If my heart is clean, do I need to grow a beard?

Nowadays we say, “I don’t need a beard, my heart is clean!” But wasn’t the heart of Nabi ﷺ cleaner? Yet, Nabi ﷺ had a beard. If the outer was not important, why would Nabi ﷺ reprimand a person for wearing pants above the ankle? Or wearing a ring incorrectly? These are all outward matters. Yet if they were out of place, Nabi ﷺ would reprimand that person.

From this we learn, both outer and inner are equally important in Islam. It’s one thing to not grow a beard (or to not wear a hijaab), *admitting* it’s a sin. That’s repentant. But to put forward a justification that ‘my heart is clean’ to avoid a ruling of deen, is a deception from Shaytaan. We must have an open heart and accept when we’re wrong.

Talking of outer appearance, many of us wear kurtas. However, on Eid day, many wear jeans and t-shirts instead. They say, “I’ve got to do Qurbani and I don’t want to get my Kurta dirty.” Yet those in Pakistan sacrifice more animals, all while wearing a kurta. Other times, people say “I’m going on a fishing trip with my friends so I need to wear my three-quarter length shorts, I can’t wear my kurta!” How can wearing a Kurta impede the catching of fish?

These excuses are actually an inclination in the heart for the way of the kuffar. If we’re looking for the fatawa of what we can and cannot wear, then we’re in the wrong programme (I’m not passing a fatwa here). Here, we’re looking to adopt taqwa. Imagine someone wears Sunnah clothing all year and that one eid or fishing day he doesn’t, and he happens to pass away in that state.

Now to avoid this problem, we must worry about our outward actions as much as worry about our inward actions. We must recognise their importance. Ilm is one thing but recognition is another. Knowing is one thing but recognising and realising that this is my Allah watching the way I dress, walk and talk, is another thing altogether.

To understand this concept, think about the word “khabardaar” in the Urdu language. People say “khabardaar if you do this”. Thich means that a person needs to be aware all the time, he mustn’t do XYZ. If he does, there would be repercussions. Likewise, one is to know of Allah’s presence, another is to be aware. A person who is constantly aware that my Allah is watching, he won’t be able to watch T.V. When the taxi driver cuts in front of him, he won’t swear. He may get upset or angered at times, but he won’t swear because he is aware that Allah is watching me.

Shaykh Yunus Patel رحمة الله عليه had a great level of this awareness of Allah. When Shaykh رحمة الله عليه would speak with so much fire (and passion) some people would say, “Why is he exaggerating?” The reality is, these people may not be aware of the dangers to deen. Whereas Shaykh رحمة الله عليه was aware, owing to his scholarship and experience in handling religious issues.

Recently, I was speaking out against T.V. The answer I got was, “but everybody’s watching T.V?” Jee, that’s why people have no sharam left now in watching T.V. We have opened the door for haram so now, who will explain the fact that it’s haram to the public? People justify that coke was haram, now it’s halal. Therefore, T.V was haram, but now it’s also halal, so it’s ok. Now many people don’t understand that T.V is haram.

You may think you have a filter in your brain, to filter out the haram on T.V. But does your child have one? You filter out the haram but does your child? No. So take heed. We put some fingers into deen, yet our body is on the other side. As believers, we cannot afford to do this. We must enter into deen fully. May Allah give us himmat and courage to stand up and protect his deen. Aameen.

— Shaykh Dawood Seedat حفظه الله

Above is an extract from Shaykh’s talk 15/2/16. To listen to the full audio, please click here.