My parents want me to trim my beard because they say it will make it grow neatly. They say Islam encourages being clean, and if I don't trim it, I would look dirty when it grows. I told them that trimming the beard is not permissible. What should I do? Are they right? I'm young, they don't listen.

You can speak to them gently, nicely, and with wisdom. However, in regards to the discussion that happened between you, the correct answer is that you do not touch your beard. Calling the look of the beard dirty or saying it does not look good is extremely wrong; therefore, advice from an elder should be given to them. When we talk about looking nice or smelling nice, it must all be within the obedience of Allah and not in disobedience to Him. A woman could make the same argument, saying that since Islam encourages one to be clean and smell nice, she is going to wear perfume. We say that the Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) forbade this: 1. He forbade a woman from leaving her house with perfume on her. 2. In the same way, he forbade not letting your beard grow. By letting your beard grow, it does not mean that you take from it, trim it, or shorten it. Doing those things is not "letting it grow." The hadiths are blatant in their instruction to leave the beard and let it alone to grow.