personally I don't have anything against keeping a beard and I hope my to be wife doesn't either, but my job requires me to travel most parts of Europe and those people seem to mind a Muslim with a beard, some of you might be familiar with the what we Muslims have to go through at the airports alone in Non-Islamic nations, just to keep away from it all I don't have a beard, but I do Alhumdulillah try my best to keep track of my Salat.
I've got a question for anyone with good enough knowledge about Islam, is keeping a Goatee, French, Van Dyck, etc... haram?, Thanks :)
Brother, Allah (s.w.t) knows your intentions and would inshaAllah reward you on the basis of that, if your intentions of not following a sunnah is only to avoid trouble then I personally think the prophet (saw) would not become unhappy with you (inshaAllah). Because unlike many Muslims you are not trying to justify a sunnah to be incorrect but you are sincerely accepting the truth, which is the first step towards guidence. BUT I would like to share with you what Allah says in the Quran. Allah asks from you sacrifice but does not put you in a trouble beyond your endurance.
When we make a "Niyyah" (intentions) of following any sunnah, the devil puts all kinds of fears and doubts in our mind to misguide us and make us think that after following this sunnah we would face a lot of severe difficulties in life.
Recently, during my first semester in PhD in engineering in a Turkish university, I got a lot of threats from our head of department and our Chairman that if I don't cut/ trim my beard I would face a lot of difficulties in passing my PhD qualifying exam. They also gave me threats during my Masters degree but Alhamdulillah, by the grace of Allah they couldn't stop me from completing my degree.
It is officially not allowed in my university to keep a beard. Initially I was very fearful (naturaly) but then I somehow convinced myself to keep a beard for one week. (by telling myself that I would cut it if the university threatens me to kick me out of the university). Then I extended it to two weeks,....and so on. The reason of taking this step was after watching my ideal in my dreams I cried for months for not following his appearance. I also prayed to Allah (swt) to bless me with strength to remain persistent in following this sunnah, because I myself am spiritually very weak.
Believe me after I tasted the sweetness of this sunnah in my heart, I am ready to give up anything for it, (by the grace of Allah) let alone a degree.
Once a bedouin was given the following reply to his question by the Prophet (saw)
[quote]
Q: I'd like to be the strongest of men.
A: If you put your trust in Allah, you will be the strongest of men.
[/quote]