<p>Waseem Ahmed, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Meerut town, about 450 km from here, found himself in a fix when asked to choose between his beard and wife by none other than his better half of several years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Najma (name changed), Waseem's wife, left the home of her in-laws and shifted back to her parent's house, refusing to return to Waseem until he got rid of his beard.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A shocked Waseem approached the police to put pressure on his wife to return but they failed to persuade her.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A resident of Zakir Colony in the town, Waseem told the police that his wife, all of a sudden, asked him to get rid of the beard and threatened to desert him if he failed to do so.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Najma, a mother of two, was called to the police station and was advised to go back to her husband's home but she refused. "Waseem did not have a beard when we were married... I do not want him to keep the beard," she told the police.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Police officials said there was very little they could do in the matter. "We have referred the matter to the family counselling centre," said a senior police official in Meerut.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Earlier, a woman had refused to live with a Muslim cleric after he grew a long beard. The husband had pleaded that keeping the beard was essential according to the tenets of Islam but the wife could not be persuaded to return home.</p>
<p>Waseem Ahmed, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Meerut town, about 450 km from here, found himself in a fix when asked to choose between his beard and wife by none other than his better half of several years.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Najma (name changed), Waseem's wife, left the home of her in-laws and shifted back to her parent's house, refusing to return to Waseem until he got rid of his beard.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A shocked Waseem approached the police to put pressure on his wife to return but they failed to persuade her.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A resident of Zakir Colony in the town, Waseem told the police that his wife, all of a sudden, asked him to get rid of the beard and threatened to desert him if he failed to do so.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Najma, a mother of two, was called to the police station and was advised to go back to her husband's home but she refused. "Waseem did not have a beard when we were married... I do not want him to keep the beard," she told the police.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Police officials said there was very little they could do in the matter. "We have referred the matter to the family counselling centre," said a senior police official in Meerut.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Earlier, a woman had refused to live with a Muslim cleric after he grew a long beard. The husband had pleaded that keeping the beard was essential according to the tenets of Islam but the wife could not be persuaded to return home.</p>