Islam & the Beard

Today it is easy for people to “hate” Islam and Muslims in general. With the ever increasing influence of the media, and the actions of a few extremists representing the entire community, I do not blame the layman for falling prey to communal bias. All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, and radical elements, regardless of region or religion, have always had a more action based approach than their moderate counterparts.

In the case of Islam, one of the primary side-effects of extremism involves facial hair. It is a highly painful decision for a Muslim to keep a beard these days (with or without moustache), without it having any religious connotation. To give a recent example, my cousin had recently graduated from high school and entered the realms of ‘college freedom’. Based on experience, I advised him to experiment with facial hair before he enters the real world of white collars and colourful ties. To my surprise, the idea faced a lot of resistance from some members of the family, particularly my aunt. “He will look like a terrorist, and you know the situation these days” she said. It was the perspective of a concerned mother who feared the social ostracising of her son by the increasingly communal public and an ever suspicious anti-Muslim government.

My cousin managed to sport a beard for a few months and also received some positive feedback about his newly acquired look. But this was the outcome in a reasonably well-off and influential Muslim family (elite?). I wonder what the conclusion would have been if he was living in Gujarat (the modern manifestation of hell for Indian Muslims) or belonged to a poverty stricken and uneducated Muslim family (the true majority), who face much greater risk should the government decide to label one of them as terrorists.

There is no doubt that society generally assumes a correlation between clean shaven individuals and decency, and that this debate has taken place, and will continue to do so, in a large number of households. But for Muslims this decision ceases to be a matter of simply looking proper, and becomes a fear factor. This fear has a negative influence on the psyche of the Muslim youth and helps breed the minority oppression ideology.

There maybe some who wrongly think that emulating a physical attribute of the prophet which was more of a norm at the time, rather than his attributes of justice, equality and peace, makes them endearing to God. But there are many good Muslims who follow the tenets of Islam and want to keep a beard simply for the love of the prophet. I see no fault in their ideology. Then there are others like me who hardly qualify as Muslims in the true sense and want to try out a beard. But who knows, it might catch the eye of a cop with a bias who may harass me unnecessarily. Is it worth the risk?

The day that Muslims lose all sense of victimisation by a "Hindu Raj" will be the day of a true victory for our secular democracy, but that day is far and there is a lot to be done, not only by the fractional secular share of the majority, but more importantly by the quiet eyewitnesses to an open onslaught of their own religion at the hands of people who call themselves Muslims. It is time for real Muslims to take a stand, to take action and to break this silence which allows mentally disturbed manipulators to contort a pure religion and teach violence and hate.

For the time being, the only advice to Muslims who want to experiment with facial hair without any social discomfort is to grow a moustache (no bar on style or size). For the more courageous souls, the moustache may be supplemented by a beard.

Warning: This advice is not applicable to Muslims seeking an easier access to heaven at the time of judgement by growing a beard, or those who want to strike fear in the hearts of non-believers.