The bearded wonder
The Guardian's Donald McRae interviews Hashim Amla, who, among other things, talks about his famous beard.
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
AFP
The Guardian's Donald McRae interviews Hashim Amla, who, among other things, talks about his famous beard.
Revelling in the suggestion that Lord's will see the best set of whiskers in cricket since WG Grace, Amla contemplates his beard proudly. But as his father and sister are both doctors, like Grace, he is not about to claim precedence over the bearded master.
"I have seen pictures of his beard but mine is definitely shorter. The optimum length for me, as a Muslim, is for the beard to be of fist-length. But it is not purely a tribute to Islam. If you go back many years the beard is a tribute to all the faiths stemming from the biblical Abraham - or Ibrahim, as we say in Islam. In the Christian tradition Jesus, peace be upon him, has a beard. In the Jewish tradition Moses has a beard. And in Islam we have Muhammad, whom Muslims believe is the final messenger, and he kept a beard because it was the tradition of all the other messengers before him. We see it as universal."
Ashok Ganguly is an editorial assistant at Cricinfo