I was brought up in a totally nonreligious environment where beard, hijab,…etc. wasn’t considered attractive (to mention it politely). My father didn’t like to even look at a bearded person. What else can you expect from an Air Marshal in present age. But after I came to know that beard was included in the ways of sunnah, I started to think about it, though it was impossible for me to imagine myself with it and look into mirror, because my mind perceived the definition of “handsome” on the basis of models and heroes I had been watching all my childhood, while bearded people were usually shown in negative roles in those films…
Then I decided to torture my taste, I can’t claim that it was for the love of Prophet (saw), because only Allah (Swt) knows true intentions in a person’s heart. But what influenced me were the prophet’s mind blowing sacrifices for me and each one of us (the whole ummah). I started thinking, what can be the ways I can practically show my thankfulness and love for him (saw). Of course the answer was: to follow the path he (saw) showed me. Once I practised some of the sunnahs one by one, I started to feel the unexplainable spiritual satisfaction. While I was offering namaz and water was dripping from my beard (men please try it to believe it) I realized that most of the sunnahs are like air conditioners, you feel the hot gust of air from it when you are facing it while standing outside the room. BUT once you enter the room (sunnah), only then you can feel the sweet cool air coming from it. It might not happen suddenly but once we think positively about sunnah, practice it for some time, and “believe” it to be right, it becomes easier to become familiar with it. The same goes for the taste of miswak and other sunnahs.
My parents and the whole family, mostly of docs and engrs was after me because they couldn’t even imagine a Mullah type appearance related to them. At times through anger and at times through mocking, they tried to break me. Whenever my father’s colleagues and friends (of so called high status) gathered, they all mock my beard by calling me different names. My parent’s forcing had reached the level of pleading which was quite embarrassing for me, finally I couldn’t resist the flow of emotions. The months ahead were the most horrible ones of my life, because I couldn’t face people, not even myself in the mirror.
Meanwhile I had completed my bachelors in engineering and got three scholarships for Masters and Ph.D. I was given a choice to chose between 10 countries, most of them European, but only one seemed that it would not create problems in my religious practice, hence I selected Turkey. But I didn’t know at that time that there is a rule that one can’t keep a (religious) beard in the top Turkish universities. But I had taken the step. In between I got engaged in Pak, and my finance was in Islamabad, while I was in Turkey. Alone in a university where all the dirt keep knocking at one’s door, and doesn’t leave him till he is also polluted, I was really irritated in that environment. I prayed to Allah for guidance and to protect my dignity. Then I came across the authentic hadiths about beard. The moment I kept it the sunnah way, suddenly all the filth started to keep a distance of 5 steps from me. No unintentional collisions, no mistakes…etc. I felt that it was better to be ignored or stared at than..
On the other hand, the whole department got against me. The Chairman, the head of Department…etc. When I came back, it was a shock for my FIL and a surprise for my finance (soon to be wife). Those 3 years after keeping beard, Allah (swt) protected me from people in the university who wanted to harm me. For some, Allah (Swt) made a below ordinary example like me, a source of encouragement to take the same step. I finished my degree with high honours & came home, by the grace of Allah (swt). Now Alhamdulillah, my father, brother, one cousin and few relatives and friends have kept beard by the grace of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) also put it in my wife’s heart, who now does niqab on her own will and won’t ever let me trim my beard very short, but of course one has to keep it clean, presentable and well maintained at least the length of one fist. (example, Junaid Jamshed)
2ndly my chacho (uncle) who kicked his job b’coz company doesn’t allowed him to keep bread and lastly, when i meet Junaid Jamshed (while he visited Bahrain to raise the funds for earthquake victims).