Chapter III: Mysteries of Cleanliness
is sunnat for a male and meritorious for a female. Excess should be avoided in the case of a female. The Prophet said to Omme Atiyyah : O Omme Atiyyah, be moderae in circumcision and cut off only a small portion of clitoris, for it is better to preserve feminity and more welcome to masculinity. (8) Length of beard.
There are differences of opinion regarding the length of the beard. Some say that it is to be kept up to the grip and there is no harm in cutting beyond the grip. Hazrat Omar and some Tabeyins used to do it. Hasan Basari and Qatadah said that to spare it to grow long is better as the Prophet said : Spare your beards. It has been said that the bigger the beard, the smaller the intellect.
There are ten undesirable practices regarding beard. These are dyeing the beard black, bleaching it with sulpher, plucking it, plucking the grey hairs, trimming it, augmenting its size, keeping it dishevelled, combing it for show of people, making it black for show of youth, making it grey to attract honour and dyeing it red or yellow. Dyeing it with black colour is prohibited as the Prophet said : The best or your youths is he who follows the old among you and the worst of your old is he who follows the youth among you. The Prophet said : Black dye is the sign of the inmates of Hell. The first man who used black dye was Pharaoh.
The Prophet said : There will appear in latter ages people who will dye their beards black like the peak of pigeons. They will not get the fragranc eof Paradise. Dyeing the beard yellow or red is permitted. The Prophet said : Yellow is the colour with which the Muslims dye their beards and red is the colour with which the believers dye their beards. Henna can be used for red dye and saffron and phillyrea for yellow dye. Bleaching the beard with sulpher to give the appearance of advanced age to attract venration and to have their testimony accepted is undesirable. To shave beard is Makruh or undesirable. So also plucking grey hair because the Prophet prohitited it as it is a light for a believer.