With all due respect, if someone calls himself aalim but cannot even follow a sunnat of beard, I have a problem listening to that person, let alone believing in what he is saying
Sir Jee, when Maulana Abul Ala Maudoodi wrote his master piece Al-Jihad which brought a earth quake in religious circles at age of 26 or 27 , he was clean shave young man.People when objected ,some great scholar says, look at the long beard inside his body.Dont negate sunnah or any dis-respect but its not obligatory
regards