Beauty according to the Quran
God frequently tells us in His Book what He loves. We know from this, thanks to several verses that ” God loves those who repent and purify themselves, the pious, the patient. or “those whose actions are beautiful ». Worshipers endowed with intelligence lend an attentive ear to these Words and take great interest in the precious information they contain.
This is because every time the Lord reveals what He loves, He mercifully guides to one of His Paths leading to His Knowledge and Love. Beauty is one of the most important.
Indeed, to the man who asked about the love of beautiful clothes and beautiful shoes, the Prophet Muhammad replied: ” God is Beautiful and loves beauty “(1), Peace and Salvation upon the Messenger of Beauty. Yes, God is Beautiful. His Names are the most beautiful. His Creation is as beautiful as His Order contained in the most beautiful of stories.
In the Quran, the word ” beauty » was mentioned eight times, only once in the noun form “In the morning/Jama’le » (2) and seven times in the adjectival form « جميل/Jami’le » (3). Furthermore, several synonyms have also been used to express this notion of beauty such as « Hossn / Hossn » (4), « زِينَة /zi’na » (5) » or even « زُخْرُف /zokhrof » (6).
Beauty has always aroused the admiration and interest of men. Fascinated by the forms of beauty scattered throughout the universe, many have tried to truly grasp what it is. We then see in it the manifestation of the Perfect, a sign of the presence of a beautiful soul or even a special form of pleasure. Apart from all these attempts at definition, beauty remains, however, indefinable and elusive. Perhaps this is ultimately what creates its charm.
Far be it from me, therefore, to claim to grasp the notion of beauty in this writing. I would simply aspire to present the three main meanings, in my opinion, that it takes on through the verses of the Koran. The Most High says:
1- « Is it not He who created the heavens and the earth and sent down to you water from the sky and We made therewith gardens full of beauty? »(7)
2- « We have placed what is on earth to beautify it, that We may test mankind and know who among them are best in action. »(8)
3- « God has revealed the most beautiful of stories…” (9); And “…commands justice and the Beautiful to act. » (10)
Thus, included both in Creation and in God’s Commandment, beauty is at once a Sign of the Great Creator, the test reserved for Men in this lower world and the path to moral and spiritual perfection.
Beauty in Creation: A Sign of the Great Creator and a Test
Many of the divine attributes are grouped under the following heading: “The Attributes of Beauty”. This is the case with the attribute “The Great Creator”. God says: “Your Lord is indeed the great Creator, the All-Knowing” (11). Not only has He created, but He has also beautifully made everything that He has created, to perfection (12). God says: “We have created everything in measure”; “Who has created everything in its right proportions”. Similarly, the diversity of forms of beauty in His Creation testifies to His Creative Exuberance.
The Quran never ceases to arouse the interest of man to observe and meditate on the beautiful and perfect Creation of God. God says, “Have they not meditated on the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and on everything that God has created?”
Also, “Indeed We have placed constellations in the sky and have beautified it for those who see. “(13), says the Most High.
Yes, to those who look and see clearly in the beauty of Creation the manifestation of the Perfect. To those who perceive the Infinite there, it delivers its secret, namely, that it is the sensitive expression of the absolute Truth that “there is no divinity other than God”. To those who hear it also, in the gallop of horses or in the rustling of rivers, in the murmur of the wind or in the song of nightingales. The French composer Olivier Messiaen, lending an attentive ear to the chirping of birds, considered them, like a link between humanity and the stars, whose clarity is also a divine call. Yes, a call from God to man to recognize His Oneness, exalted be the One. This is how the beautiful, in the Quran, is intimately linked to the True. Shaftesbury wrote, “What is beautiful is harmonious and well proportioned, and what is harmonious and well proportioned is true” (14).
