the beard of the hafiz praying tarawi

[smvashrafi]

Assalamu 'Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu

I wanted to ask this because i have read or heard somewhere that the hafiz praying the tarawi must have some form of beard ? but what if he is only 16 years old and unable to grow one is he still allowed to recite the Quran even if its only for four rakats every night ?

[Imam]

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.

Wa'laykum-as-Salaam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakaatuhu.

You are quite correct.

A person will in no way have a full length beard at the age of sixteen, in cases where he is a Hafiz.

Although, to do 'imamat', one of the conditions is that he must fully comply with the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon Him) i.e. that he must have a beard the length of a fist, or four fingers. This is only one condition from amongst the numerous, of being an imam for salah.

Because of the knowledge factor, in the sense that there is a hafiz, who is a regular namaazi, who complies with the sunnah, who is obedient and knows the Qur'an, he may know part of the qur'an which other people may not know, and would like to do the repeat 'dawr' of the Qur'an in tarawih, in which he gains practice, confidence, a morality boost etc. In such cases this is perfectly o.k.

Strictly speaking though, it is normally the duty of the hafiz who is already fully compliant with the sunnah, who is fully obedient, who knows the Qur'an with confidence, and knows the issues (masa'il) of 'Imamat' etc. who has the first right to perform 'Imamat', and recite the Qur'an in order to perform tarawih salaah.

May Allah the Almighty help us all to understand the priorities of who can be an Imam, at what stage and who cant, and may he rid us of any practices that are in opposition to the command of Allah and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon Him).

Wallahu a'lamu Biththawaab.

M. Waseem Ashrafi.