THE SCENE: In many Arabic geographic works, the land of Gog and Magog is represented at a mythical land with sub-human and possibly demonic residents. It’s refreshing then, to read the passage below where the strangest practice conducted in this legendary place is an absolute prohibition on beards.
THE TEXT: Their merchants enter the lands of Gog and Magog to collect beaver and other pelts. It is very rare for a man with a beard to go there; most of the merchants who go there are clean-shaven, without beards or mustaches. The adult men of the land of Gog and Magog are beardless. When a man with a full beard enters their country, the king, who is of the line of Gog and Magog, orders his beard plucked out. After his beard has been plucked, the king treats him very well and allows him to enrich himself.
– Book of Roads and Kingdoms, Ibn Hawqal, 10th Century AD
