Beard of the prophet

I recently heard a well-versed friend describe the Sunna (practice) of the prophet Mohammed relating to the beard.. At this point, I should point out that I am not a very devout Muslim, don't sport a beard, and don't know much about the fine points of the religion. It's was just so interesting that I had to share the idea.

Seems that in Arabia of the day Jews wore their sideburns long and coiled as the orthodox Jews do today. They also wore their beards short to accentuate the effect.

When the prophet instructed his followers to grow their beards and trim their 'mustaches' actually meant their 'sideburns'. It was some kind of language anomaly where the Arabic word for sideburns and mustache was the same.

The intention was to have his followers distinguish themselves from the Jews.

Over the years the original intent has been lost and Muslims are asked to grow their beards and trim their mustaches.

If this is true, it's another example of how the ravages of time and miscommunication can distort a message and the result in something quite different.

Just a thought.

M Parak
2018