He said, "Son of my mother, do not seize me by my beard or my head. I feared you would say, `You have caused division among the Children of Israel, and did not regard my word.'"
Does the Qur'an require men to grow a beard?
In short
- The text says: Aaron says to Moses, do not seize, clutch or drag me by my beard or my head (20:94).
- The text does not say: that men are to grow a beard, or anything about its length.
- The rest comes from: a report in which the Prophet is quoted as saying do the opposite of the pagans, keep the beards and cut the moustaches short is in Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 77: Dress (Bukhari 5892).
Hadith references link to sunnah.com. Any grading shown there is that site's, not AALAMIN's.
Where the renderings split
20:94, Itani: "do not seize me by my beard or my head"
20:94, Pickthall: "Clutch not my beard nor my head"
20:94, Palmer: "seize me not by my beard, or my head"
20:94, Rodwell: "seize me not by my beard, nor by my head"
20:94, Sale: "drag me not by my beard, nor by the hair of my head"
Key findingsEditorial
One finding for each passage this study carries, in the order the study reads them. Each is the reason that passage was signed into the study, in full and unedited - including, where the renderings disagree, the disagreement.
- 01 20:94 Aaron to Moses: do not seize me by my beard: the one verse where all five name a beard
In plain wordsEditorial written by the editors, not a translation
The text names a beard once, in a story. At 20:94 Aaron says to Moses, in Pickthall's words, "Clutch not my beard nor my head". The verse tells what happened, and gives no rule about a beard.
No verse tells men to grow a beard. That comes from outside the Qur'an, from a report named above, with a link.
Scope of this study
This platform shows the verse, its easy-read line, its translations, a plain-words reading, and each verse among its neighbours. It does not supply occasion of revelation, interpretation (tafsir) or history, and it never invents them.
What this rests on
Opens with 20:94.
Easy-read
Easy-read is a simplified pronunciation, not authoritative — a rule-by-rule romanisation, not a reading. Each verse ends in its pause form, as it is said when you stop there. Pauses inside a verse and other tajwid rules are not shown. It is derived from the Tanzil Simple edition, while the Arabic above is the Uthmani edition; both are cleared, but they are not the same edition and their orthography differs.
The versesSource fact 1 passages, each with every cleared translation
1 passages, chosen for this question and signed as part of it. Each carries the reason it is here, and each renders in full: the Arabic, then every cleared translation of that verse under its translator's name.
Each verse opens on the translation that comes first in the site's fixed order, which runs from the newest translation to the oldest. The order is not a preference. Open Compare translations on any verse to read the others.
20:94
Why this passage is in the study finding 01
قَالَ يَبْنَؤُمَّ لَا تَأْخُذْ بِلِحْيَتِى وَلَا بِرَأْسِىٓ إِنِّى خَشِيتُ أَن تَقُولَ فَرَّقْتَ بَيْنَ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ وَلَمْ تَرْقُبْ قَوْلِى
Easy-read line: a pronunciation guide, not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)qaala yaa bna umma laa ta'khudh bilihyatee walaa bira'see innee khasheetu an taqoola farraqta bayna banee israa'eela walam tarqub qawlee
DIN 31635qāla yā bna ʾumma lā taʾḫuḏ biliḥyatī walā biraʾsī ʾinnī ḫašītu ʾan taqūla farraqta bayna banī ʾisrāʾīla walam tarqub qawlī
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Compare translations (4)
He said: O son of my mother! Clutch not my beard nor my head! I feared lest thou shouldst say: Thou hast caused division among the Children of Israel, and hast not waited for my word
Said he, 'O son of my mother! seize me not by my beard, or my head! Verily, I feared lest thou shouldst say, "Thou hast made a division amongst the children of Israel, and hast not observed my word
He said, "O Son of my mother! seize me not by my beard, nor by my head: indeed I feared lest thou shouldst say, Thou hast rent the children of Isreal asunder, and hast not observed my orders
Aaron answered, O son of my mother, drag me not by my beard, nor by the hair of my head. Verily I feared lest thou shouldest say, thou hast made a division among the children of Israel, and thou hast not observed my saying
Sources
EditionTanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) ·Uthmani, Version 1.1·Tanzil Project ·Creative Commons Attribution 3.0·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Receipts Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
- Edition
- Uthmani, Version 1.1
- Custodian
- Tanzil Project
- Layer
- canonical text
- Licence
- Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
- Licence URL
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
- Commercial use
- yes
- Modification
- contradictory
- Licence text
- read verbatim
- Review state
- cleared
- Retrieved
- 24 August 2026
- Digest
- 203f0f1bf3158b1e5be4ab9f8f6870e5…
- Located at
- https://tanzil.net/pub/download/index.php?quranType=uthmani&outType=xml
- Convention
- Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.
Other languages (18)
Haruni tha: "O biri i nënës sime, mos më kap për mjekre, as për koke! Kisha frikë se do të thoshe: "Ke shkaktuar përçarje mes bijve të Israilit dhe nuk e ke përfillur porosinë time."
সে (হারূন) বললো: ‘হে আমার সহোদর! আমার দাড়িও ধরো না, মাথার চুলও ধরো না। আমি আশঙ্কা করেছিলাম যে, তুমি বলবে, তুমি বানূ ইসরাঈলের মধ্যে বিভেদ সৃষ্টি করেছো এবং আমার কথা রক্ষা করোনি।’(১৮)
“O sine majke moje”, reče Harun, “ne hvataj me za bradu i za kosu moju! Ja sam se plašio da ti ne rekneš: ‘Razdor si među sinovima Israilovim posijao i nisi postupio onako kako sam ti rekao.’ ”
“O sine majke moje,” reče Aron, “ne hvataj me za bradu i za kosu moju! Ja sam se plašio da ti ne rekneš: ‘Razdor si među sinovima Izraelovim posijao i nisi postupio onako kako sam ti rekao.’”
[Haaruuna] maaki: "eeyma ɓiy neene am, wota a nanngu wahre am nde wonaa hoore am nden kadi, miin dey, mi hulu wata a wi'i: Mi seerdii hakkunde ɓiɗɓe Israa'iila ɓe, mi heɗaaki konngol maaɗa ngol".
(ჰარუნმა) უთხრა (მუსას, რომელმაც მარჯვენა ხელით თმებში ჩაავლო, ხოლო მარცხენათი — წვერში): «ო, დედაჩემის შვილო! ნუ ჩამავლებ ხელს წვერში და ნუ მომქაჩავ თავს. მე მეშინოდა, რომ შენ მეტყოდი: "შენ განხეთქილება ჩამოაგდე ისრაელის შთამომავლებს შორის და არ დაიცავი ჩემი დანაბარები"».
Er (also Harun) sagte: „O Sohn meiner Mutter, pack mich nicht am Bart und nicht am Kopf. Ich fürchtete ja, du würdest sagen: ,Du hast unter den Kindern Israils Zwietracht gestiftet und mein Wort nicht beachtet.‘“
(Ο Ααρών) είπε: «Ω, γιε της μητέρας μου! (Παρακαλώ) μη τραβάς τα γένιά μου, ούτε το κεφάλι μου! Φοβόμουν (αν τους άφηνα και ερχόμουν σε σένα) ότι θα έλεγες: «Άφησες τα παιδιά του Ισραήλ να διαιρεθούν, και δε διατήρησες τα λόγια μου!»
उसने कहा : ऐ मेरी माँ के बेटे! न मेरी दाढ़ी पकड़ और न मेरा सिर। मैं तो इससे डरा कि तू कहेगा : तूने बनी इसराईल में फूट डाल दी और मेरी बात की प्रतीक्षा नहीं की।
Disse: „O figlio di mia madre! Non prendermi per la barba, né per i capelli: in verità temevo che tu dicessi: ‘Hai diviso i figli d’Israīl e non hai aspettato le mie direttive’».
94. Jis [Harūnas (Aronas)] tarė: „Mano motinos sūnau, nepričiupk (manęs) nei už mano barzdos, nei mano galvos! Iš tiesų, aš baiminausi, kad tu nesakytum: „Tu sukėlei skilimą tarp Israelio (Izraelio) vaikų ir negerbei mano žodžio!
(Haaruunis) nijedhe “Yaa ilma aayyoo tiyyaa! Areeda kiyyas ta’ee mataa kiyya na hin qabin, ‘Ati gidduu ilmaan Israa’iil addaan baafte; jecha kiyyas hin eegdu (naan) jettaan sodaadhe”.[13]
Он сказал: «О сын моей матери! Не хватай меня за бороду и не хватай за голову. Воистину, я боялся, что ты скажешь: “Ты разобщил сынов Исраила и не соблюл моего слова”».
„Брате мој“, рече Арон, „не хватај ме за браду и за косу! Ја сам се плашио да не кажеш: 'Раздор си међу Изриљевим синовима посејао и ниси поступио онако како сам ти рекао.'“
Akasema: Ewe mwana wa mama yangu! Usinishike ndevu zangu, wala kichwa changu. Kwa hakika naliogopa usijesema: Umewatenganisha Wana wa Israili, na hukungojea kauli yangu.
Han svarade: ”Min moders son! Dra inte i mitt skägg eller hår! Jag var rädd att du skulle säga att jag har splittrat israeliterna och inte följt dina instruktioner.”
Dedi ki: “Anamın oğlu! Sakalıma, başıma yapışma. Ben, bana: İsrailoğulları arasında tefrika çıkardın ve benim sözüme (neden) uymadın, diyeceğinden korktum.”
