!*!*!Asalamu Alaykum WaRahmatullahi Wabarakatu!*!*! Allaah is Beautiful and Loves BeautyImaam ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ >From ’Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood sallam said, “What if a man likes his clothes to look good and his shoes to look good?” He said, beautiful and loves beauty. Pride means denying the truth and looking down on people.” radiallaahu ’anhu said, commenting upon this hadeeth: Ibnul-Qayyim (d.751H) ‘‘The phrase about in the same hadeeth. It is included by way of generalization, meaning that beauty in all things is what is meant here. In Saheeh Muslim, it says: good.” In Sunanut-Tirmidhee it says: was reported that Abul-Ahwas al-Jashamee said: The Prophet wearing old, tattered clothes, and asked me, “Allaah loves to see the effects of His blessing on His slave.’’ [3] Itsallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam saw me“Do you have any wealth?” I said, “Yes.” He said,“What kind of wealth?” show the generous blessings that He has given you.” Allaah, may He be glorified, loves the effects of His blessings to His slave to be made manifest, for this is part of the beauty that He loves, and that is part of the gratitude for His blessings which forms an inner beauty (beauty of character). Allaah loves to see the external beauty of His slaves which reflects His blessings on them, and the inner beauty of their gratitude to Him for those blessings. Because He loves beauty, He sends down on His slaves clothes and adornments with which they may make their outward appearance beautiful and He gives them characters beautiful. Allaah says:taqwaa which makes their inner “O Children of Adam!We have bestowed raiment upon you to cover yourselves (screen your private parts, etc.) and as an adornment, and the raiment of righteousness, that is better.” And He says, speaking of the people of Paradise: “…and He gave them Nadrataan (a light of beauty) and joy. And their recompense shall be Paradise and silken garments, because they were patient.” Their faces will be made beautiful with the and their bodies with silken garments. Just as Allaah loves beauty in words, deeds, garments and outward appearance, so He hates ugliness in words, deeds, garments and outward appearance. He hates ugliness and its people, and loves beauty and its people. But two groups are misguided with regard to this issue: a group who say that everything that He has created is beautiful, so He loves all that He has created and we should love all that He has created and not hate anything. They say: whoever realizes that all that exists comes from Him will see that it is beautiful … these people have no sense of jealousy for the sake of Allaah or hatred and enmity for the sake of Allaah, or denouncing what is evil ( They regard the beauty of images, male or female, as being part of the beauty that Allaah loves, and seek to worship Allaah through immoral acts. Some of them may even go so far as to claim that the One Whom they worship is manifested or incarnated in those images. The second group, on the other hand, say that Allaah condemns the beauty of images, forms and “And when you look at them, their bodies please you…” “And how many a generation haveWe destroyed before them.Who were better in wealth, goods and outward appearance?” In Saheeh Muslim it is reported that the Prophet not look at your outward appearance and your wealth, rather He looks at your hearts and deeds.” According to another hadeeth: extravagant, which applies to extravagance in clothing as well as in food and drink. In order to settle this dispute, we may say that beauty in clothing and outward appearance is of three types, one of which is commendable, one is blameworthy and one of which is neither. The kind of beauty which is to be commended is that which is done for the sake of Allaah, to help one to obey Allaah and fulfill His commands, such as when the Prophet himself look beautiful (i.e. handsome) when meeting the delegations that came to him. This is like wearing armour or battle-dress when fighting, or wearing silk and showing off (in front of the enemy). This is commendable because it is done to make the word of Allaah supreme and to support His religion and annoy His enemies. The blameworthy kind of beauty is that which is done for the sake of this world, for reasons of power, false pride and showing off, or to fulfill some (selfish) desires. This also includes cases where beauty is an end in itself for a person and is all he cares about. Many people have no other concern in life. As for the kind of beauty which is neither commendable nor blameworthy, it is that which has nothing to do with either of the two purposes mentioned above (i.e., it is neither for the sake of Allaah nor for the sake of worldly purposes). The hadeeth under discussion refers to two important principles, knowledge and behaviour. Allaah is to be acknowledged for beauty that bears no resemblance to anything else, and He is to be worshipped by means of the beauty which He loves in words, deeds and attitudes. He loves His slaves to beautify their tongues with the truth, to beautify their hearts with sincere devotion ( beautify their bodies by showing His blessings upon them in their clothing and by keeping them pure and free of any filth, dirt or impurity, by removing the hairs which should be removed, by circumcision, and by clipping the nails. Thus they recognize Allaah through these qualities of beauty and seek to draw close to Him through beautiful words, deeds and attitudes. They acknowledge Him for the beauty which is His attribute and they worship Him through the beauty which He has prescribed and His religion. The hadeeth combines these two principles of knowledge and behaviour.’’ ___________________Footnotes: [1] Related by Muslim (no. 131) [2] Related by Muslim (no. 1686) [3] Hasan Saheeh: Related by at-Tirmidhee (no. 2963), who said it was hasan saheeh. [4] Saheeh: Related by Ahmad (no. 15323), at-Tirmidhee (no. 1929) and an-Nisaa‘ee (no. 5128) [5] Related by Muslim (no. 1356) [6] Saheeh: Related by Ibn Maajah (no. 4108), Aboo Dawood (no. 3630) [7] al-Fawaa‘id (1/185) !*!*!Wasalamu Alakum WaRahmatullahi Wabarakatu!*!*! Your Sis in Islam !*!LuLu!*!“Shabbiness is part of faith.” [6] Allaah condemns those who aresallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam madeikhlaas), love, repentance and trust in Him, to beautify their faculties with obedience, and to[7]sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam said: “Allaah does[5][Soorah Maryam 19:54][Sooratul-Munaafiqoon 63:4]nadrah (light of beauty), their innermost being with joymunkar), or jihaad (struggle) for the sake of Allaah, or adhering His limits.outward appearances. Allaah says about the munaafiqoon (hypocrites):[Sooratul-Insaan 76:11-12][Sooratul-A’raaf 7:26]I said, “All that Allaah has given me of camels and sheep.” He said, “Then[4]‘Allaah is beautiful and loves beauty,’ includes the beautiful clothing which was asked“Allaah is good and only accepts that which is[2]rahimahullaahradiallaahu ’anhu who said that the Prophet sallallaahu ’alayhi wasaid, “No one will enter Paradise who has an atom’s weight of pride in his heart.” A man“Allaah is[1]
