Part 51

Allah, the Exalted loves to see the effect of His blessings on His servant; it is among the beauty that He loves. It is a way of praising Him for His blessings, which is an inner beauty and He also loves to see the outer beauty brought about by His blessings on His servant and the inner one by thanking Him. And as Allah loves grace, He provided man with clothing and decoration that beautifies their outer appearance, as well as piety that will beautify their inner selves. Allah, the Almighty says,

” Recorded by At-Tirmidhy, book of good manners, chapter on what is said about, " Verily, Allah toves to see effect of His blessings ....", no.2819.

2 Recorded by Abu Dawid, no.4063, and At-Tirmidhy, no.2006.

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which means, "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." (Al-A'raf, 7:26)

And He, the Almighty says about the people of Paradise,

which means, "And gave them Nadratan (a light of beauty) and joy. And their recompense shall be Paradise, and silken garments, because they were patient." (Al-Insan, 76:1 1-12)

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Allah beautifies their outer face by that light, their inner one with joy and their bodies with silken garments. As He loves beauty in sayings, deeds, clothing, and appearance, and He hates ugliness in sayings, deeds, clothing, and appearance. He hates ugliness and its people and loves beauty and its people. But the two groups were misled concerning this subject: one group said that all that Allah has created is graceful, and He loves whatever He created, and we live with al! that He created and do not hate any part of it. And whoever sees any of His creatures, will find that they are all graceful. Allah mentions this saying,

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which means, "Who made everything He has created good." (As-Sajdah, 32:7)

And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, "The Work of Allah, Who perfected all things."

And He, the Almighty says,

which means, "You can see no fault in the creations of the Most Beneficent." (Al-Mulk, 67:3)

And the most pious among them is he who declares that beauty is absolute and that there is no ugliness in the universe. Their hearts lack all jealousy for the sake of Allah because of His love for beauty. While others worship Allah and perhaps some of them might exceed the limits and claim that his alleged lord is revealed in this shape and eminent in it. If he was a consolodationist,”> he would say that it was an aspect from among aspects of right and would call it aesthetic aspects.

Chapter: Kinds of Beauty

The other group disagreed with them and said that Allah, the Exalted dispraised the beauty of outer figures and the perfection of the body and creation. He, the Almighty says about the hypocrites,

Consolidation (ittihad): A doctrine adopted by some deviant mystic groups and is based on some pagan beliefs. Consolodationists (ittihadiyGn) believe that the entity of God is consolidated or unified with the entities of His Creatures, so that both entities become all in one. (Definitior translated with summary from Al-Mawsd'ah Al-Muyassarah fy Al-Adyan wal-Madhahib wal-Ahzab AlMu'assirah (Concise Encyclopedia of Religions, Doctrines, and Contemporary Parties) by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth, Third Edition).

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And He, the Almighty says,

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which means, "And how many a generation (past nations) have We destroyed before them, who were better in wealth, goods and outward appearance?" (Maryam, 19:74)

Al-Hasan said: it is the outer shape. And Muslim recorded that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Verily Allah does not look at your bodies nor at your faces but He looks at your hearts and deeds." They said that it is known that He does not deny perception but that this perception is not what brings about love. They said that He forbade wearing silken clothes, and gold (for men), eating from gold and silver vessels, which are among the most beautiful things in the world. Allah says,

which means, "And strain not your eyes in longing for the things We have given for enjoyment to various groups of them (polytheists and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah), the splendor of the life of this world that We may test them thereby."

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And the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Wearing old clothes is a part of faith." Allah dispraises spendthrifts. Wasting food and drink is like wasting clothing.

To solve this dispute it must be said: beauty of shape, clothing, and appearance is of three kinds: some of it is praiseworthy, some is dispraised, and some would be neither praised nor dispraised. The kind that is praised is what is done for the sake of Allah and that which helps in obeying Him, fulfilling His orders, and answering His demands. The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to adorn himself to meet delegations, as he used to wear clothing of war preparing himself to fight, and when he wore silken clothes during wars, everything he did was praised as it was done for the sake of Allah, raising His word, supporting His religion, and irritating His enemy, while that which is dispraised is what is done seeking this worldly life, gaining authority, pride, and desires and if it was done for a human being. The majority of souls do not have any intention to do other than this. What is neither praised nor dispraised is that which is at variance with these two aims and the two descriptions.

What is meant here is that this honorable hadith includes two great bases: the first is knowledge and the second is behavior, which is to know Allah, the Exalted through His beauty, which has no similarity and to worship Allan through what He loves from among the beauty of sayings, deeds, and manners. Allah loves His servant to beautify his tongue through speaking the truth, his heart through sincerity, repentance, and trust, his body through obeying, and through showing the blessings of Allah in his clothing, purifying it from all dirt, impurities, ritual impurities, and undesired hair, and performing circumcision and cutting

”* it has an authentic chain of transmission, recorded by Abu Dawdd, book of combing the hair, no.4161, and Ibn Majah in book of asceticism, no.4118. ibn Hajar said: it has an authentic chain of transmission, see Fath Al-Bary, chapter on combing hair and beginning with the right side.

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one’s nails. The servant will know Him through His aitributes of beauty and become acquainted with Him through the beauty of His deeds, sayings, and manners. He would know Him through the beauty, which He is described with and will worship Him through the beauty, which is His law and religion.

Chapter: Sincerity of Determination and Deeds

There is nothing more useful to the servant of Allah than being sincere with his Lord in all matters, especially sincerity in determination. The servant should be sincere in both his determination and in his deed. Allah, the Almighty says,

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which means, "And when the matter (preparation for Jihad) is resolved on, then if they had been true to Allah, it would have been better for them." (Muhammad, 47:21)

He will find happiness by being sincere in both determination and the truth of his deeds. Sincerity of determination is achieved through resolving and removing any hesitation.If he is sincere in his determination, the truth of his deeds still remains to be fulfilled, which is dedicating one's power and efforts without loosing anything from either the inner or the outer. Determination prevents weakness of will and intention, and the truthful deed prevents him from laziness and apathy. And whoever is true to Allah in all matters, Allah will grant him more than He does with others. This truth is a means that results from combining true sincerity and pure trust. The most truthful among people are those who are granted these characteristics.

A Precious Gem: The Will of the Servant

Allah has will and He orders His servant who also has a will to fulfill His commands, and if Allah wills to support and help him,

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he would fulfill His commands, but if He leaves him to his own will and soul, the servant will follow the desires of his soul as he is Aamere human. That is why Allah dispraised him in His book from this point and only praised him for being a Muslim, a believer, patient, charitable, thankful, pious, etc. which is more than just being a human being, who has a will. It is not enough to just have a will unless it is combined with something extra, which is success. It is just like having good eyes is not enough to see unless you also have a good light.

It is the pinnacle of injustice and ignorance to ask to be glorified and honored by people while your heart does not glorify or honor Allah. You are honoring a creature and glorifying and protecting him from seeing you in the real state that Allah sees you in. Allah says,

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which means, "What is the matter with you, [that you fear not Allah (His punishment), and] you hope not for reward (from Allah or you believe not in His Oneness)?" (Nih, 71:13)

That is you do not glorify Him or honor Him. As Allah says,