Aesthetical Being

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

Part 4. DUTIES AS AESTHETICAL BEING

 Chapter 1. 

Preliminary observations

 

The Holy Qur’an has given to humanity a theory of Aesthetics of its own. The present is not, however, the proper occasion to expound it. Only the following five points may be mentioned here:

1.    The Qur’anic concept of Beauty is wedded to spirituality or godliness.

2.    According to the Qur’anic teaching, the essential attributes of Beauty are:

Piety, Purity, Sublimity, Harmony, Balance, Proportion, Order and Perfection.

3.    The Holy Qur’an upholds only that Art which is noble and sublime, both in its conception and its goal, and it regards as vulgar and inadmissible all those forms of Art which do not enshrine the essential attributes of Beauty, as it understands and acknowledges.

4.    According to the Holy Qur’an, the spiritual value, or, religion, is the highest, and below it stand in serial order the moral, the intellectual and the physical values.

5.    As regards the aesthetic value, it should permeate and pervade all the aspects of human life: physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social.

Our concern in the present discourse being the duties of man as the possessor of aesthetic consciousness, we may first of all observe with advantage the emphasis on aesthetic value found in the Holy Qur’an in respect of God, universe and man.

We find in the Holy Writ as follows:—

 

(1) GOD:

God is the Possessor of Absolute Beauty:

The Holy Qur’an says:

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.” (24:35).

This is one of the most profound verses, endowed with depths of meaning that are unfathomable. In understanding its implication from the point of view of the problem before us, however, the guidance for us lies in the fact that, according to the Holy Qur’an, darkness is ugliness, as the following verse denotes:

“But those who have earned evil will have a reward (in the Hereafter) of like evil: ignominy will cover them: no protector they shall have from (the wrath of) Allah: (ugliness will be their lot) as if their faces had been covered with a cloak of darkest night. Such are the companions of the Fire; they will abide therein.” (10:27).

 

Now, if darkness relates to ugliness, light relates to beauty,—and thus the transcendental Light of God implies the possession of transcendental Beauty by Him.

 

Again, God is the Absolute, as we have seen elsewhere. Hence His beauty is Absolute Beauty.

The Holy Prophet (Peace be on him) has, as the expounder of the Holy Qur’an par excellence, made a very explicit and direct statement in this regard. He says:

“Allah is Beautiful and He loves Beauty.” (Muslim’s sahih, Bab Tahrim al-Kibr, p. 65).

 

 

(2) UNIVERSE:

Being the Possessor of Absolute Beauty, God has very naturally created everything of the world in the frame of beauty, as the following verse says

“… He Who has created has made everything most Good and Beautiful.” (32:7).

This is a statement about the universe as a whole and covers all things in the heavens and on the earth.

The Holy Qur’an goes, however, beyond this universal statement and embarks, in order to emphasize the existence of beauty further, on certain details with reference to: (1) the earth, its plant life and animal life, (2) the heavenly bodies that surround the earth, and (3) Heaven in the World Hereafter, or, what is called, the next world.

        (1)     The earth, its plant life and animal life:

The Holy Qur’an says:

(a)        in respect of all things:

“That which is on the earth We have made but as an adornment for it …” (18:7). 

Mark that ‘adorn’ means ‘add beauty to’. 

(b)       in respect of minerals and plants:

“… and We produced therein (i.e., in the earth) all kinds of things in due balance.” (15:19).

Mark that ‘balance’ is an essential attribute of beauty. 

(c)        in respect of plants only:

“(vegetation grows) till the earth is clad with its golden ornaments and is decked out in beauty…” (10:24).

(d)       in respect of animals:

“And cattle He has created for you (O mankind): from them you derive warmth, and numerous benefits, and of their (meat) you eat. And therein is beauty for you as you drive them home in evening, and as you lead them forth to pasture in the morning.” (16:5-6).

