What is the Islamic ruling on shaving the beard?

Shaving the beard is not permissible according to the consensus of all the scholars of the different schools of thought. This consensus has been mentioned by many great scholars including Shaykul-Islam Ibn Taymiyah, `Allamah Mahmud Khattab, `Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri al-Hanafi, `Allamah Hasfaki, `Allamah Kamal Ibnul-Humam al-Hanafi, Shaykh Ahmad Nafrawi al-Maliki, `Allamah Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm at-Thahiri etc. There are many Ahadith, which clearly support the above statement. Among these is the famous Hadith narrated on the authority of ‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Umar and others that “the Prophet (peace be upon him) ordered us to lengthen our beards.” (Bukhari) This Hadith has been narrated with six different words, all of which refer to lengthening the beard. This is why in the Shari`ah (Islamic law), it is a sin to shave or trim the beard to less than a fist length. `Allamah Anwar Shah Kashmiri writes, “None of the scholars have permitted trimming the beard to less than a fist length” (Faydhul-Bari, 380/4).