the outer surface, for the outside is continually wiped and nothing adheres to it that calls for extra cleansing.

This ḥadith also proves that letting the beard grow—while it sets us apart from the idol-worshippers—is itself one of the traits of the fiṭrah (the natural disposition). This refutes the specious claim of those who say, “Some disbelievers today let their beards grow; should we not, then, differ from them by shaving ours?” We seek refuge with Allah from Satan.

Our answer is that their growing of beards is merely an instinctive consequence of the fiṭrah, whereas we have been commanded to uphold the fiṭrah. If they happen to resemble us in any aspect of the fiṭrah, we do not prevent them, nor is it proper for us to abandon the fiṭrah simply because they share it with us. When they agree with us in trimming the fingernails, for example, we do not say that we will therefore stop trimming ours; rather, we trim them all the same. The very same rule applies to every other feature of the fiṭrah: should the unbelievers coincide with us in any of them, we do not forsake those practices. Allah alone grants success.

Let us also bear in mind that excessive use of water during wuḍūʾ (ablution) or ghusl (ritual bathing) comes under Allah’s words: “Do not be wasteful; indeed, He does not love the wasteful.” For this reason the jurists, may Allah have mercy on them, said that extravagance is disliked even when one stands beside a flowing river—so what, then, when the water is being drawn by pumps? In short, wastefulness in wuḍūʾ or in anything else is blameworthy.