Adil Najam
Given all the discussion about cricket and Islam (here), sooner or later we will come to beards and cricket and whether beards of a certain length or style are ‘religiously intimidating’ for some (related story here).
I thought I would pre-empt the discussion by sharing some images of a few ‘great beards’ of cricket. Readers are, of course, welcome to add to the list. You can also look into Joshua Bartlett’s blog to get more information about men’s grooming and the products often used for it.
For that it seems to me that the obvious choice is one of Pakistan’s most graceful batsmen ever (and that is saying something!) Saeed Anwar. He is also generally considered a mentor to many of the more religiously inclined players in the current Pakistan team.
His, however, is not the only set of religiously motivated set of facial hair to adorn cricketing fields. One of my all-time favorite cricketers and all-time favorite famous persons is former Indian Captain Bishen Singh Bedi. His fine-looking facial hair and head-dress – and of many others – were also clearly religiously-motivated and a constant expression of his faith.
By way of disclosure I should add that I occasionally sprout facial hair of my own but am mostly clean-shaven. But as a deep and committed adherent of people’s right of expression (how can a blogger not be that!) I stand committed to defend people’s right to facial hair, whether they are grown for stylistic elegance or religious expression.
[quote ] “I personally do not like them [the beards]. I have a thing for being able to see [a] guys’ jawline because I like a strong jawline and if it is covered in facial hair it very difficult to distinguish where the face ends and where the beard begins. Hence, personally it is a no no.”[/quote]
Umera,
Hey, that is a whole new perspective on beards. Now I know why was I always ignored by women! I am going to shave off my beard right away and expose the jawline. Thanks for the insight.
I will let Farrukh speak for himself but yes evolution IS the word. Unless you are in that Jerry Fallwell type camp of science deniers! Which really would be appalling.
FAO Farrukh and MQ….
MQ –
before I say anything, I was very disturbed to see you didnt mention ‘PBUH’ everytime you mentioned Our beloved prophet pbuh!
ur statements are incorrect…it is clearly mentioned in hadiths ‘grow your beards and trim the hair on your upperlip’ as to oppose the musrikeen, aw kama qaal aliyhi salat u wasslaam.
And this wasnt just a mere comment the prophet PBUH made it is considered ‘amr’ ya’ni hukm/order, because of the arabic term it was stated in.
And if you didnt know it is ‘ijma’ concensus of the scholars of Islaam that when a prophetic saying is spoken in ‘amr’ it becomes wabij upon us. so it is wajib to grow a beard for the muslim males, as all the scholars of Islaam have agreed upon this. However there are differing opinions to the length.
Also about it being mentioned in the Quran, the quran states, ‘Obey your Lord and Obey your prophet [meaning prophet Muhammad pbuh]’ and our prophet pbuh has mentioned in various hadiths on growing the beard [as I have mentioned above].
Farrukh –
[Thumbs up to the bearded bros]
If we just follow the teaching of the Quran and sunnah, they explain very clearly what we should trim,[nails, hair etc] and what we should leave.
btw …ur statement…’not sure how we evolved’??? wot r u trying to say ? do u have some sort of inclination to darwins theory on evolution! [I hope not]
I dont know about u akhi…but maybe u believe that ur ancestors were apes….but I know for a fact my ancestors were humans cos I am Adamic, My grandfather is Adam a.s
No offence intended…:)
ws
Just to answer the question on aesthetics, I personally do not like them. I have a thing for being able to see guys’ jawline because I like a strong jawline and if it is covered in facial hair it very difficult to distinguish where the face ends and where the beard begins. Hence, personally it is a no no.
As for what are called goatees or French beards, it really depends on the person because some people can carry them off and others can’t. I think the same thing applies to stubble some men look very nice with it and others look horrible.
These are my two cents on aesthetic appeal of beards.
[quote post=”377″]To my knowledge, there is no injunction in the Koran that requires Muslims to grow a beard.[/quote]
Certainly you are right on this and there is no quranic verse to order a man to keep a beared neither a clean shaved person’s duas are not acceptable. The reason of beared as you mentioned yourself that Prophet(SAW) had a beared at that time[Why,i wouldn’t agree with your cultural point but I would also not disagree since I am not sure]. Actually it’s all about expressing love. Look many of us like some hero and tries to copy him. Elvis fans copy him all the time. The singer Naeem Abbas rufi copies Nusrat so much that now he acts and talks like him but do I and other copy Nusrat? offcourse not. Its all about love. Rufi follows Nusrat’s shariyah in singing. People who keep beared actually express their love by keeping beared. If i say I love my Prophet(SAW) and feels uncomfortable to appear like Him then I don’t deserve to make such claims. Similarly Imran khan’s fans wouldnt sound good if they just say and don’t bowl like him.