--- title: Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions description: Jonathan Berts wishes to return to active duty canonical: https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-09T17:16:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:26:25.422Z article:section: Politics og:title: Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions og:description: Jonathan Berts wishes to return to active duty og:url: https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions twitter:description: Jonathan Berts wishes to return to active duty twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jan 9, 2015 5:16 PM UTC by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Jan 9, 2015 5:16 PM UTC A Muslim sailor is [suing](http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/careers/navy/2015/01/08/muslim-sailor-sues-to-re-join-active-duty-with-beard/21388685/) Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other top U.S. military officials after he was denied a religious waiver to keep a beard four years ago. The former boot camp instructor, Jonathan Berts, wishes to return to active duty and believes his case is strengthened by a January 2014 Pentagon decree that relaxed rulings for religious dress and grooming. His lawyers filed the lawsuit on Dec. 22, the _Navy Times_ reports. After his waiver was denied in 2011, Berts, who served in the Navy for nine years, filed an appeal. Berts was then assigned to stand watch at “an empty, cockroach-infested barracks” and later received an honorable discharge that made him ineligible to reenlist, according to the report. Berts claims that his application was rejected and record dismissed in part for making too much “noise” about the process. \[[_Navy Times_](http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/careers/navy/2015/01/08/muslim-sailor-sues-to-re-join-active-duty-with-beard/21388685/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/"},"headline":"Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions","datePublished":"2015-01-09T17:16:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:26:25.422Z","description":"Jonathan Berts wishes to return to active duty","url":"https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/","keywords":["Military","Navy","Religion","Muslim","Islam"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Rogers","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3661508/muslim-beard-navy-restrictions/","name":"Muslim Navy Man Sues U.S. Over Beard Restrictions"}}]}] ```