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is nothing more than a claim to love, not love itself (1).
One of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) related:
“I was walking while a cloak trailed behind me. A man said to me, ‘Lift your garment; it will last longer and stay cleaner.’ I looked and saw that it was the Prophet ﷺ. I replied, ‘It is only a striped mantle.’ He said, ‘Do you not have in me a model to follow?’ I looked again and found that his izār reached halfway down his shins.” [Classified as sound (ḥasan) by corroborating chains]
So, O you who shave your beard, what answer will you give when you begin presenting excuses before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he says to you, “Do you not have in me an example?”
(1) Emulating the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, is pleasing to Allah in every matter, even when it is not obligatory; for the lover makes no distinction between what is compulsory and what is merely recommended—he follows the beloved out of love. How much more, then, should he do so when the act is itself obligatory, such as letting the beard grow?
به إدعاء للمحبة وليست بالمحبة (١)، وقد قال بعض الصحابة ﵃:
«كُنْت أَمْشِي وَعَلَيَّ بُرْدٌ أَجُرُّهُ فَقَالَ لِي رَجُلٌ: ارْفَعْ ثَوْبَك فَإِنَّهُ أَبْقَى وَأَنْقَى فَنَظَرْت فَإِذَا هُوَ النَّبِيُّ ﷺ فَقُلْت إنَّمَا هِيَ بُرْدَةٌ مَلْحَاءُ فَقَالَ: مَا لَك فِي أُسْوَةٌ؟ قَالَ فَنَظَرْت فَإِذَا إزَارُهُ إلَى نِصْفِ سَاقَيْهِ». [حسن لغيره]
فيا حليق اللحية: ماذا يكون جوابك إذا أخذت تسرد المعاذير لرسول الله ﷺ، وهو يقول لك: " أما لك فِيَّ أسوة؟ ".
(١) فالتأسي به ﷺ هو المحبوب لله تعالى في كل الشئون؛ وإن لم يكن واجبا، لأن المحب لا ينظر إلى الفرق الواجب وغير الواجب، بل هو يتبع المحبوب لأجل حبه له، فما بالك إذا كان واجبًا كإعفاء اللحية؟