Can This Hadith Be Used as an Evidence for the Duty to Grow One’s Beard?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalamu’alaykum

I wanted to find out about the hadith regarding the companion with a beard made up of only one hair. Every time the prophet (peace be upon him) saw him he would smile.

Is this hadith correct and can it be used as evidence for growing the beard?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I pray that you are in the best of health and faith, insha’Allah.

I did not come across the tradition (hadith) you mention.

However, there is a tradition in Bazzar’s Musnad, the outward purport of which is that Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas said, “I witnessed Badr with the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) and I only had one hair; then Allah Most High increased me in my beard thereafter.”

Bazzar comments that what he meant by one hair was one daughter, and his increasing in “beard” was an increase in the number of children. And Ibn Hajar notes in his Majma` al-Zawa’id that its narrators are the narrators of the Sahih.

This would appear to simply be an allegorical usage (kinaya) of the word as it was seemingly understood by others in the context of his life. Perhaps he stated this point by using the beard because it is from a man’s beautification (zina), as are his children, or that it is from manliness (rujula) and children are a manifestation of this.

Please also see: Praying Behind an Improperly Dressed, Beardless Imam and: Burnt Out on: Socks and Beards

And Allah alone knows best.

Wassalam,

Tabraze Azam

Checked & Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani