and exactly in the same form they had before they lay down to sleep; nothing whatsoever in their hair or nails had changed. Allah knows best.

Fourth: he fabricates lies against the Qur’an commentators and others when he alleges that some of them hold that a thick beard alone defines Islam, and that anyone without a beard is a renegade heretic. He writes, “If you wish to prove your Islam, you must grow your beard.” This is sheer falsehood and slander, an attempt to discredit those who let their beards grow, urge others to do so, and forbid shaving or mutilating them. No Muslim of sound mind and faith would ever declare men who shave their beards to be outside the fold of Islam or describe them as renegades and heretics simply for shaving. Rather, what is said is that such men are disobedient to Allah and His Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—because they have not complied with the Prophet’s command to grow the beard and to differ from the Magians, who shave and disfigure theirs. Allah has warned against opposing the Messenger’s command and has threatened those who do so with the severest punishment: “So let those who oppose his command beware, lest a trial befall them or a painful punishment seize them” (Qur’an 24:63). He also said, “Whatever the Messenger gives you, take it; and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it. And fear Allah—indeed, Allah is severe in punishment” (Qur’an 59:7).

Fifth: his belittling of the Prophet’s command to grow the beard