By the Exemplary Scholar,
Ibnul-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
What is the meaning of ‘beauty’ in the famous
hadeeth, “Allaah is beautiful and loves beauty.”
Then show the generous blessings that He has
given you.
From ’Abdullaah Ibn Mas’ood (radiyallaahu ’anhu)
who said that the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi
wa sallam) said, “No one will enter Paradise who
has an atom’s weight of pride in his heart.” A
man said, “What if a man likes his clothes to
look good and his shoes to look good?” He said,
“Allaah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride
means denying the truth and looking down on
people.” [1]
Ibnul-Qayyim (d.751H) - radiyallaahu ’anhu -
said, commenting upon this hadeeth: ‘‘The phrase
‘Allaah is beautiful and loves beauty,’ includes
the beautiful clothing which was asked 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: “Allaah is good and only accepts that
which is good.” [2] In Sunanut-Tirmidhee it
says: “Allaah loves to see the effects of His
blessing on His slave.’’ [3] It was reported
that Abul-Ahwas al-Jashamee said: The Prophet
(sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) saw me wearing
old, tattered clothes, and asked me, “Do you
have any wealth?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “What
kind of wealth?” I said, “All that Allaah has
given me of camels and sheep.” He said, “Then
show the generous blessings that He has given
you.” [4] 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 taqwaa which makes their inner characters
beautiful. Allaah says:
“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.”
[Sooratul-A’raaf 7:26]
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.”
[Sooratul-Insaan 76:11-12]
Their faces will be made beautiful with the
nadrah (light of beauty), their innermost being
with joy 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 (munkar), or jihaad (struggle) for
the sake of Allaah, or adhering His limits. 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
outward appearances. Allaah says about the
munaafiqoon (hypocrites):
“And when you look at them, their bodies please
you…” [Sooratul-Munaafiqoon 63:4]
“And how many a generation have We destroyed
before them. Who were better in wealth, goods
and outward appearance?” [Soorah Maryam 19:54]
In Saheeh Muslim it is reported that the Prophet
(sallallaahu ’alayhi wa sallam) said: “Allaah
does not look at your outward appearance and
your wealth, rather He looks at your hearts and
deeds.” [5]
According to another hadeeth: “Shabbiness is
part of faith.” [6] Allaah condemns those who
are 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 fulfil His commands, such
as when the Prophet (sallallaahu ’alayhi wa
sallam) made 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 fulfil 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 (ikhlaas), love, repentance and trust
in Him, to beautify their faculties with
obedience, and to 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.’’ [7]
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)
