Cutting more than a “handful” of the beard
Question

                What is the ruling Cutting more than a “handful” of the beard.
Praise be to Allah.
    The Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) – regarding both his commands to others and 
    his own actions – is to let the beard grow. It was proven that the Messenger 
    of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) commanded men to 
    leave the beard alone and let it grow naturally. Al-Bukhaari, Muslim and 
    others narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) 
    said: the Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon 
    him) said: “Trim the moustache and leave the beard.” Narrated by 
    al-Bukhaari, 5443; Muslim, 600. According to another report: ‘Be different 
    from the mushrikeen: cut the moustache and let the beard grow.” Narrated by 
    Muslim, 602. 

    And Muslim (383) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be 
    pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) said: “Trim the moustache and let the beard grow; be 
    different from the Magians (Zoroastrians).” 

    It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (5/136): 

    What is meant by letting the beard grow is leaving it alone 
    and not cutting it, so that it will grow thick. This is the teaching of the 
    Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) as regards his 
    words and commands to others. With regard to his own actions, there is no 
    report that says that he  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) 
    removed anything from his beard. With regard to the hadeeth narrated by 
    al-Tirmidhi from ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb, from his father, from his grandfather, 
    that the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to 
    remove something from the width and length of his beard – al-Tirmidhi said 
    that this is a ghareeb hadeeth (al-Tirmidhi, 2912). This isnaad of this 
    hadeeth includes ‘Umar ibn Haroon who is matrook (rejected), as al-Haafiz 
    Ibn Hajar said in al-Taqreeb. Hence it is known that this hadeeth is 
    not saheeh and cannot be used as evidence to oppose the saheeh hadeeths 
    which indicate that it is obligatory to leave the beard alone and let it 
    grow. 

    With regard to what some people do, shaving the beard or 
    trimming something from its thickness and length, this is not permissible 
    because it goes against the teachings of the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) and his command to let the beard grow. A 
    command implies that a thing is obligatory unless there is an indication to 
    suggest otherwise, and we know of no such indication in this case. 
Shaykh Muhammad 
    al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Cutting anything from the 
    beard goes against the command of the Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) who said: “Leave the beard alone”, “Let the beard grow,” 
    etc. Whoever wants to follow the command of the Prophet  (peace and 
    blessings of Allaah be upon him) and follow his teaching should not remove 
    anything from his beard at all, because the teaching of the Prophet  
    (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is that nothing should be 
    removed from the beard. This was also the way of the Prophets before him. 

    Fataawa Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 11/126. 

    Some of the scholars are of the view that it is permissible 
    to remove anything more than a “handful” of the beard [the hair of the beard 
    that comes beneath the hand if the beard is seized in the hand], basing that 
    on the action of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him). Al-Bukhaari 
    (5892) narrated: When Ibn ‘Umar did Hajj or ‘Umrah he would take hold of his 
    beard and would trim any excess. 
Shaykh Ibn Baaz said: 
    Whoever quotes the action of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) to 
    show that he used to cut whatever of his beard was longer than the “handful” 
    during Hajj cannot use this as evidence, because this is ijtihaad on the 
    part of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him), and proof is to be found 
    in reports (from the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon 
    him)), not from ijtihaad. The scholars (may Allaah have mercy on them) 
    clearly stated that the reports from the Sahaabah and those who came after 
    them that are proven to be sound are what constitute evidence and proof, and 
    they take precedence over any opinion if it goes against the Sunnah.  

    Fataawa wa Maqaalaat al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz, 
    8/370. 

    Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn Qaasim said in his essay 
    Tahreem Halq al-Lahyah (Prohibition on shaving the beard), p.11: 

    Some scholars granted a concession allowing removal of 
    whatever is longer than the “handful”, based on the actions of Ibn ‘Umar, 
    but most of the scholars regard that as makrooh. This is more correct, for 
    the reasons stated above. Al-Nawawi said: The preferred view is that the 
    beard should be left as it is and should not be shortened in any way at all… 
    and it says in al-Durr al-Mukhtaar: with regard to cutting it any 
    shorter than the “handful”, no one said that this is permissible. 

    See also question no. 
    9977 and 1189. 

    May Allaah send blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad.