This humble servant once gave a khutba after Friday prayer on the benefits of having a beard from hazrat hakeem Muhammad Majzoobi Chugtai Damat Barkatham sahib’s book “mujhe shifa kaisay mili” (how I got cured?). After the Friday prayer had finished a renowned and noble Muslim of the community came up to me and said that let me tell you my own experience of having a beard and the benefits I gained from it.
He then began his story and told that when I was a young man I had once stopped to drink water from a cooler outside a shop on a very hot day. After having drunk the water I had heard the shopkeeper call out to someone that go and break that glass used outside since it is now no longer clean. At that time I had realized that the shopkeeper had misunderstood me to be a non-Muslim of a very low class due to my very dark complexion. That sentence had caused me immense heartache and from that day forward I decided that I would grow a beard. After some days my father noticed my growing stubble and questioned that was I growing a beard to which I replied that yes. This answer immensely displeased my father who then said that you already have such a dark complexion and now this beard along with it will never make you worthy of a decent proposal for marriage. My other family members too began to show their disapproval over my decision but I remained steadfast on my decision to follow the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ Sunnah. Some days later I got the news that the department of education was recruiting new members and this led me to the decision to forward my credentials too. Around 16000 other people had also sent in their resumes, most of whom had bachelor and master degrees while I had only passed matric. Also only 27 people were to be recruited and later when I was in line for an interview I prayed to Allah that please help me succeed in this endeavour as a reward for my devoted following of Hazrat Muhammad’s ﷺ sunnah because I am unemployed and I have to hear others constant nagging and degrading comments. After the interview had completed I had had this feeling in my heart that I would get a job. Some days later I got notified about my recruitment as a teacher in the nearby school of our community. A year later I also got married and some years later I got married once again. 7 years after my second marriage I got married to a young girl who had just passed matric and now Alhumdulilalh all three of my wives live in harmony in the same house. My wives have never had a fight and I have a son and a daughter from each of my wives. I now a live a happy and comfortable life and sometimes think back that were it not for the shopkeeper that day who had assumed me to be a non-Muslim, I would never have opted to keep a beard and then these sequence of events that had led to my success would never have occurred. There are those in my family too who have no jobs and are unmarried too but Allah has granted me the blessing of having a job and three kind wives as a reward for following the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ sunnah. Allah does indeed favour those who keep a beard with the intention of following the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ Sunnah.
Sheikh abu talib maki رحمت اللہ علیہ says that many scholars say that there are a lot of benefits for those who grow a beard:
1-people view a person with a beard with respect
2-he is known to be educated and admirable.
3-in gatherings, people seat this person on higher ground to show them respect.
4-people listen to those who have beards.
5-he is given attention in crowds
6-if some enemy addresses someone with a beard with disrespect then seeing a beard he would control himself as a show of respect for the beard.
Hence any Muslim that keeps a beard becomes a beloved of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Allah.
