✅Answer: To answer this question, three points must be clarified:

1️⃣ Mentioning the narrations that condemn shaving the 'lihyah' or beard.

2️⃣ A linguistic explanation of 'lihyah' and its location.

3️⃣ The minimum and maximum length of the beard in its different parts.

✅First, let's look at some of the condemnations of shaving the beard:

1 قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِنَّ الْمَجُوسَ جَزُّوا لِحَاهُمْ وَ وَفَّرُوا شَوَارِبَهُمْ وَ إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَجُزُّ الشَّوَارِبَ وَ نُعْفِي اللِّحَى وَ هِيَ الْفِطْرَةُ

📚Man La Yahduruhu Al-Faqih, vol. 1, p. 130

Translation: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, said: 'The Majus (Zoroastrians) trimmed their beards and grew their mustaches long and thick. But we trim our mustaches and grow our beards long and thick, and this is the innate nature (fitra).'

2 عَنْ جَعْفَرِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ حُفُّوا الشَّوَارِبَ وَ أَعْفُوا اللِّحَى وَ لَا تَشَبَّهُوا بِالْمَجُوسِ

📚Ma'ani Al-Akhbar, vol. 1, p. 291

Translation: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, said: 'Trim your mustaches and grow your beards long and thick, and do not resemble the Majus.'

3 عَنْ حَبَابَةَ الْوَالِبِيَّةِ قَالَتْ رَأَيْتُ أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي شُرْطَةِ الْخَمِيسِ- وَ مَعَهُ دِرَّةٌ لَهَا سَبَابَتَانِ يَضْرِبُ بِهَا بَيَّاعِي الْجِرِّيِّ وَ الْمَارْمَاهِي وَ الزِّمَّارِ وَ يَقُولُ لَهُمْ يَا بَيَّاعِي مُسُوخِ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ- وَ جُنْدِ بَنِي مَرْوَانَ- فَقَامَ إِلَيْهِ فُرَاتُ بْنُ أَحْنَفَ- فَقَالَ يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ مَا جُنْدُ بَنِي مَرْوَانَ- قَالَ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَقْوَامٌ حَلَقُوا اللِّحَى وَ فَتَلُوا الشَّوَارِبَ فَمُسِخُوا

📚Al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 346

📚Kamal Al-Din, vol. 2, p. 536

Translation: Hababa Walibiyyah said: 'I saw the Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, peace be upon him, in the Shurtah al-Khamis (Imam Ali's special military force), holding a whip with two ends. He was hitting the sellers of juri and marmahi and zimmar (three types of fish without scales that are forbidden to eat), and he said to them: 'O sellers of the transformed ones of the Children of Israel and the army of Banu Marwan!' Furat ibn Ahnaf stood up and said to him: 'O Commander of the Faithful, who were the army of Banu Marwan?' The Imam said to him: 'They were a people who shaved their beards and twisted their mustaches, and as a result, they were transformed.'

4️⃣ Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, said in a hadith:

ثُمَّ أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْهِ الْحَنِيفِيَّةَ وَ هِيَ عَشَرَةُ أَشْيَاءَ خَمْسَةٌ مِنْهَا فِي الرَّأْسِ وَ خَمْسَةٌ مِنْهَا فِي الْبَدَنِ فَأَمَّا الَّتِي فِي الرَّأْسِ فَأَخْذُ الشَّارِبِ وَ إِعْفَاءُ اللِّحَى......

Then Allah revealed the 'Hanifiyyah' to (Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him), which consists of ten things: five are for the head and five are for the body. As for those for the head, they are trimming the mustache and growing the beard long and thick...

📚Wasa'il, 30 volumes, vol. 2, p. 117

✅The length of the beard mentioned in the above narrations has a specific limit, which will be clarified from the narrations themselves in the following sections, God willing.

5 عَنْ عَلِيِّ بْنِ أَبِي طَالِبٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ حَلْقُ اللِّحْيَةِ مِنَ الْمُثْلَةِ وَ مَنْ مَثَّلَ فَعَلَيْهِ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ

📚Ja'fariyat, p. 157

Translation: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him and his family, said: 'Shaving the beard is a form of mutilation, and whoever mutilates, the curse of God be upon him.'