Show context
The verses around this oneSource fact
shown so it's never read alone
قَالَ يَٰهَٰرُونُ مَا مَنَعَكَ إِذْ رَأَيْتَهُمْ ضَلُّوٓا۟
Easy-read line: a pronunciation guide, not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)qaala yaa haaroonu maa mana'aka idh ra'aytahum dalloo
DIN 31635qāla yā hārūnu mā manaʿaka ʾiḏ raʾaytahum ḍallū
He said, "O Aaron, what prevented you, when you saw them going astray.
He (Moses) said: O Aaron! What held thee back when thou didst see them gone astray
Said he, 'O Aaron! what prevented thee, when thou didst see them go astray
He said, "O Aaron! when thou sawest that they had gone astray, what hindered thee
And when Moses was returned, he said, O Aaron, what hindered thee, when thou sawest that they went astray
أَلَّا تَتَّبِعَنِ أَفَعَصَيْتَ أَمْرِى
Easy-read line: a pronunciation guide, not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)allaa tattabi'ani afa'asayta amree
DIN 31635ʾallā tattabiʿani ʾafaʿaṣayta ʾamrī
The translators word this verse differently
From following me? Did you disobey my command?"
That thou followedst me not? Hast thou then disobeyed my order
from following me? Hast thou then rebelled against my bidding
from following me? Hast thou then disobeyed my command
that thou didst not follow me? Hast thou therefore been disobedient to my command
20:94 — the verse above
قَالَ فَمَا خَطْبُكَ يَٰسَٰمِرِىُّ
Easy-read line: a pronunciation guide, not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)qaala famaa khatbuka yaa saamiriyy
DIN 31635qāla famā ḫaṭbuka yā sāmiriyyu
The translators word this verse differently
He said, "What do you have to say, O Samarian?"
(Moses) said: And what hast thou to say, O Samiri
Said he, 'What was thy design, O Samariy
He said, "And what was thy motive, O Samiri
Moses said unto al Sameri, what was thy design, O Sameri
قَالَ بَصُرْتُ بِمَا لَمْ يَبْصُرُوا۟ بِهِۦ فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةً مِّنْ أَثَرِ ٱلرَّسُولِ فَنَبَذْتُهَا وَكَذَٰلِكَ سَوَّلَتْ لِى نَفْسِى
Easy-read line: a pronunciation guide, not authoritative
Easy-read (simplified)qaala basurtu bimaa lam yabsuroo bihi faqabadtu qabdatan min athari r-rasooli fanabadhtuhaa wakadhaalika sawwalat lee nafsee
DIN 31635qāla baṣurtu bimā lam yabṣurū bihi faqabaḍtu qabḍatan min ʾaṯari r-rasūli fanabaḏtuhā wakaḏālika sawwalat lī nafsī
He said, "I saw what they did not see, so I grasped a handful from the Messenger's traces, and I flung it away. Thus my soul prompted me."
He said: I perceived what they perceive not, so I seized a handful from the footsteps of the messenger, and then threw it in. Thus my soul commended to me
Said he, 'I beheld what they beheld not, and I grasped a handful from the footprint of the messenger and cast it; for thus my soul induced me
He said, "I saw what they saw not: so I took a handful of dust from the track of the messenger of God, and flung it into the calf, for so my soul prompted me
He answered, I saw that which they saw not; wherefore I took a handful of dust from the footsteps of the messenger of God, and I cast it into the molten calf; for so did my mind direct me
What this study rests on, and what it refusessigned with it2 of the 2 paragraphs signed with this study
The selection above and this account of it are part of what was signed. Where the renderings disagree it says so; where the question runs past what has cleared the rights audit it says that too.
The question asks whether the Qur'an requires men to grow a beard. The probe 'beards?' returns 7 rows: 20:94 in all five, and Palmer's rendering at 17:107 and 17:109, where the others have chins or faces, of people falling down in prostration; 17:107 and 17:109 are recorded as not carried.
The story is read in the study How does the Qur'an describe the golden calf - and which questions does it raise and not answer? This study names one report outside the Qur'an and does not grade it.
Studies that read the same verses
Sources & method
Translations Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an ·1880 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an ·1734 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an ·1861 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·Public domain — copyright term expired
Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran ·1930 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work ·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Translations Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Talal Itani, ClearQuran ·ClearQuran, "God" edition, EPUB·Talal Itani / ClearQuran.com ·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International·retrieved 7 Sep 2026
Translation by Talal Itani, ClearQuran.com https://clearquran.com
Editorial status
- Editorial status
- Editorially prepared · not independently reviewed — signed by the AALAMIN Editor; no external scholarly review
- Theme
- Nature
- Review status
- Published
- 21 October 2026
A dashed outline marks a tag the editors handle with extra care. It describes how this study is filed and shown, not what the verses say.
AALAMIN Editor
Qur'anic text from the Tanzil Project. Copyright (C) 2007-2026 Tanzil Project License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Source: tanzil.net · Updates: tanzil.net/updates/ https://tanzil.net/updates/