Beard without mustache is identity of terrorists, Muslims should refrain from it: Wasim Rizvi

New Delhi, July 8: Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi has said that Muslims should refrain from keeping beard without a mustache as such things have become an "identity of terrorist's face".

As per reports, Rizvi also said that Muslims with a beard and no mustache are fundamentalists.

"Keeping beard is Sunnat, but it should be kept along with mustache. In the last 20-25 years, some orthodox Muslims have made it their identity. They have made their face scary by keeping beards but not mustache. It has also become an identity of terrorist's face," Rizvi told news agency ANI.

He also came down hard at those issuing fatwa in the matters of how a Muslim should look. The Shia Waqf Board chief said that any person or institution issuing such diktats should be "booked as traitors".

"We have few Muslims, who issue fatwa by interfering in the personal lives of others. They forget that Islam has nothing to do with this. Those who issue fatwa in such cases should be booked as traitors because nobody has the right to go against the Constitution of India and make their own laws," Waseem Rizvi said.

He said some Muslims in India are getting influenced by extremist ideologies, which he said is "not good".