and He said: “Do not follow the desires of a people who went astray before, who led many others astray, and who themselves wandered far from the straight path” (al-Māʾidah 5:77).(1)

He—exalted is He—also said to His Prophet ﷺ: “If you were to follow their whims after the knowledge that has come to you, you would surely be among the wrongdoers” (al-Baqarah 2:145).(2)

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah commented, “Imitating them in matters that are distinctive to their religion or ancillary to it is nothing but following their whims.”

Ibn Abī Shaybah reports that “a man from the Magians came to the Prophet ﷺ with his beard shaved and his mustache grown long. The Prophet ﷺ asked him, ‘What is this?’ He replied, ‘This is our religion.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘But in our religion we trim the mustaches closely and allow the beard to grow.’”

Al-Hārith ibn Abī Usāmah relates—through Yaḥyā ibn Kathīr—that “a man from among the non-Arabs entered the mosque with an ample mustache and a shorn beard. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked him, ‘What made you do this?’ He said, ‘My lord commanded me to.’ The Messenger of Allah ﷺ replied, ‘Indeed, Allah has commanded me to…’”}
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