Note 45 — Chapter I · PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DRESS OF THE MUSLIM EGYPTIANS.
Reading edition
A few of the servants, and some others, shave their beards. The respect which Orientals in general pay to the beard has often been remarked. They swear by it, and say that a man disgraces it by an evil action. The punishment recorded in 2 Samuel, ch. x., v. 4, has frequently been practised in modern times, but not so often as the shaving of the whole of the beard.