BEARD

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Glorious Prophet of Islam (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "Five things are from the traditions of the Prophets of the old: circumcision, removing the hair below the navel, trimming the moustaches, cutting the nails & removing the hair from armpi." (Bukhari & Muslim)

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (radi Allahu anhu) reported that Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "Trim your moustaches & grow your beard & follow not the fire-worshippers." (Bukhari & Muslim)

Sayyiduna Zaid bin Arqam (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Beloved Rasool (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "He who does not trim his moustaches is not of us." (Tirmizi & Nisaai)

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "He who does not shave off the hair from the abdomen & does not cut his nails & does not trim his moustaches, is not of us." (Muslim)

Sayyiduna Anas (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the maximum exemption for shaving off the hair from the abdomen, armpit & for cutting nails & for trimming the moustaches is forty days. (Muslim)

Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "Don't pluck white hair, as it is the light of a Muslim. He who grows grey as a Muslim, Allah will write for him virtue & rub off his sins & raise him in status." (Abu Dawood)

Sayyiduna Ka'b bin Murrah (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Glorious Prophet of Islam (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "He who grows old in Islam, the old age will serve him as a light on the Day of Resurrection." (Tirmidi & Nisaai)

Sayyiduna Umar (radi Allahu anhu) reported that Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) has forbidden shaving off the hair from the neck. (Tabraani)

Sayyiduna Ali (radi Allahu anhu) reported that the Habib of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) has forbidden woman from shaving off the head. (Nisaai)

Sayyiduna Ali (radi Allahu anhu) says it is better to start cutting nails from the little finger of the right hand, then the middle finger, followed by the thumb, then the ring finger & lastly, the pointer. In the left hand start from the thumb, then the middle finger & then the little finger, then the pointer & lastly, the ring finger.

The above is a complicated way & a difficult one for the common men to remember. There is another easy method of cutting the nails, also reported from Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam). That is to start cutting the nails from the pointer of the right hand & finish with the little finger. Then start cutting the nails of the left hand beginning from the little finger & finish with the thumb & finally cut the nails of the right thumb. (Durr-e-Mukhtar)

Eating one's nails is highly abominable & may cause leprosy. (Alamgiri)

Woman should not remove hair or cut their nails during the menses. It is also unlawful for them to go to the beauty parlour for plucking their eyebrows & getting their unwanted hair removed by some other woman.

Man should not shave off hair of the chest or back. Hair can be removed from arms & legs. Man can grow hair over the head & part them in the middle but certainly not the way some self-styled Sufis do these days, who keep the flocks hung over their chest.

Four things are supposed to be buried: removed hair, nails, dirty napkins & blood. (Alamgiri)

Sayyiduna Abdullah Ibn-e-Abbas (radi Allahu anhuma) reported that the Glorious Prophet of Islam (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "There will be persons in the Last Era who will apply black dye like the bosoms of the pigeons. Such persons will not get the fragrance of Paradise." (Abu Dawood & Nisaai)

Sayyiduna Abuzar (radi Allahu anhu) reported that Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "The best thing to dye grey hair is henna." (Tirmizi)

Sayyiduna Abdullah Ibn-e-Umar (radi Allahu anhuma) reported that Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "The dye of a Mu'min is yellow & that of a Muslim is red & that of a Kaafir black." (Mustadrek)

Sayyiduna Anas (radi Allahu anhu) reported that Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: "Prophet Ibraheem (alaihis salaam) was the first person to use henna & Katam for dying his hair & the Pharaoh first used the black dye."

At the time of the Conquest of Mecca, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (radi Allahu anhu) brought his father to the Glorious Prophet of Islam (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) to declare his adoption of Islam. Abu Quhafah (radi Allahu anhu) was an old man in his eighties & his hair had gone all grey with not a single black hair on his head. The Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) gave instructions that his hair should be dyed but he told his son to avoid black.

Sayyiduna Amir Mua'wiyyah (radi Allahu anhu), after performing Haj during his Caliphate, came to Madina & mounted his pulpit. He took a bunch of false hair from a soldier's hand said: "O People of Madina! Where are your Ulama? I heard Sayyiduna Rasoolullah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) forbidding women to use false hair. The Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said, "The Children of Israel met their destruction when their woman started using false hair!"

It is permissible to puncture the ears of girls for wearing earrings. Some people get the ears of their sons punctured for the same purpose, which is unlawful. Equally unlawful is for the males to apply Henna in palms & feet.