Otherwise, beauty becomes a prison and locks man in illusion and simulacrum. It becomes a test, all the more so because it has the magic of pleasing and exciting desire. God says: “The love of the things that people desire has been adorned to them: women, children, hoarded treasures of gold and silver, branded horses, cattle and fields”; “… in order to test men and consequently to know who among them acts best” (15). Thus, instead of putting man in relation with the one who produced it and serves as his path to moral perfection and the beautification of his soul, it locks him in the madness of his bodily passions and the illusion of doing good. God says: “Thus they make profane what God has made sacred. Their misdeeds are adorned to them.”
Beauty in Order: Beauty, a Path to Moral Perfection
“God has sent down the most beautiful of stories” (16), says the Most High. The Quran is indeed beautiful, both in its form and in the message it carries. Its language is so beautiful that the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula, distinguished by their eloquence and their poetry contests, embraced Islam upon hearing its verses alone. As for its message, it is the path of the middle, the beautiful middle to which we can neither take away nor add anything. Like a summit, it is situated between the two blameworthy extremes: excess and defect, like this beautiful divine lesson relating to the management of property.
God says: “Do not chain your hand to your neck (out of greed), nor extend it too widely, otherwise you will find yourself blamed and grieved.” (17) Or this rule of conduct that the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, gives to his community when he confirms the words of Salman Al-Farisi who said to Abu Ed-Darda: “Know that God has rights over you, that your person has rights over you and that your wife has rights over you, so give each of them their right.”
This is the beautiful balance that is guaranteed by the scales and the book that God has sent down. “Indeed, We have sent Our Messengers with clear proofs, and have sent down with them the Book and the scales, that people may establish justice.” (18) Justice that not only fairly attributes to man what is due to him, but also brings him to his perfection, especially when he joins it with a good deed. “Indeed, God commands justice and good deed.” (19) says the Most High.
In this Beautiful Story, Beauty commands us to make ourselves beautiful. “O children of Adam, make yourselves beautiful near every mosque.”(20), He said.
Similarly, He commands beautiful patience, “There is nothing left for me but beautiful patience!”(21), beautiful forgiveness, “So forgive them with beautiful forgiveness.”(22), beautiful speech, “And tell My worshipers to express the best words,” and beautiful greeting, “If you are greeted with a greeting, greet in a better way.”(23). And He even commands beautiful separation in the event of a relationship conflict. He says, “And endure what they say; and turn away from them in a beautiful way.”(24). The same applies to other behaviors.
Beauty here harmoniously concurs and merges with goodness, beautifying both the body of Man, as well as his heart and his reason. God says: “O Children of Adam! We have sent down to you a garment to cover your nakedness, and adornment. But the garment of piety, that is better.” (25)
Beautiful clothes are then for his body. Piety, however, is for his soul and is expressed by mercy of the heart, wisdom of reason and goodness of behavior. Only in this way can the worshipper approach the Beautiful.
“He who has not made himself beautiful has no right to approach Beauty” (26). How beautiful this word is!
(1) Reported by Muslim, from ‘Abdullah Ibn Mas’oud.
(2) S. The Bees, V. 6
(3) For example: Verse 18 of Surah Joseph.
(4) Prettiness, quality of someone or something that is beautiful
(5) Element that beautifies
(6) Beautification
(7) S. Prostration, Verses 6 & 7
(8) S. The Cave, Verse 7
(9) S. The Groups, V. 23
(10) S. The Bees, V. 90
(11) S. Al-Hijr, Verse 86.
(12) (It is He…, who has done well everything He has created) S. 32, V. 6 & 7
(13) S. Al-Hijr, V. 17
(14) L. Tolstoy, What is Art? P. 35
(15) Surah The Cave; V. 7
(16) S. The Groups; V. 23
(17) S. The Night Journey; V. 29
(18) S. Le Fer; V. 25
(19) S. The Bees; V. 90
(20) S. Al-A’raf, V. 31
(21) S. Joseph; V. 18
(22) S. Al-Hijr; V. 85
(23) S. Women; V. 86
(24) S. The Wrapped One; V. 10
(25) S. Al-A’raf, V. 26
(26) Kakuzo Okakura
Jaouad LAOUI
