Re: Appearance
My cousin had a gathering arranged by his parents for memorizing the Quran. A few people spoke for him and gave lectures. The maulana he role modeled also gave a lecture and in the end singled out my cousin and asked him if he has trimmed/shaved his beard. He goes on to say hafiz should have long beards and shouldn't shave their beards.
Since my cousin's still quite young, most of us laughed at it and let it go. However, I'm not sure how exactly my cousin felt about the maulana's comments in front of 100 people or so.
Although I'm not the best Muslim, but I agree with you.