“And (God has created) horses, mules, and donkeys, that you may ride them, and as adornment; and He will create (in future, through the mind and ingenuity of man, other vehicles) that you know not (at the time of the revelation of the Qur’an).” (16:8).

“(The sacrificial cow, ordered by Moses, was to be) bright in her color, providing pleasure to the beholders.” (2:69). 

 

(2)          The heavenly bodies that surround the earth:

In this respect, the Holy Qur’an says:

“And assuredly We have set constellations in the heaven and We have beautified it for beholders.” (15:16).

“We have indeed decked the lower heaven with beauty (in) the stars…” (37:6). 

 

(3)          Heaven in the World Hereafter:

The Holy Qur’an says about Heaven

“… how beautiful an abode and place of rest!” (25:76).

“… beautiful Place of (final) Return.” (38:25).

“Now no person knows what delight of the eyes (—what aesthetic satisfaction—) is kept hidden (in reserve) for them (in Heaven)—as a reward for their (good) deeds.” (32:l7).

“But Allah will deliver them from the evil of that Day, and will shed over them a Light of Beauty and a (blissful) Joy.” (76:11).

“Some faces, that Day, will beam (in brightness and beauty), looking towards their Lord (Who is the Source of all Beauty and the Bestower of all Blessings).” (75:22-23).

 

 

(3) MAN:

According to the Holy Qur’an, human beings are possessors of Beauty, both outwardly and inwardly. It says:

“We have indeed created man in the best and the most beautiful* constitution.** (95:4).

*Ahsan means: the best, the most beautiful.

**Taqwim means: constitution, mould, form, nature, symmetry.  Man is, therefore, “the comeliest specimen of God’s handiwork”, according to Maulana Abdul Majid Daryabadi (English Translation and Commentary of the Holy Qur’an, p. 956, n. 438); and according to Allama Abdullah Yusuf Ali (English Translation and Commentary of the Holy Qur’an, p. 1759, n. 6199), “to man God gave the purest and the best nature.” Mark here that symmetry and purity are the attributes of beauty.

 

“And (it is Allah Who has) given you shape (O mankind!), and made your shapes beautiful…” (40:64).

“By the Soul and Him Who endowed it with proportion and order*…” (91:7).

*Mark that proportion and order are attributes of Beauty. Hence this verse refers definitely to the beauty of the inner personality of the human being.

The above discussion proves that the Holy Qur’an is vehemently emphatic on the aesthetic value, affirming as it does, beauty in God, universe and man.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times

 

The Spirituo-Moral Duties

 

 Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society

The Spirituo-Moral Duties —Some Vital Facts:

Among the Duties to Self, besides the duties based on the earthly environment of Man, the Holy Qur’an has explicitly prescribed certain duties which bear reference to the transcendental dimension of his personality and may, therefore, be termed as spirituo-moral, or, ethico-religious, duties. It says, for instance:

“Virtue does not consist in turning your faces towards the east and the west (in direction-worship, which has formed part of the practices of superstitious nations, including the Greeks, the Hindus and the Christians), but virtue is of him who believes in Allah and the Last Day and the Angels and the Book (i.e., the Divine Scripture) and the Prophets; and gives of his wealth, for love of Him (i.e., from the purest self-less motive), unto kindred and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask and for the emancipation of slaves; and establishes Prayer; and pays the Poor-rate; and is of those who perform their covenants when they have covenanted; and is of the patient in adversity and affliction and time of violence. Such are those who have proved themselves true (in their Faith). Such are the God-fearing” (2:177).

Besides the essentially moral duties, this verse bears reference to the spirituo-moral duties also; which, though they appear to stand in the category of duties to others, are actually duties to Self—as we shall shortly observe.

The function of such duties is to nourish the faith that the world is a Moral Order, thereby continuously reinforcing the moral fibre of human beings and furnishing the ground for moral struggle—indeed, the sure ground; and they are to three types of personalities, viz., (1) God, (2) the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!) and, (3) the Angels. With them may also be mentioned the duties of belief in Divine Guidance and in the Life Hereafter.

Now, since the Holy Qur’an affirms the existence of the personal God, Who is the Possessor of all Perfection and Who undertakes to lead His creatures to perfection adequate to them, duties to Him become the foremost duties. However, those duties are, in the final analysis, duties to Self because God being al-samad (112:2), He does not stand in need of anything from anyone while the entire Creation depends on Him for everything. Moreover, God being the ultimate condition of the realisation of Man’s moral ideal, every duty to God is really duty to Self.

 

Duties to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (the Divinely-Blessed) originate, like the duties to God, in the Islamic Article of Faith itself; and they have been laid down by the Qur’an in the interest of the Muslims themselves, because :

Firstly, he alone is the Leader who is to be followed unconditionally. Thus the bond of loyalty to him is the bond of integrity of the Islamic world-community.

[In that connection, it is necessary to emphasize that the ‘bond of loyalty’ to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!) resides in absolute allegiance to him, which means that the association of anyone else in that allegiance as a condition of faith in Islam—in terms of conferring upon anyone, or accepting anyone’s claim to, divinely-bestowed Authority, on the basis of prophetic status or any status akin to it, in any sense whatsoever, is disbelief in the Prophet’s status, and is regarded as disbelief in Islam itself, and that inspite of otherwise absolute allegiance to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be on him!)—expels a person from the fold of Islam in the same way as when he associates anyone in any manner in the Godhood of Allah.]

Secondly, he is the Model of Perfection whom every Muslim is under obligation to imitate for advancement in his spiritual and moral life. But to imitate him consequentially is not possible without practicing love and respect for him, which has been prescribed as duty.

Thirdly, he is the Medium through whom Divine Grace  flows to his followers in respect of their spiritual and moral purification (62:3-4).

These facts necessitate the maintenance of a constant dutiful attitude in terms of love and respect for him.

However, just as duties to God are really duties to Self, because they involve the self-perfection of the moral agent, in the same manner duties to the Holy Prophet (Peace be on him!) are really duties to Self, because of the benefits that accrue to the person who fulfils them.

As regards the Angels, they are, according to the Holy Qur’an, possessors of the attribute of personality (3:39, etc.). Also, they are sinless (i.e., holy) beings and function as executors of Divine Will in the universe (66:6). Thus, duties towards them appear to stand under three categories, viz., (1) duty of belief in their existence; (2) duty of love for their sinless-ness; and (3) duty of respect for them as functionaries of the Divine Order.

The duty of belief in the existence of the Angels forms a part of the Islamic Creed, which means that it has a basic significance in the Islamic system. The question might arise here, however, that moral duty is duty of action and not of belief, and hence the duty of belief should not be included here. But the fact is that the duty of belief in the Angels is a duty of attitude and is actually a necessary prerequisite to the cultivation of purity in moral outlook on the basis of which alone moral life can be Islamically pursued. Thus it comes under the duty of the Moral Perfection of the Self. Also, this duty has a reference to Divine Control in the life of humanity, which highlights God’s function as the Moral Ruler of the world.

We learn from the Holy Qur’an about two functions of the Angels which bear a direct reference to our moral life, viz., bringing the Revelations to the Prophets from God for the guidance of man— Archangel Jibreel (Peace be on him!) being the chief functionary in this respect (22:75; 2:97); and recording the deeds of human beings for presentation to them on the Day of Judgment (82:10-12), when virtue and vice shall be finally and comprehensively recompensed by God.

It may be observed here in passing that belief in the Divine Messengers and the Divine Scriptures, mentioned in the above-quoted verse (2:177), and forming part of the Islamic Creed, bears reference to the existence of the Law concerning the Guidance of Man as a spiritual and moral being. Similarly, belief in the Life Hereafter has a bearing on the moral life of man, as also on his spiritual life, being the pre-requisite to the performance of the moral action with the purest motive wherein all earthly considerations are transcended.

Source

to be continued . . . . . 

Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times