Thou Shalt Shave!

Just when you think you’ve seen the worst, something comes up to make you re-think. It is reported that PIA administration has banned its employees from growing beards. As a ridiculous proviso to this incomprehensible ban, the employees have been told that they can, however, grow goatees. At the risk of sounding clichéd, I just wonder . . . when will we ever learn?

Beards have been a part of the male face since as far back as history goes. In Ancient Egypt, even queens supported a metal beard, which was seen as a sign of royalty. In Ancient India, the beard was seen as a sign of wisdom, while the Ancient Greeks regarded it as a sign of virility. In almost all ancient societies, the beard was a permanent feature of a man’s face denoting various different virtues. Faces without beards were seen as a disgrace and in certain civilizations, cutting off someone’s beard was one of the most severe punishments. In some areas such as Ancient India, people even pledged their beards for payment of a debt.

Almost all religions of the world also have great veneration for beards. The Sikhs consider it an integral part of a male body and Guru Gobind Singh ordained that it was to be kept as an identity of Sikhs. According to Levictus 19:27 “Thou shall not mar the corners of your beard.” So beards are also kept by orthodox Jews as a symbol of their faith and their ancestral traditions. Christians in various parts of the world grow beards either as a sign of their vocation as members of the clergy or their adherence to the Old Testament etc.

Most importantly, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that Muslim men should grow their beards and trim their moustaches. A number of Muslim scholars are of the view that growing a beard is obligatory on all Muslims. Certain other scholars and jurists, however, claim that there is no obligation on Muslims to grow beards, though if anyone does so, it is better since he is following the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). Although photographic depiction of the Prophets is forbidden in Islam, a number of Non-Muslims have shown different Prophets in sketches and pictures. Interestingly, all the Prophets, Saints, Sahaba whenever shown in pictures are always shown with beards, thus signifying that beard has always been associated with a belief in God and adherence to a certain religious belief.

The first historical mention of shaving off beards is found in the time of Alexander the Great. He ordered all the men in his army to shave off their beards for the reason that it could weaken them in the battlefield by giving something to the enemy to hold and pull. Hence, the whole army shaved their beards off. In fact philosophers were the only Macedonians who kept their beards and the beard became symbol of a philosopher. Hence, even in Ancient Macedonia, beard eventually symbolized wisdom.

I will not go into the discussion on the actual importance of growing or shaving a beard. I don’t even want to comment on the authenticity of the saying of the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned above. Let’s stick to mere logic.

A number of beliefs about beards might have been wrong and the modern world does not believe in dogma (the fact that it labels as dogmatic anything that cannot be scientifically proven is a debate for another time). What is universally admitted is that the modern world believes in liberty and freedom. We have seen and continue to see preposterous wars in the name of spreading democracy and religion. We are tired of hearing leaders of the Western world going on and on about how we have to free ourselves from traditional and irrational beliefs and move on with the freedom that only democracy provides. We have had more than our share of leaders who echo these words to show how strongly they agree with the West.

And then. . . .  we come across a ban like the one imposed by the PIA administration. Whereas forcing someone to grow a beard or fashion his face in a certain manner is intolerable, is forcing someone to shave or limit his beard to a goatee any more bearable? Do we intend to grow out of narrow minded dogmatic religious belief into an enlightened state of mind or are we on our way to passing out of one such ridiculous belief into another even more ridiculous one.

The PIA administration is no Alexander either. It does not have any rationale even close to the extremely logical reason given by Alexander for asking his men to get rid of their beards. The most irritating part of the ban is the permission to grow goatees. What is the message here? We are not against beards, but we are dead against Sunnah and freedom to look the way you like.

The only limit on freedom in democracy is denoted by the famous saying “your freedom to swing your arms freely ends where my nose begins.” PIA’s motto seems like “your freedom to grow your hair freely ends where our office begins.” Whereas the first sentence is an understandable principle, the second is an unbelievable stupidity.

Let’s not have any doubts about the fact that we are mentally still slaves. Sixty years of freedom have not liberated us. But let’s not be more loyal than the king. Our forefathers stood up against the tyranny of their rulers, showing courage in the face of hugely unfavourable odds. And we are lying on our faces against the wealth of the West, displaying cowardice even when we have a sovereign state of our own.

We have to start taking notice of such monstrosities and not leave it to the religious parties to raise a voice against it (Jamaat-e-Islami has already raised serious objections to the ban and the PIA administration has promised to give it a second thought). We have to wake up before it is too late. If we are not free to grow a beard in our own country, then it might already be too late. We should be thinking of speaking up against steps such as the ban on scarves in western countries like France and Turkey, being a responsible Muslim nation. We should be preparing ourselves to show the world the real face of Islam, to clear all the misconceptions about our faith.

Instead, we keeping sinking to new lows.