Defining Beauty
Beauty is mentioned in Qur’an and Sunnah as jamal and husn. It encompasses external beauty, clothes, cleanliness, adornment, as well as internal beauty, character, serenity, patience, forgiveness.
When you see something beautiful, do you pause and reflect on it? Do you ask: “Why did Allah create this beauty? What purpose does it serve?”
Beauty is not random. Nothing Allah creates is without purpose – every leaf, every shade of colour, every sunset, star and river has a purpose.
When we reflect on beauty, we are often led straight to the Creator. When the heart sees beauty, it’s as if it remembers something ancient: we came from a Lord of beauty, and beauty reminds us of Him.
What makes something beautiful?
We can’t treat beauty as one category; it can be visual – from colours and tones to faces and landscapes, as well as sounds that are moving and resonate deeply within us and it can also be moral qualities. Is beauty or intrinsic, or does it depend on our perception?
Consider that when you love someone, they appear beautiful, but when you have a fight with them, suddenly they appear ugly. Did their features change or how our hearts perceived them? It becomes clear that beauty has internal and external dimensions, subjective and objective layers.
Let us look at some examples.
Celebrating beauty in creation
When we look at terraced rice fields, we see their geometry and colours create a sense of harmony and calm. Our soul feels drawn toward it. Why? Because our fitrah (our innate divine programming) recognises beauty. Our origin is from beauty. Our heart longs for the perfection of beauty, and ultimate perfection belongs only to Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ said Allah is Al Jamil, the Beautiful One:
إن الله جميل يحب الجمال
“Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty.” (Bukhari)
When you look at an eagle’s wing, its design is fascinating. In fact, the engineers of the Airbus A380, who were struggling to solve a particular aerodynamics problem, solved if after studying it. The secrets of human technology were embedded by Allah into the design of a bird long before jets existed.
Beauty is not entertainment; it is evidence of divine purpose and precision. When we see a man before a giant cliff, we feel humbled and awed. Why? Because we glimpse our true proportion contrasted by the grand scale of Allah’s canvas.
Beauty brings us tranquillity, calmness, and a sense of belonging.
The philosophical roots of beauty
Across history, philosophers have always returned to three fundamental values:
- Truth
- Goodness
- Beauty
These three have occupied human intellect since ancient Greece right through to modern philosophy. But Islam clarifies all three:
- Truth comes from revelation, the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the guidance of Allah.
- Goodness is defined by divine law and the moral framework the Prophet ﷺ taught.
- Beauty is both what Allah creates and what Allah commands us to embody.
Even the recitation of the Qur’an is beauty. Its sound heals the soul. The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Seek healing in two things: honey and the Qur’an.”
Honey strengthens the body’s immunity; the Qur’an strengthens the soul’s immunity. Both are from Allah. The Qur’an is shifa – a cure and a mercy. But healing depends on intention, presence of heart, sincerity. One verse recited with full presence may heal more deeply than a hundred recited in absent-mindedness.
As reported by Sa’id al Khudri and narrated in Bukhari and Muslim, a group of companions were travelling and stopped near a tribe. The tribe did not initially show them hospitality. Shortly after, the leader of that tribe was stung by a scorpion and fell into severe pain. They tried various treatments but nothing worked. In desperation, they approached the companions and asked whether any of them could perform ruqyah.
One of the companions agreed, but on the condition that they would be given a flock of sheep in return. He then recited Surah al Fatihah over the man repeatedly. By the permission of Allah, the man stood up as if he had never been harmed. He was completely cured. The companions were astonished. They had not previously known al Fatihah to be used in this way, yet they witnessed its effect directly.
When they later returned to Madinah, they mentioned the incident to the Prophet ﷺ. They were unsure whether it had been correct to accept payment for the ruqyah. The Prophet ﷺ smiled and said, “How did you know that it is a ruqyah?” affirming that al Fatihah is indeed a means of healing. He approved their action and even asked for a share of the sheep.
This incident shows that the Qur’an is not only beautiful in sound and meaning, but powerful in effect. Its beauty is not abstract. It heals. It restores. It touches both body and soul, by the permission of Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
“Beautify the Qur’an with your voices.” (Abu Dawood, Nasai, Ibn Majah)
If you have a beautiful voice, use it for the Qur’an. Abu Bakr had a beautiful voice. The Prophet ﷺ once passed by him reciting in prayer and praised him. Abu Bakr said, “If I knew you were listening, I would have beautified it even more.”
If your voice is not naturally beautiful, no problem. Do your best. But if Allah gave you a gift, use it for His sake.
Is beauty intrinsic or relative?
The dictionary says beauty is “anything that brings intense pleasure or deep satisfaction.” The philosophers disagreed over this topic.
- Some said beauty is intrinsic, it exists inside the object itself.
- Others said beauty is relative, depending on the state of the viewer, mood, emotions, personal history.
- Others said beauty is linked to benefit, if something benefits you, you find it beautiful; if it harms you, you find it ugly.
- And another group said all beauty shares a common origin, some ultimate unseen perfection, which we, as Muslims, immediately identify as Allah.
Ultimately, Islam teaches that beauty has both:
- Internal reality (character, serenity, purity)
- External expression (cleanliness, symmetry, colour, proportion)
A perfect beauty is a combination of both.
Not all people agree on what is beautiful, colour preferences differ, tastes differ, cultures differ. This confirms that beauty has subjective dimensions. But there are universal forms of beauty, sunrise, symmetry, kindness, forgiveness, which nearly all hearts recognise.
Evil, hardship, and hidden beauty
Can something painful be beautiful? The answer depends on perspective.
Allah says in Surat al Baqarah:
“Perhaps you dislike something and it is good for you; and perhaps you love something and it is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know.” (2:216)
We should never seek or wish for hardship, but once it arrives, we must look for the wisdom behind it. Hardship can purify, elevate, and strengthen. A blow that does not kill you can strengthen you.
Tests are not meant to be easy. If they were easy, they would not be tests. If you interpret every hardship as ugliness, your life becomes miserable. But when you recognise that even hardship has a divine purpose, it becomes part of your growth.
Based on the course delivered by Shaykh Haytham Tamim on Divine Beauty.
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