Asslamo Allaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
The great Scholar Shaykh (Allamah) Muhammad Zahid ibn Hasan al-Kawthari (RA) [1879-1951] was the last Shaykhul-Islam of the Islamic Ummah as this was a honourific title bestowed and used within the Islamic empire.
Shaykh (RA) wasn't a political appointment but was a Scholar par excellence of both the Maturidi Aqeedah and Hanafi Fiqh.
Before reading further click to look at his picture.
Many will look at his picture and automatically question as to why he has such a short Beard when he was not only a Muqallid of Hanafi Madhab but the greatest Mufti of the Madhab on earth? And I have repeatedly seen this question online and others simply try to dodge the issue by offering two arguments:
- We shouldn't discuss someone personally who has passed away
- We should follow the strong view of the Madhab etc.
Those who are trying to defend the Shaykh (RA) are actually doing him injustice. The great Deobandi Scholar of Hadeeth (Allamah) Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Maulana) Yusuf Binori (RA) spent 2 years with Shaykh (Allamah) Muhammad Zahid ibn Hasan al-Kawthari (RA) in Egypt and returned with his books (and knowledge) to Indian Subcontinent.
On the other hand those are Hanafees but want to sport a short, trimmed beard present the picture of Shaykh (Allamah) Muhammad Zahid ibn Hasan al-Kawthari (RA) to justify their position!
(Allamah) Shaykhul-Hadeeth (Maulana) Yusuf Binori (RA) also wrote the introduction to Shaykh (Allamah) Muhammad Zahid ibn Hasan al-Kawthari (RA)'s Al-Maqalaat and he mentions in there that his Beard was naturally very short!
I had the same experience on SF with another Scholar of Hanafi Madhab and it was mentioned by some Ulamah that he trims his Beard, I trhen had the oppurtunity to sit in front of this Shaykh and I observed that he had a naturally short Beard.
It is the agreed upon opinion of Hanafi Madhab that minimum length of the Beard is one-fist and no doubt we should follow that opinion but we should also not be judgemental about judging someone and forming an opinion based on the length of their beard.
Allah (SWT) knows best.