he came upon a group of elderly men from the Anṣār whose beards were white. He said, “O community of Anṣār, apply red or yellow dye and differ from the People of the Scripture.”
We said, “Messenger of Allah, the People of the Scripture wear trousers but not an izār.”
He replied, “Then wear trousers and an izār, and differ from the People of the Scripture.”
We said, “Messenger of Allah, the People of the Scripture go about barefoot and do not wear sandals.”
He said, “Then lighten your attire and wear sandals, and differ from the People of the Scripture.”
We said, “Messenger of Allah, the People of the Scripture trim their beards and let their moustaches grow long.”
He said, “Trim your moustaches, let your beards grow, and differ from the People of the Scripture.”¹
4– Ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
and Ibn Hajar graded the hadith of Abu Umamah as hasan in Fath al-Bari, 9/291, adding: “Al-Tabarani also related a similar report from Anas.”
(1) al-athanin (sing. uthnun) means the beard, while al-sabal (sing. sabala, with the middle vowel pronounced) means the mustache.
4 – The report is transmitted by Bukhari, 10/288; Muslim, 1/153; Abu Awana, 1/189; and al-Bayhaqi, 1/150, through the route of Nafiʿ from him. Abu Awana, however, has “the Magians” (al-majus) in place of “the polytheists” (al-mushrikun). It is corroborated by what al-Bayhaqi narrates (1/151) through Maymun ibn Mihran from Abd Allah ibn Umar, who said: “The Magians were mentioned to the Messenger of Allah, and he said: ‘They allow their mustaches to grow and shave their beards, so differ from them.’”
Its narrators are reliable except for Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Muzakki, for whom I have found no biographical notice. Nevertheless, Ibn Hibban included the report in his Sahih, no. 2452 (al-Ihsan), by another chain,