Growing a Beard by Dr. Gohar Mushtaq makes the case for a Sunnah many Muslim men today have quietly dropped, working across an unusually wide range of disciplines to do it — Qur’anic exegesis, hadith, the opinions of Islamic jurists, history, social psychology, biology and comparative religion.
Why the Book Casts This Wide a Net
Mushtaq argues that many Muslims today no longer see the beard as a marker of Muslim identity, and traces that shift to specific cultural and psychological pressures rather than treating it as simple negligence. His research covers the history of beard-wearing across nations and eras, and works through the social and psychological forces behind the rise of a clean-shaven norm among Muslim men specifically.
The Scientific Case
Alongside the religious evidence, Mushtaq presents scientific research indicating that a beard makes a man read as more attractive, more intellectual, more honest and more heroic — to both men and women — treating the Sunnah and the secular research as pointing the same direction rather than in tension.
About the Author
Dr. Gohar Mushtaq holds a Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from Rutgers University and a Master’s Diploma in Echocardiography from the Medical University of Vienna, with research experience spanning cancer, infectious disease and cardiology. He also studied classical Islamic sciences under various scholars, and is the author of The Hijab: Liberation or Oppression? and The Music Made Me Do It, both published by IIPH.
Who This Book Is For
Muslim men reconsidering the beard, and anyone who wants the case for it made from evidence rather than assumed as obvious.
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