Many, many scholars disagree with this. Even the Imam Ghazali said that it was not mandatory to grow a beard.
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate
Is it haram to shave the beard?
Imam al-Shafi‘i is reported to have said that shaving the beard is forbidden (haram). This is not, however, the position taken by the Shafi‘i school.[1] The soundest position in the Shafi‘i school is that shaving the beard is disliked (makruh) and not forbidden (haram). This is the position of all the important figures in the late Shafi‘i school, such as Ibn Hajar al-Haytami, Muhammad al-Ramli, al-Khatib al-Shirbini, and Shaykh al-Islam Zakariyya al-Ansari (Allah be pleased with all of them). (I‘anatu’l-Talibin, 2.341). Ibn Hajar has mentioned that this was the position of both Imam Nawawi and Imam Rafi‘i (Hashiyat Shirwani, 9.376). Imam Nawawi explicitly mentions that it is disliked to shave the beard in his commentary on Sahih Muslim and also in his Rawdat al-Talibin. Anyone familiar with the works of the school will realize that the agreement of all these scholars seals the case as far as the position of the school is concerned.
What is the ruling of trimming the beard?
To trim the beard is also disliked. It is not forbidden, as can be inferred a fortiori from the ruling regarding shaving the beard (if it is not forbidden to shave the beard, how can it be forbidden to trim it?). Ibn Hajar says in his Tuhfa:
“The outword purport (dhahir) of what our imams say is that it is unconditionally disliked to trim the beard.” (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, 9.376)
What is the sunna length of the beard?
The optimal length of the beard is to leave it uncut and not touch it at all, as mentioned by Ibn Hajar above. Anything less than this optimal length is disliked. Ibn Hajar foresees the objection that this would result in making one’s appearance ugly by saying that this would only occur if one neglected caring for one’s beard by not washing or oiling it. (Tuhfat al-Muhtaj, 9.376).
What constitutes a minimum beard?
I have heard through Shaykh Amjad Rasheed of Amman (who studied in Hadramawt), that the Shafi‘is of Hadramawt say that someone who grows hair on his chin is legally considered to have kept a beard. As such, a goatee would minimally fulfill the sunna of keeping a beard, although it would obviously be superior to keep a fuller beard. The level of disliked-ness (karahah) in which one is engaged is commensurate with one’s distance from the optimal (uncut) beard.
The way of caution
Other schools of fiqh are not as lenient regarding the beard. The Hanafis and Hanbalis both hold, for example, that keeping a beard is obligatory (I don’t know the position of the Malikis; perhaps one of the Californians could get a referenced answer from Zaytuna regarding this).[2] Despite the fact that the official position of the Shafi‘i school is that shaving one’s beard is disliked, many prominent Shafi‘is (al-Halimi among the early Shafi‘is and al-Adhra‘i, Ibn al-Rif‘ah, Zayn al-Din al-Malibari, and Ibn Ziyad among the later ones) have taken the opinion that it is forbidden. As such, the way of caution in one’s religion would be to keep a full beard. Sidi Omar recently quoted Habib ‘Ali as saying that it does not befit a student of knowledge to shave his beard.
And Allah knows best.
Hamza Karamali and Mostafa Azzam.
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab rejected the testimony of the person who plucked his beard. Al-Imam Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said in al-Tamhid: “It is forbidden to shave the beard, and no one does this except men who are effeminate” i.e., those who imitate women. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had a thick beard (reported by Muslim from Jabir). It is not permitted to remove any part of the beard because of the general meaning of the texts which forbid doing so.”
sunnah.com