✅'Mutilation' (muthlah) refers to cutting off body parts like the ear, nose, etc., which some oppressors used to do to their enemies to torture and humiliate them.

✅The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, said in a hadith:

مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ أَوْشَکَ أَنْ یَکُونَ مِنْهُمْ

📚Bihar, vol. 78, p. 93

Translation: The Commander of the Faithful, peace be upon him, said in a hadith: 'Whoever resembles a people is close to being one of them.'

✅The totality of the above narrations and their like leaves no doubt for those who submit that they should abstain from shaving the beard. Unfortunately, it is heard that some say there is no authentic narration condemning shaving the beard! And with this incorrect idea, they have no fear of shaving their beards, and it is as if they do not even consider having a beard as a virtue. But the people of faith and submission know their duty to observe these narrations, and therefore, they refrain from shaving the beard.

✅In the next section, we will try to linguistically analyze 'lihyah' to determine its location, and in the last section, we will explain the limits and extent of the beard from the narrations, God willing.

The ruling on shaving the beard and its limit

✅Linguistic explanation of 'lihyah'

Al-lihyah: A name that refers to the hair that grows on the cheeks and the chin. Its plural is lihā and luḥā.

📚Lisan Al-Arab, vol. 15, p. 243

Translation: 'Lihyah' is a noun that collectively refers to the hair that grows on the two cheeks and the chin, and its plural is 'lihā' and 'luḥā'.

و قال أَبو زید: الصُّدْغانِ هما مَوْصِلُ ما بین اللِّحیة و الرأْس إِلی أَسفَل من القَرْنَیْنِ

📚Lisan Al-Arab, vol. 8, p. 440

Translation: Abu Zayd said: 'The 'sudan' (temples) are the place of connection between the beard and the head, up to below the two horns (sides of the head).'

✅ In the book 📚Man La Yahduruhu Al-Faqih, vol. 1, p. 44, Imam Sadiq, peace be upon him, said in a hadith: 'The 'sudgh' or temple is not part of the face.'

Ibn Al-Athir said: 'The 'arid' of the beard is what grows on the side of the jaw, above the chin.

📚Lisan Al-Arab, vol. 7, p. 181

📚Majma' Al-Bahrain, vol. 4, p. 216

Translation: Ibn Athir said: ''Arid al-lihyah' refers to the hair that grows on the side of the beard, above the chin.'

;قال شمر: معنی یُبَطِّن لحیتَه أَی یأْخذ الشَّعَر من تحت الحَنَک و الذَّقَنِ،

📚Lisan Al-Arab, vol. 13, p. 55

Translation: Shamir said: 'The meaning of 'tabtin al-lihyah' is to trim the hair under the chin and the jaw.'

✅The 'sudgh' or temple is not part of the face, and it is the boundary between the beard and the head. From the above linguistic definitions, it becomes clear that the 'lihyah' starts from below the temple and covers the hair on both sides of the face and the cheeks up to the chin and under the chin. The collection of this hair, which originally grows on the jawbone and is connected to it, is called 'lihyah' or beard. This is one of the distinguishing features between men and women, as coarse hair grows in this area for men, but for women, no significant hair grows in this area.

✅امام صادق علیه السلام از طبيب هندي پرسید : فَلِمَ جُعِلَتِ اللِّحْیَةُ لِلرِّجَالِ قَالَ لَا أَعْلَم

Meaning: 'Why was the 'lihyah' placed on men? The Indian physician said: I do not know!'

امام سپس در جواب این سؤال خودشان فرمودند: وَ جُعِلَتِ اللِّحْیَةُ لِلرِّجَالِ لِیَسْتَغْنِیَ بِهَا عَنِ الْکَشْفِ فِی الْمَنْظَرِ وَ یُعْلَمَ بِهَا الذَّکَرُ مِنَ الْأُنْثَی

Meaning: 'The 'lihyah' and beard were placed on men so that they can be distinguished from women by their beards, and thus there is no need to uncover the face, and through it, a man is distinguished from a woman.'

📚Khisal, vol. 2, p. 512

✅From all of the above, the meaning of 'lihyah' has been clarified. In the next section, its limits and measurements will be brought from the narrations, God willing.