Beware of the Beard

Our prophet commanded us to “Trim your moustaches and let your beards grow.” So then I began to grow my sparse teenage beard, then I remembered these verses from Surah Ma’un (107).

Have you seen him who cries lies to the Doom?

That is the one who repulses the orphan

And does not urge the (offering) of food to the indigent.

So woe to the ones who pray,

Who are they that are unmindful of their prayer,

Who are they that show off,

And (refuse and) prevent (small) kindnesses.

Who is this part of the Surah describing? It is describing those people who are merely seen acting pious without a soft heart. Those people go to the mosque to be seen only by the people and the prayer doesn’t have a visceral, humbling effect on them as it is supposed to. On top of that, those are the people who do not partake in small kindnesses, such as enjoying a conversation with an old man, the youth, the illiterate, the non-practicing, the non-muslim, out of fear of being ‘caught’ with the wrong crowd or out of disgust for those people. To those people, God says woe be unto them. Their hearts are hard and their behaviours are gruff and cold while they display practices that should indicate the opposite.

Hence, this makes me really reconsider whether I want to partake in a constant act of worship that, by nature, manifests outwardly and, by nature, does not necessarily manifest internally. Do I intend to show off and impress the people in my community, fit in, or act out of arrogance? (I shouldn’t abandon every good act just because of these internal contentions, I know this). Being honest with myself, I really don’t know if my intentions were 100% pure. Personally, I regard those who practice their religion as morally superior to those who don’t and I judge this, as does everyone, initially based on appearance. So, personally, to practice one’s religion makes one better than one who doesn’t. It’s an opportunity of arrogance to associate oneself as being pious however it should manifest internally as well.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah الله  be pleased with him), who said:

I heard the Messenger of الله  Allah (ﷺ) say: The first of people against whom judgment will be pronounced on the Day of Resurrection will be a man who died a martyr. He will be brought and Allah الله  will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. [ The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I fought for you until I died a martyr. He will say: You have lied - you did but fight that it might be said [of you]: He is courageous. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.

[Another] will be a man who has studied [religious] knowledge and has taught it and who used to recite the Quran. He will be brought and الله Allah will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I studied [religious] knowledge and I taught it and I recited the Quran for Your sake. He will say: You have lied - you did but study [religious] knowledge that it might be said [of you]: He is learned. And you recited the Quran that it might be said [of you]: He is a reciter. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire.

[Another] will be a man whom Allah had made rich and to whom He had given all kinds of wealth. He will be brought and Allah الله  will make known to him His favors and he will recognize them. [The Almighty] will say: And what did you do about them? He will say: I left no path [untrodden] in which You like money to be spent without spending in it for Your sake. He will say: You have lied - you did but do so that it might be said [of you]: He is open-handed. And so it was said. Then he will be ordered to be dragged along on his face until he is cast into Hell-fire. It was related by Muslim (also by at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i).

So to avoid falling into this aforementioned category of people who adopt outward religious practices without allowing them to manifest internally, I chose to avoid God’s scourge which falls upon those who adopt religious practices arrogantly without allowing them to manifest internally and that means I hesitate to keep the razor away. Once my heart is ready to adopt the practice and when I can say with surety that I am doing this only for the sake of God, then I will keep the razor away, but until then I will be purifying myself for a short while. What is worse, a fardh done for the wrong reasons or abandoning a fardh?

Edit: I was told by a friend who, after reading this, convinced me that the correct course of action was to perform the fardh, however one must pray and purify his intentions WHILST performing the fardh. If you want the action to be accepted as an ibadah (a worship) it must have both correct intention as well as implementation. I was just trying to have a correct intention without even performing the action as a reactionary response to those who do the action without the correct intention. I will keep the razor away and purify myself simultaneously.