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.
to be continued . . . . .
