unjustly clean shaven

When I was much younger, as early as 16 years ago, I used to grow a beard every winter, told people it was hunting season and then after a few months I’d shave it off.  While I thought it looked pretty good it could get itchy.  Five years ago I tried again and after three weeks the itch was so bad I had to shave.  And that was alright because the hair is all white.  There is no hiding one’s age with a white beard.

Which brings me to the oddity of the year, granted it happened on the first day of the first month.  I sat in the restaurant of the Buraimi Hotel with four colleagues, we had ordered dinner, the two ladies present had glasses of red wine, the three men, including myself drank beer.  Twenty minutes later four more colleagues arrived and we pulled another table next to ours.  The four men were from Bangladesh, Nigeria and India.  None of these men ordered alcohol, three were Muslim, the fourth, hadn’t had a drink in 27 years.  And while we talked a rather combative waiter came to our table and said we could not drink alcohol in this restaurant and if we wished to continue with what we had we should remove ourselves and go to the bar which is adjacent to the restaurant.  Well my colleagues protested like they ought to have, demanded to see the manager who was hiding somewhere and the waiter obnoxiously stated it was a new rule, as if they had just decided on a whim to refuse us the right to drink after they had already served us.

The thin surly man compromised his position when we got louder and let us finish our drinks   but if we wanted anymore we’d have to go to the bar.  I finished mine and went to the bar and ordered another beer.  Another waiter, Farook, came in and said because our group was now large, by their standards I guess, the manager decided it would be better not to let us, granted there were only five out of nine who had alcohol, drink in a public space.  Whatever, I said, a year ago at this time the hotel didn’t even have beer or wine to drink, if they want me to drink in a bar, I am better in the bar.

People finished their meals, the ladies went home with their escort and driver and the rest of us walked to the hotel’s not very seedy nightclub for a nightcap.  Along came the Nigerian, the Bangladeshis and Manash, the Indian from Hyderabad.  Manash is a scrawny 27 year old kid with flood pants and Chinese plaid long sleeve shirts he buttons to the neck.  He wears thick black square framed glasses and sports this frazzled beard that has left me wonder if he was some kind of mullah in training.  He is a kind sort, quick to speak gently, almost innocent and I’ve never heard him raise his voice or finger to anyone.

We entered the dark nightclub, and save for a half dozen locals all was quiet except for the best of Michael Jackson urging someone, anyone to dance.  A local sitting near the entrance saw Manash and told him he wasn’t permitted in the bar.  Manash didn’t protest and went straight out.  I shook his hand before he left and figured if he wasn’t going to drink he might as well go home.  Fair enough I thought and then I was told it was the beard.  His beard.  And it was his beard that made the manager of the restaurant suddenly ban the booze at our table. 

Most, if not all, Peninsulan Muslims have beards, below are a few notes about the significance placed on the beard but Manash’s beard, frazzled, unkempt, immediately makes every Muslim shudder in fear.  It’s as if holiness has entered into the presence and Manash knows this but he isn’t a mullah in training.  Presently he teaches English to students in the optometry college.  He wants to marry a relative though he is unsure right now and says there is no hurry. 

I see beards on the Afghans and Pakistanis and they are worthy beards, large, commanding, thick as bear wool, they demand and receive respect and awe.  But Manash’s chin is covered with hundreds of Chinese single strands and it doesn’t command anything but a razor.  So, why did everyone cower, what did his aura say to the Muslims other than he looks like a student of Islam, like he might be spending his days studying the Quran but as far as I know he’s just a squirrelly kid.  Very odd.

The Three Aspects Regarding The Beard
 
1. The beard is a part of the male anatomy which beautifies, gives respectability and adorns the man. (That is only when it is kept in good trim). 

2. The beard is a natural inherent part of the biological characteristics of the male gender of the human being, its purpose is to differentiate between the male and the female. This very conclusion is also derived by logical reasoning and intellect. We should also bear in mind that the intellect is one of the most important factors which separates the human being from the other animal species. 

3. In answer to the supplication made by our grandfather Adam (as), Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, made the growth of the beard an in-built natural feature of the male, a feature which will continue being such till the day of reckoning. 

In the book al-Ja’fariyyat a narration of the Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h) has been quoted in which the Prophet (p.b.u.h) states:
 
“The shaving of the beard is indeed considered an unjust action, may the curse of Allah befall those who are unjust”. 

http://www.al-islam.org/articles/islamic-perspective-of-the-beard