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What is the explanation of the hadith, "Whoever's beard exceeds the grasp, his foolishness increases," found in Al-Tabarani's dictionary, what is the extent of its weakness, and can it be used as evidence?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It has not been reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that the length of the beard is an indication of a lack of intellect. Rather, a very weak hadith has been narrated with a similar meaning. Moreover, inferring a man's intellect merely from the length of his beard is without merit. It is a corrupt statement to claim that the longer a man's beard grows beyond a fist-length, the more foolish he becomes. Indeed, Abu Hanifa saw Alqamah ibn Marthad, who had a long beard and abundant intellect.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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