better off than the person whose 100% beard has been removed. The person with 10% has some respect for the beard. That will encourage him to gradually grow the beard to the minimum required amount. The person with the 10% has the advantage of some portion of the sunnah on his face as opposed to the one who does not have a beard.
It is our advice you keep the minimum required length of the beard. If not, at least keep some beard rather than nothing. There is a big difference between the two.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Hafizurrahman Fatehmahomed
Student Darul Iftaa
Netherlands
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.