Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

As salamo alikum

Please brother i want an answer to this question as soon as possible in islam it is written that a wife should be presentable to her husband and as far as i have read even a husband should be presentable to his wife. but if a husband wants to keep a long beard for which a wife objects then what is to be done? the wife does not mind the husband keeping a beard but she wants it short and neat and not long and because of this there is argument between the husband and the wife and the wife does not even like to go near her husband because the beard gives a very dirty and shabby look to her husband so please reply as to what has to be done thanking you in advance and waiting for your reply

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Wife does not like long beard

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Ibn 'Umar related that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: "Differ from the polytheists: let your beards (grow), and trim your moustache."

Related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

To let one’s beard grow is amongst the preferred Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws); and one definitely does not need the permission or approval of anyone to follow the Quran or the Sunnah.

The wife, if indeed she loves Allah and His Messenger (saws), should be proud that her husband so loves and wishes to follow a preferred Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (saws)….and it would not befit a believing woman who sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day, to put her husband in a trial by objecting to something which is clearly is accordance with the Quran and the Sunnah.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 1.1 Narrated by Umar bin Al Khattab

I heard Allah's Messenger (saws) saying, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for."

If the intention of the husband to adorn himself with a beard is to follow the preferred Sunnah and to please Allah, he will have his due reward with Allah; and if the intention of the husband to adorn the beard is to please and win the approval of his wife, then his beard will be for his wife.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan