BEAUT Y

A ND THE
SACRED
L AW

Musa Furber

tabah essays series

no. 4, 2017
Beauty and the Sacred Law
Beauty and the Sacred Law

Musa Furber
tabah essays Series | Number 4 | 2017
ISSN: 2077-4850

Beauty and the Sacred Law

ISBN: 978-9948-9994-9-2

© 2017 Steven (Musa) Woodward Furber

Tabah Foundation
P.O. Box 107442
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
www.tabahfoundation.org

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or distrib-

uted in any manner without the express written consent of the author,
except in the case of brief quotations with full and accurate citations in
critical articles or reviews.

Cover Image © Portogas D Ace

Image: The golden ratio in the sunflower
Summary
“Verily Allah is beautiful and loves beauty”. With these few words,
the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and grant him peace) re-
minds humanity of the intrinsic relationship between beauty and
God’s own being: It is from God that abundant goodness flows,
and all that is beautiful is in turn the object of His love. It is for the
purpose of preserving and furthering all that is beautiful that God
revealed the Sacred Law (the Shari‘ah), as adherence to His Law is
the very basis of beautiful action. In turn, any attempt to modify or
to implement His Law in a piecemeal fashion can only distort the
harmony and proportion that issues when seen as a whole, leading to
ugliness rather than beauty. Understanding what beauty is and that
the Sacred law itself is beautiful helps explain why contemporary
revival and reforms so often lead to such ugliness. And recognizing
the beauty of the Sacred Law transforms adherence to the Law into
an act of love and devotion.

About the Author

musa furber is a Senior Research Fellow at the Tabah Foundation.
He studied the various Islamic Disciplines in Damascus, where he
received a license to teach the Shāfi‘ī school of law. He then studied
at Dar al-Ifta in Cairo, where he received a license to deliver legal
edicts (fatwas) from Sheikh Ali Gomaa. He also has a BA in Applied
Linguistics from Portland State University (Oregon, USA), and a
Masters in Public Administration from Dubai School of Govern-
ment. Some of his recent publications while at Tabah Foundation
include: Ethical Dimensions of Nanotechnology, Ethics & Virtual
Worlds, Ranking Confidence in the Validity of Contemporary Fat-
was & Their Dissemination Channels, Obligations to Future Gen-
erations, Rights and Duties Pertaining to Kept Animals, and The
Public Understanding of Islamic Scholarship in Society: Addressing
the Faux Fatwa Fiqhtion Addiction.
 Introduction

T
he sacred law of islam, the Shari‘ah, is beautiful.
Its primary sources are beautiful as are its individual
injunctions. Adherence to the Sacred Law is the basis
for beautiful action. That it is beautiful helps explain why
piecemeal implementations lead to ugliness. Recognizing this
beauty changes motivations in adhering to the Sacred Law.
This essay1 ​begins with a short definition of the Sacred
Law and an examination of the basic concepts of beauty in
Western and Islamic civilization. It then presents the beauty
of the primary sources of the Sacred Law. Next it argues that
the Sacred Law as a whole is beautiful, and that each of its
rulings contributes to beauty. It closes with a discussion of
some of the fruits of recognizing and appreciating this beauty.
Understanding what beauty is and that the Sacred Law is
beautiful helps explain why contemporary revival and reforms
so often lead to ugliness. And recognizing the beauty of the
Sacred Law transforms adherence to the Law into an act of
love and devotion.
Before examining basic concepts of beauty, it is important
to understand what is meant by the “Sacred Law”.
1. This essay is based on a series of lectures delivered at Zawiyah Rosales 2015,
Spain.

1
 The Sacred Law

The Arabic word Sharīʿah, translated in this essay as the “Sa-

cred Law”, comes from the root shīn–rāʾ–ʿayn. The verb sharaʿa
means to clarify or to make manifest, and words related to
this verb tend to include the concept of clarifying one thing
from another.
In the context of Islamic technical discourse, the verb
sharaʿa and its morphologically related words have a restricted
meaning. The verb itself means to clarify that something is
permitted or forbidden, or to clarify that something is made
permissible or unlawful. The source of this clarification is
the Shāriʿ or “Legislator”. This source clarifies legal judg-
ments and the correct manner of practicing the religion. The
true Legislator is Allah Most High. His legislation is known
through revelation. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him
peace) is sometimes referred to as a legislator since the com-
mands of the true Legislator (Allah) are revealed, explained,
and exemplified through him.
When the ruling of something has been clarified to be
permissible, it is considered mashrūʿ or “lawful”.
The Sharīʿah or “Sacred Law” is what Allah Most High
has clarified as being permissible or prohibited. The Sacred
Law covers the full gamut of actions and is not restricted to
matters of worship or what is typically covered in books of
fiqh. This is in contrast to dīn, which is restricted to matters
of devotion, obedience, worship, rewards, and recompense.
In this essay, the “Sacred Law” refers to whatever Allah
Most High has clarified as being permissible or prohibited.
This clarification is recorded in the primary textual sources
of Islam: the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (Allah
bless him and grant him peace). These clarifications are the
raw material for legal and ethical norms. Later we will return

2
to the sources of the Sacred Law and how they are a basis
for action.

Concepts of Beauty in the Ancient World

and in the West

Contemporary dictionary definitions of beauty tend to men-

tion that it is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, ob-
ject, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure
or satisfaction. Beauty has traditionally been counted among
the ultimate values, along with goodness, truth, and justice.
The earliest Western conceptions of beauty can be found in
the works of Greek philosophers from the pre-Socratic period.
The classical Greek noun that best translates to the English
“beauty” or “beautiful” was “κάλλος” (“kallos”). The word
can be translated as “good” or “of fine quality” so it has a
broader meaning than just physical beauty.
Prior to the Age of Enlightenment, the dominant philo-
sophical accounts of beauty treated it as an objective quality
of the beautiful object itself or of one of its qualities. Beauty
was a matter of arranging integral parts into a coherent whole,
according to proportion, harmony, and symmetry. This beauty
could lead to the experience of pleasure. This pleasure was an
effect of beauty. The effect itself might be subjective (some-
thing within the eye of the beholder), but the beauty itself was
objective (something external and independent of the eye of
the beholder). Beauty was often considered something em-
bodying divine goodness. Beauty was not limited to physical
items. Rather, behavior could be classified as beautiful, coming
from an inner state of morality, which is aligned to the good.
During the Enlightenment, the pleasure associated with
beauty was no longer held to be the effect of beauty, but rather
its very origin. The beholder’s experience of pleasure was itself

3
the beauty. Beauty was considered something within the eye
of the beholder, moving beauty from the object being beheld
to a state within the subject doing the beholding. Beauty was
no longer a cause external to ourselves for what we experi-
ence, but rather the very experience itself. Beauty, thus, had
been relegated to being a subjective mental state.
Some Enlightenment philosophers pointed out that beauty
is neither entirely subjective nor objective. If beauty is a subjec-
tive pleasure, then its status is no different from something that
merely entertains, amuses, or distracts. How then could beauty
be regarded as being comparable in importance to goodness,
truth, or justice? We differ in some of our aesthetic judgments,
so it does not make sense to say that beauty is entirely objec-
tive and aesthetic judgments are universal facts. Yet many of
our aesthetic judgments do agree to a remarkable extent and
we do agree that some judgments are better than others, so
it also does not make sense to say that beauty is completely
subjective. In the end, it does not seem to make sense to say
that beauty has no connection to subjective response or that
it is entirely objective.
These are among some of the reasons that beauty is one
of the most enduring and controversial themes in Western
philosophy.2 ​As we will soon see, there are many parallels
between pre-Enlightenment Western conceptions of beauty
and Islamic conceptions thereof.

Concepts of Arabic and Islamic Beauty

The Arabic words that indicate beauty are at the heart of Is-
lamic conceptions of beauty. So knowing these words along

2. Crispin Sartwell, “Beauty”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

(Spring 2014 Edition), ed. Edward N. Zalta, <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/
spr2014/entries/beauty/>.

4
with their definitions is the first step in understanding beauty
in Islam. The second step is looking at how beauty is discussed
in Islamic scholarship. This will be done here with samples
from the works of Ibn Fāris, al-Aṣfahānī, al-Ghazālī, and Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyyah.
Arabic has several words that convey the same meaning as
the Greek word “κάλλος” or the English “beauty”. The most
common words are derived from the roots jīm-mīm-lām and
“ḥāʾ-sīn-nūn. These words include jamāl (“beauty”) and jamīl
(“beautiful”); ḥusan (“beauty”) and iḥsān (“beneficence, excel-
lence”). There are other words, like ṭayyib (“delightful”); but
this essay focuses on these due to their primacy. The opposite
of beauty is often indicated by words derived from the root
qāf-bāʾ-ḥāʾ, such as qubḥ (“ugliness”) and qabīḥ (“ugly”).

Ibn Fāris
The core linguistic senses in classical Arabic for these words
are documented in Ibn Fāris’s lexicon Maqāyīs al-lughah.
Ibn Fāris was a lexicographer who died in 395ah/1004ce. A
distinguishing feature of his lexicon is that it gives the core
senses shared by words derived from a single root. Ibn Fāris
mentions that the root jīm–mīm–lām—from which we get
jamāl (“beauty”) and jamīl (“beautiful”), as well as jamal
(“camel”) and jumlah (“sentence”)—has two base senses. The
first sense is gathering things together and being enormous.
The second sense is that jīm–mīm–lām is synonymous with
ḥusn and the opposite of qubḥ (“ugliness”).3
As for the root ḥāʾ–sīn–nūn—from which we get ḥasan
(“good”)—it has a single sense meaning the opposite of qubḥ
(“ugliness”).4

3. Aḥmad ibn Fāris, Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lughah (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1399/1979),
1:481.
4. Ibid., 2:57.

5
 He mentions that the root qāf–bāʾ–ḥāʾ—from which we
get qabīḥ (“ugly”)—denotes the opposite of ḥusn (“beauty”),
thus meaning qubḥ (“ugliness”).5

al-Aṣfahānī
There are also lexicons of Qur’anic Arabic. One of the most
famous ones is al-Rāghib al-Aṣfahānī’s al-Mufradāt fī gharīb
al-Qurʾān. Al-Aṣfahānī was a scholar known for his works on
lexicography, tafsīr (exegesis or explanation of the Qur’an),
and moral philosophy. He died in 502ah/1108ce. His lexi-
con of Qur’anic Arabic lists each word that is mentioned in
the Qur’an, and enumerates its various senses with Qur’anic
examples for each sense. He is also the author of al-Dharīʿah
ilā makārim al-sharīʿah, which lays out an overall philosophy
of Islam—especially its moral and political philosophy.
In his Mufradāt, he defines jamāl as a great amount of
ḥusn (“beauty”), and says that it is divided into two. The first
division is beauty that is restricted to an individual in his self,
body, or actions. The second division is beauty that is tran-
sitive and extends to others. It is this second division that is
intended in the hadith narrated from the Prophet (Allah bless
him and grant him peace): “Verily Allah is beautiful and loves
beauty.” So this hadith means that abundant goodness flows
from Him, and He loves whoever possesses it (i.e., those indi-
viduals to whom His beauty has flowed).6 An example of this
occurs in the Qur’an in describing the blessing of livestock.
Allah Most High says: “And for you in them is beauty (jamāl)
when you bring them in [for the evening] and when you send
them out [to pasture].”7,8
5. Ibid., 5:47.
6. Rāghib al-Aṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt fī gharīb al-Qurʾān (Damascus: Dār al-Qalam,
1412/1991), 202.
7. Q16:6.
8. al-Aṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, 202.

6
 Elsewhere in the lexicon, al-Aṣfahānī writes that ḥusn
(“beauty”) denotes every enjoyment that is desirable. These
things fall into three categories, based upon whether it is via
one’s reason (min jihat al-ʿaql), proclivity (min jihat al-hawāʾ),
or senses (min jihat al-ḥiss) that the object is deemed to pos-
ses such beauty.9
The word iḥsān is one of the many words derived from the
same root. Iḥsān is often rendered in English with a meaning
that indicates excellence or beneficence. But it also indicates
the production of beauty.
Al-Aṣfahānī mentioned that the word iḥsān (in its sense
of “beneficence”) is more general than the word ʿadl (“jus-
tice, fairness”), which means to give what one is obliged and
to take only what one deserves. The word iḥsān, in contrast,
is more general since it means to give more than what one is
obliged, and take less than one deserves. Also, practicing “ʿadl”
(“justice, fairness”) is obligatory, whereas practicing “iḥsān”
(“beneficence”) is recommended and supererogatory. This is
why Allah Most High gives such a tremendous reward to those
who surpass in goodness and beneficence (al-muḥsinīn). Al-
lah Most High says, “And truly Allah is wholly on the side
of the muḥsinīn.”10,11
The lexicon mentions that qabīḥ denotes entities that vi-
sion considers disagreeable; and deeds and states that the self
considers disagreeable.12

9. Ibid., 235.
10. Q29:69.
11. al-Aṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, 235.
12. Ibid., 651.

7
al-Ghazālī
Imam al-Ghazālī is the well-known Shāfiʿī polymath who died
in 505ah/1111ce. In the section on listening to music or song,
and ecstasy in Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, Imam al-Ghazālī wrote:

Every beautiful thing is beloved to whoever perceives that

beauty. Allah Most High is beautiful and loves beauty.
When beauty is through harmonious physical features
and purity in color, it is perceived by the sense of sight.
When beauty is through majesty and greatness, high
rank, beautiful attributes, manners, wanting good for
all of creation (and wanting it flowing over them con-
tinuously), and other inward attributes—it is perceived
by the sense of the heart.
The phrase “beauty” (jamāl) can be used meta-
phorically for this [beauty that is perceived through
the heart]. It is said, “So-and-so is beautiful (jamīl) or
fine (ḥasan).” His appearance is not intended by this,
but rather what is meant by it is that he has beautiful
(jamīlah) manners, praiseworthy attributes, and a fine
(ḥasan) form of conduct. An individual might even be
loved for these internal attributes out of love for the
attributes themselves—just as the external form is loved.
This love can become intensified until it is called ʿishq—
passionate love.13

In the same section, Imam al-Ghazālī pointed out that

we naturally love the prophets, Companions, and others who
possess inward beauty. It is amazing and rational to have in-
tense love for an individual who has passed away and whose
physical appearance one has never seen—due to the beauty of
his internal form, excellent conduct, and all the good things
he has done.14

13. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.), 2:280.
14. Ibid.

8
Ibn al-Qayyim
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah is the well-known Hanbali scholar
and student of Ibn Taymiyyah. He died in 751ah/1350ce. He
was a prolific writer who touched on almost every subject.
The subject of his book Rawḍat al-muḥibbīn [Garden of the
lovers] is love of Allah. One of its chapters is titled “The Mer-
its of Beauty and How Individuals Are Always Attracted to
It”. I will summarize some of the more relevant points here.
Ibn al-Qayyim begins the chapter by dividing beauty into
two. The first division is internal beauty. This beauty includes
qualities such as knowledge, the intellect, generosity, virtu-
ousness, and bravery. Allah Most High looks at this internal
beauty when He looks to His servants, and it is the object of
His love. The authentic hadith “Verily Allah does not look
to your forms and wealth, but rather He looks to your hearts
and actions”15 refers to this internal beauty.
The second division is external beauty. This beauty is a
quality that Allah gives to some instances of His creation,
and it is part of what is meant by “increasing in creation” in
the verse “He increases in creation what He wills”.16 Exter-
nal beauty for humans, for example, can exist in the shape
of their body, and voice.
Internal beauty adorns the external form. Someone who
possesses an ugly external form can be deemed beautiful due
to his internal beauty. We consider a man who is righteous
and charitable, and who has beautiful character, among the
most beautiful of people—even though his physical appearance
is ordinary or even repulsive. Similarly, internal ugliness can
cloak external beauty when this internal ugliness manifests

15. Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim (Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, n.d.),
4:1986.2564.
16. Q35:1.

9
as bad behavior—leading us to consider such a person ugly
despite his external beauty.
Internal beauty is superior to external beauty. One of the
reasons for this is that internal beauty leaves a longer impres-
sion on our hearts. We continue to extoll, love, and be attracted
to those who possess and exercise internal beauty long after
we have forgotten those who possess only outward beauty.
Ibn al-Qayyim then mentions that internal and external
beauty are both blessings from Allah Most High. Anyone
who possesses a form of beauty must express his thanks to
Allah for blessing him with it. One way to express thanks is
by preserving one’s beauty and ensuring that it is used only
in ways and for the sake of things that are lawful. Someone
who expresses thanks for his beauty will become even more
beautiful. Someone who does the opposite and uses his beauty
to disobey Allah will lose his beauty or even have it turned
into ugliness and disgrace. An increase in beauty or its inver-
sion does not even require an external change, since internal
beauty covers external ugliness and conceals it, just as internal
ugliness covers external beauty and conceals it.
External beauty can be used as a means to develop internal
beauty. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace)
would sometimes mention an individual’s external beauty in
order to call them to develop their internal beauty. Jarīr ibn
ʿAbdullāh—who some described as being the most handsome
Companion (Allah be well pleased with them all)—reported
that the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said
to him: “You are an individual whom Allah has given a beau-
tiful appearance, so beautify your character.”17 Some sages
have said that one should look in the mirror every day; if he
considers himself to have a beautiful appearance, he does

17. Abū Bakr al-Kharāʾiṭī, al-Muntaqā min kitāb makārim al-akhlāq (Damascus:
Dār al-Fikr, 1406/1985), 5, 7.

10
not disgrace it by performing something ugly. And if he sees
himself to be ugly, he does not combine having an ugly ap-
pearance and ugly actions.18
Ibn al-Qayyim also includes a small discussion on the true
nature of beauty. He begins with stating that beauty can-
not be comprehended except through its description (waṣf),
thus excluding the possibility of defining it through its es-
sence (dhāt). He then gives several possibilities for what ḥusn
(“beauty”) truly is.
The first possibility is that beauty is when characteristics
are symmetrical, proportionate, and in balance. He then notes
that one problem with this description is that many forms
possess symmetrical characteristics that are not considered
to possess ḥusn (“beauty”).
The second possibility is that ḥusn is specific to beauty in
the face, while malāḥah is when beauty is in the eyes.
The third is that beauty is a combination of radiance and
gracefulness, fine portions and design, and rosiness in the skin.
The fourth is that beauty is a concept that cannot itself be
comprehended via expression nor encompassed by a descrip-
tion. Rather, people possess qualities that are ḥusn (“beauty”)
and it is those qualities that can be expressed. And the Mes-
senger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was
the pinnacle in possessing beautiful qualities.19



Arabic and Islamic works are consistent in using words de-

rived from the roots ḥāʾ–sīn–nūn and jīm–mīm–lām almost
interchangeably to describe forms, qualities, and actions that

18. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, Rawḍat al-muḥibbīn (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub

al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1403/1983), 221–3.
19. Ibid., 232.

11
are pleasing and agreeable. The words ḥusn and jamāl both
have senses that something is experienced as pleasurable or
delightful, and that these senses are the opposite of qubḥ,
which denotes what is experienced as disagreeable. So there is
a linguistic connection between ḥusn (“goodness”) and jamāl
(“beauty”).
Actions, objects, and ideas can all be beautiful or ugly; and
the apprehension of this quality can occur through different
faculties. This beauty exists in the object being perceived. It
is not located in the act of perception or in the perceiver.
Many Islamic texts affirm that beauty is related to arrang-
ing integral parts into a coherent whole, according to propor-
tion, harmony, and symmetry.
Beauty as an arrangement and the connection between
beauty and the good are both common themes in the conceptu-
alization of beauty in both Western and in Islamic civilizations.
It is now time to look closer at the beauty of the Sacred
Law’s Legislators.

Beautiful Legislators

Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace)
are the sources of Islamic knowledge and disciplines—which
include the Sacred Law. Both of these sources are beautiful.
Allah is the ultimate in beauty and He possesses His most
beautiful names. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him
peace) is the best of His creation. His appearance, character,
and actions were described as being the most beautiful. His
beautiful character and actions were a living expression of the
Qur’an. Descriptions of his character and actions are recorded
in the Sunnah.

12
Allah Is Beautiful and He Loves Beauty
Allah possesses the most beautiful names and He is the ulti-
mate in beauty. Allah Most High says: “And to Allah belong
the most beautiful names, so invoke Him by them”20; “Say,
‘Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Merciful. Whichever
[name] you call—to Him belong the most beautiful names.’”21;
“Allah—there is no deity except Him. To Him belong the most
beautiful names”22; and “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inven-
tor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the most beautiful names.”23
The “most beautiful names” in these four verses have been
understood to be the “ninety-nine names” that are referred
to in an authentic hadith narrated by Abū Hurayrah (Allah
be well pleased with him) and enumerated in other hadiths,
and which have been explained in various works.24
The names of Allah are described as “the most beautiful
and excellent (aḥsan) names because they point to excellent
meanings of rending majesty, exalting (Him), and so forth”.
These names reflect magnification (taʿẓīm), yield paradise as a
reward according to the divine promise, attract hearts through
divine generosity and mercy, teach which aspects of His de-
scription are necessary, possible, or impossible with respect to
Him, and constitute the noblest type of knowledge conceiv-
able, since their referent is the Almighty.25
Abū Hurayrah (Allah be well pleased with him) said that
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace)
said, “Truly Allah possesses ninety-nine names—one hundred
minus one—and whoever comprehends them (aḥṣāhā) enters
20. Q7:180.
21. Q17:110.
22. Q20:8.
23. Q59:24.
24. Gibril Fouad Haddad, “Beautiful Names of Allah”, in Integrated Encyclopedia
of the Quran, ed. Muzaffar Iqbal (Sherwood Park, AB: Center for Islamic Sci-
ences, 2013), 357–8.
25. Ibid., 358.

13
paradise.” Al-Bukhārī and Muslim both transmitted this au-
thentic narration.26
The enumerated list of names that most of us are familiar
with is a narration that al-Tirmidhī transmitted. This narra-
tion does not include al-Jamīl (“the Beautiful”).27 However,
Ibn Mājah transmitted another narration that does include al-
Jamīl as one of the names.28 Additionally, Muslim transmitted
an authentic narration that describes Allah as jamīl: “Allah is
beautiful (jamīl) and he loves beauty (jamāl).”29
Some scholars include al-Jamīl among the beautiful names
of Allah Most High.30
Many books are dedicated to explaining the meanings of
the ninety-nine names and how individuals can put them into
practice. Imam al-Ghazālī’s al-Maqṣad al-asnā is probably
the best-known example. It has been translated into numerous
languages. Imam al-Ghazālī explains that “the perfection and
happiness of man consists in conforming to the perfections of
God Most High, and in adorning himself with the meanings
of His attributes and names insofar as this is conceivable for
man”.31 So one learns these names, contemplates them, makes
them part of his character, and then puts them into practice.
Imam al-Ghazālī explained that Allah is al-Jalīl (“the Ma-
jestic”) because He is the one who is qualified by the attributes
of majesty (jalāl). These attributes include might, dominion,

26. Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ (Beirut: Dār Tawq al-Najāh,
1422/2001), 3:198.2736, 9:118.7392; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 4:2063.2677.
27. Muḥammad ibn ʿIsā al-Tirmidhī, al-Sunan (Cairo: Sharikah Maktabah wa
Maṭbaʿah Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī, 1395/1975), 5:530.3507.
28. Abū ʿAbdullāh ibn Mājah, al-Sunan (Aleppo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah,
n.d.), 2:1269.3861.
29. Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1:93.147.
30. Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī, al-Taḥbīr fi al-Tadhkīr (Damascus: Maktabat Dār
al-Bayrūtī, 1424/2003), 71.
31. al-Ghazālī, The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God, trans. David B. Burrell
and Nazih Daher (Cambridge, UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1995), 40; idem.,
al-Maqṣad al-asnā (Cyprus: al-Jaffān wa al-Jābī, 1407/1987), 115.

14
sanctification, knowledge, wealth, and power. When the intel-
lect perceives these attributes, they are called “beauty”, and
the one qualified by them is called “beautiful”. The absolute
and truly beautiful one is God alone since all the beauty, per-
fection, splendor, and attractiveness in the world comes from
the lights of His essence and the traces of His attributes.32
So Allah is beautiful and He possesses beautiful names.
This beauty is manifested in the world around us. One of its
greatest manifestations is through the Qur’an with its beau-
tiful phrasing and content, and which we are commanded
to recite in a beautiful fashion. His Qur’an is the first of the
Sacred Law’s primary textual sources.

The Beauty of the Messenger (Allah bless him and grant

him peace)
The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the best
of His creation. His appearance, character, and actions were
described as being the most beautiful. His beautiful charac-
ter and actions were shaped by the beauty of the Qur’an and
recorded in his beautiful Sunnah.
One of the most complete accounts of the Prophet (Allah
bless him and grant him peace) is al-Shifā by al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ
(d. 544ah/1149ce). Al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ wrote:

Know, may Allah illuminate my heart and yours and

increase my love and your love for this noble Prophet!—
that if you were to look into all those qualities of
perfection which cannot be acquired and which are part
of one’s constitution, you will find that the Prophet (Allah
bless him and grant him peace) has every one of them—
all of the various good qualities without there being any
dispute about it among the transmitters of the traditions.

32. Ibid., 122–3; idem., al-Maqṣad al-asnā, 115–16.

15
 The beauty of his form and the perfect proportion
of his limbs are related in numerous sound and famous
traditions. […]
He had the most radiant colouring, deep black eyes
which were wide-set and had a sort of red tint to them,
long eyelashes, a bright complexion, an aquiline nose, and
a gap between his front teeth. His face was round with a
wide brow and he had a thick beard which reached his
chest. His chest and abdomen were of equal size. He was
broad-chested with broad shoulders. He had large bones,
large arms, thick palms and soles, long fingers, fair skin
and fine hair from the chest to the navel. He was neither
tall nor short, but between the two. In spite of that no
tall person who walked with the Prophet seemed taller
than him. His hair was neither curly nor straight. When
he laughed and his teeth showed, it was like a flash of
lightning or they seemed as white as hailstones. When he
spoke, it was like light issuing from between his teeth.
He had a well-formed neck, neither broad nor fat. He
had a compact body which was not fleshy.33

Something to notice in this description is that proportion,

symmetry, and balance all played a role in the physical beautify
of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace).
His character was a major part of his beauty. And his
character was the Qur’an. Imam al-Ghazālī’s abridgment of
his own Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn provides a glimpse:

Saʿd bin Hishām said, “I visited ʿĀʾishah, may Allāh be

pleased with her, and I asked her about the manners of
the Messenger of God [Allah bless him and grant him
peace]. She asked me whether I read the Koran or not,
to which I answered in the affirmative. To which she
reported that the manners of The Messenger of God

33. al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, Muhammad: Messenger of Allah, trans. Aisha Abdarrahman

Bewley (Inverness, Scotland: Madinah Press, 1991), 33–4; idem., al-Shifā bi
taʿrīf ḥuqūq al-Muṣṭafā (Amman: Dār al-Fayḥāʾ, 1407/1986), 145–51.

16
 [Allah bless him and grant him peace] were the Koran,
and his example in the Koran akin to The Exalted stating
therein, ‘Practice tolerance, enjoin goodness, and shun
the ignorant’ [Q7:199]. And The Exalted saying, ‘God
orders justice, benevolence, and generosity to kith and
kin, and forbids grossness, abominations and injustice.’
And The Exalted saying: ‘and be tolerant of what befalls
you, for that is firmness (in faith) in the order of things.’”
And many other statements. […]
Verily, note that these āyāt (verses) abound in the
Koran, and he is the prime target for emulation and
perfection, for from him emanates the light that shines
on the rest of Creation. He [Allah bless him and grant
him peace] said, ‘I was sent to complete the perfection
of manners.’ […]
He [Allah bless him and grant him peace] was the
most fluent speaker of all and the sweetest talker, and
he used to say he was the most eloquent of Arabs; and
that the residents of Paradise speak in the language of
the Prophet [Allah bless him and grant him peace].
He spoke with the authority of Comprehensive
Knowledge, without superfluity or incompleteness, his
words flowed perfectly, interspersed with pauses that
would imprint them on the listener and enlighten him.34

Allah Most High commands us to follow and emulate the

Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace). For example,
Allah Most High says, “O you who have believed, obey Allah
and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you. And
if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah and the Mes-
senger, if you should believe in Allah and the Last Day. That
is the best [way] and best in result”35; and “He who obeys the

34. al-Ghazālī, Mukhtaṣar Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn: The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn as abridged
by himself, trans. Marwan Khalaf (Nikosia, Cyprus: 2013), 211–20; idem.,
Mukhtaṣar Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn (Damascus: Maktabat Dār al-Bayrūtī, 1420/1999),
177–94.
35. Q4:59.

17
Messenger has obeyed Allah; but those who turn away—We
have not sent you over them as a guardian.”36 T​ he statements,
actions, and description of the Prophet (Allah bless him and
grant him peace) are recorded in the Sunnah. His Sunnah is
the second of the Sacred Law’s primary textual sources.
Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. We experience this
beauty when we examine the created world and contemplate
the āyāt (“signs” or “indicators”) He has placed therein.37 W
​ e
also experience this beauty when we interact with the Qur’an
via recitation, understanding, contemplation, and implemen-
tation. He possesses the most beautiful names. Since some of
His names are fit as descriptions for human beings, making
them our character and putting them into practice allows
us to become reflections—albeit limited and imperfect re-
flections—of His beauty and His beautiful names. The most
perfect example of this is His final Messenger Muhammad
(Allah bless him and grant him peace).
Allah Most High and His Messenger (Allah bless him
and grant him peace) are Legislators of the Sacred Law. The
Qur’an and the Sunnah are the primary textual sources of
the Sacred Law. The sources of the Sacred Law are beautiful.
So is the Sacred Law itself. It is beautiful as a whole and in
its individual rulings.

the Beauty of the Sacred Law

Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. What He does is beautiful

and good. The Sharīʿah or “Sacred Law” is what Allah Most
High has clarified as permissible or prohibited. This clarifica-

36. Q4:80.
37. See Jihad Hashim Brown, Metaphysical Dimensions of Muslim Environmental
Consciousness, Tabah Essays Series 3 (Abu Dhabi: Tabah Foundation, 2013).

18
tion is among what He does. It follows that the Sacred Law,
as a whole, is beautiful.
The Sacred Law as a whole is beautiful. So are its individual
commands and prohibitions. Allah Almighty prescribed iḥsān
in all things. Allah Most High says, “Indeed, Allah orders
justice (ʿadl) and iḥsān and giving to relatives and forbids
immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes
you that perhaps you will be reminded.”38 The word iḥsān is
often explained to mean “good conduct”, though linguisti-
cally it also means to make beauty.
The verse uses the present imperfect tense of the verb
yaʾmuru (“orders”). This form indicates that the command
and prohibition are continuous and ongoing. So He com-
mands beauty and excellence always and continuously; and
He prohibits ugliness and wrongdoing always and continu-
ously. Since they are continuous, they are also concurrent to all
other commands and prohibitions. So a command for beauty
is embedded within each of the Sacred Law’s commands.
This command is enforced in another verse where He Most
High says, “And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of
iḥsān.”39 ​This verse is an incitement to do the good and the
beautiful since people are likely to strive for and compete in
any affair that is a cause for Allah’s love.
So Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Allah has com-
manded us to perform what is beautiful and good. He has
prohibited us from what is ugly and wrong. He does this
always and continuously. Everything He commands is good
or a cause for good. And due to the link between the good
and the beautiful: everything He commands is beautiful or a
cause for beauty. It follows that obeying His commands leads

38. Q16:90.
39. Q2:195.

19
to beauty. Disobeying His commands leads to the opposite of
beauty; that opposite is ugliness.
Similarly, everything that Allah prohibits is wrong or a
cause for what is wrong. Due to the link between the bad
and the ugly: everything He prohibits is ugly or a cause for
ugliness. It follows that disobeying His prohibitions leads to
ugliness. Obeying His prohibitions leads to the opposite of
ugliness; that opposite is beauty.
There are two immediate benefits from recognizing that
the Sacred Law (sharīʿah) is beautiful. The first is that it helps
explain why altering the Sacred Law or focusing on some
parts at the exclusion of others both result in a reduction or
complete loss of its beauty. The second is that appreciating
the beauty of the Sacred Law transforms its practice into an
act of love and devotion.
Some definitions of beauty state that it is the arrangement
of the integral parts of a whole according to proportion, sym-
metry, and harmony. If this is the case, then altering such an
arrangement via addition, removal, or other change will result
in a rearrangement that risks violating the proportion, sym-
metry, and harmony that led to the beauty. Similarly, the Sa-
cred Law is beautiful as a whole and in its individual rulings.
Altering a single ruling within the Sacred Law can transform
its beauty into ugliness since the new arrangement will either
decrease or end the portion, symmetry, and harmony that led
to its beauty. Therefore, altering the Sacred Law results in a
reduction or complete loss of its beauty.
The Sacred Law is perfect as it is. Allah Most High an-
nounced its perfection when He said, “This day I have per-
fected for you your religion and I have completed My blessing
upon you, and I have approved Islam for your religion.”40 Any
alteration to the Sacred Law—any other selection or arrange-
40. Q5:3.

20
ment of laws—will be imperfect. This imperfection will come
with a loss in the portion, symmetry, and harmony that led
to its beauty. Once again: altering the Sacred Law will result
in a reduction or complete loss of its beauty.
Similarly, focusing on some parts of the Sacred Law at the
exclusion of others will also result in the same. This is because
focusing on some parts of a beautiful whole while excluding
its other parts also leads to a loss of portion, symmetry, and
harmony. Imagine a face. The eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and
other features have the proper proportion, symmetry, harmony,
and arrangement to be beautiful. Now imagine that one of
the eyes is larger and lower down while the other is smaller,
higher up, and triangular. The face will lose its portion, sym-
metry, and harmony—resulting in a partial or complete loss
of beauty. Now imagine that every feature except the mouth
disappeared. It would be impossible to continue to claim that
this single remaining part is a face.
So we can expect ugliness (and injustice) to occur when
the Sacred Law is reduced to focusing on the rights of hus-
bands and the duties of wives while ignoring the duties of
husbands and rights of wives; or to implementing punishments
(ḥudūd) without ensuring that their requisite conditions have
been met and that the judge has made every attempt to ward
off the punishment; or to acts of worship to be performed
in the mosque or house while ignoring laws related to trade,
personal status, diet, or justice. So focusing on some parts of
the Sacred Law at the exclusion of others results in a reduc-
tion or complete loss of its beauty and purpose. And if parts
of the Sacred Law are removed one by one, there is a point
where it becomes impossible to claim that what remains is
the Sacred Law.

21
 With this in mind, it is no surprise that attempts to reform
the Sacred Law and selectively reintroduce parts result in ugly
monstrosities that bear little resemblance other than in name.
Appreciating the beauty of the Sacred Law transforms its
adherence into an act of love and devotion. It was mentioned
when exploring beauty in Islamic writings that recognizing
something is beautiful leads to attraction and love for that
thing. When we love a thing, we seek to be near it, to protect
it, to employ it in a way that is faithful to it and its purpose—to
follow and adhere to it, to act in a way that is pleasing accord-
ing to it. And love for a thing leads to love of its possessor,
founder, master. When we love a living being, we seek to spend
time in its company and minimize separations; and we strive
to please it and avoid anything that leads to its displeasure.
Similarly, recognizing beauty in the Sacred Law should lead
to attraction and love of it, seeking to be near it, protecting
it, and to follow and adhere to it in a way that is pleasing, ac-
cording to it. And this love for the Sacred Law should lead to
love of its Legislator, Allah Most High. Love of the Legislator
should lead us to spend time in His company and minimize
being separated from Him; it should lead us to strive to please
Him and avoid anything that leads to His displeasure.
True love propels hearts, tongues, and limbs to please and
obey. The proof of our love for the Legislator is our adherence
to His legislation—to His Sacred Law—wherein He clarified
what pleases and displeases Him.
Commands and prohibitions are the primary means for
clarifying what pleases and displeases Him. That He com-
manded us to perform something indicates that it pleases Him.
This is usually indicated using the verbal form ifʿal (“Do this!”).
Similarly, that He prohibits something indicates that it dis-
pleases Him. This is usually indicated using the verbal form
lā tafʿal (“Do not do this!”).

22
 But clear commands and prohibitions are not the only way
that Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him
peace) indicate to us what is pleasing and displeasing (or what
is beautiful and good, or ugly and bad). In al-Imām, al-ʿIzz ibn
ʿAbd al-Salām lists thirty-three other phrasal forms that are
used in the Qur’an to indicate commands. His list includes:41

1. That the action is extolled.42

2–3. That the action is praised,43 or its actor is praised.44
4. That the action is a cause for delight.45
5–6. That the action is loved,46 or its actor is loved.47
7–9. That the action is pleasing,48 a cause for its actor be-
ing pleasing,49 or being pleased by His Lord.50
10–15. That the action is described with uprightedness
(istiqāmah),51 being a blessing (barakah),52 as a way of draw-

41. Examples for each item are included in the footnotes. They have not been
included in the essay as they are not essential to its argument.
42. “To Him ascends good speech, and righteous work raises it” (Q35:10).
43. “Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing” (Q29:45).
44. “An excellent servant, indeed he was one repeatedly turning back [to Allah]”
(Q38:30, 38:44).
45. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Allah is more delighted
with the repentance of one of you than any of you are with recovering a lost
animal.” al-Tirmidhī, al-Sunan, 5:547.3838 (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ gharīb).
46. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, “Verily, You [O Allah]
are forgiving and love forgiveness.” al-Tirmidhī, al-Sunan, 5:534.3513 (ḥasan
ṣaḥīḥ); Ibn Mājah, al-Sunan, 2:1265.3850.
47. “Indeed, Allah loves those who are constantly repentant and loves those who
purify themselves” (Q2:222).
48. “And if you are grateful, He approves it for you” (Q39:7).
49. “Allah will say, ‘This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truth-
fulness.’ For them are gardens [in paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein
they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That
is the great attainment” (Q5:119).
50. “Then as for one whose scales are heavy [with good deeds], he will be in a
pleasant life” (Q101:6–7).
51. “And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, [being] sincere to
Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakat.
And that is the correct religion” (Q98:5).
52. “But when you enter houses, give greetings of peace upon each other—a greet-
ing from Allah, blessed and good” (Q24:61).

23
ing closer to Allah (qurbah),53 the actor as being close,54 being
wholesome (ṭayyib),55 or its actor as being wholesome (ṭayyib).56
16–17. That an oath is sworn by the actor,57 or the action.58
18–23. That the action is made a cause for His love,59 re-
ward in the near60 or far61 future, remembrance,62 expression
of thanks,63 guidance.64
24–28. That the action is made a cause for forgiveness of
errors and the expiation of sins,65 deeds being corrected (iṣlāḥ)66
or accepted,67 or the actor being given assistance and victory,68
or glad tidings.69
53. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that Allah says:
“Whoever draws close one hand-span I draw close to him a cubit.” al-Bukhārī,
al-Ṣaḥīḥ, 9:121.7405.
54. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) said that Allah says: “I am
in the company of whoever mentions me.” al-Bukhārī, al-Ṣaḥīḥ, 9:121.7405,
7505; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 4:2061.2675, 2877.
55. “And they had been guided [in worldly life] to good speech [saying ‘There is
no deity worthy of worship other than Allah’]” (Q22:24).
56. “Say, ‘Not equal are the evil and the good (ṭayyib)’” (Q5:100).
57. “By Dawn. And by the ten nights. And by the even number and the odd”
(Q89:1–3)—when it is understood to correspond to the prayer.
58. “By the racers, panting” (Q100:1)—which praises those who fight in the way
of Allah.
59. “Say, [O Muhammad,] ‘If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah
will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful’”
(Q3:31).
60. “And their words were not but that they said, ‘Our Lord, forgive us our sins
and the excess [committed] in our affairs and plant firmly our feet and give
us victory over the disbelieving people.’ So Allah gave them the reward of this
world and the good reward of the Hereafter. And Allah loves the doers of good”
(Q3:147–8).
61. “And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great
attainment” (Q33:71).
62. “So remember Me; I will remember you” (Q2:152).
63. “And whoever volunteers good”—here meaning ṭawwāf—“then indeed, Allah
is Appreciative and Knowing” (Q2:158).
64. “And those who strive for Us—We will surely guide them to Our ways”
(Q29:69).
65. “But if you conceal them”—meaning charity—“and give them to the poor, it is
better for you, and He will remove from you some of your misdeeds” (Q2:271).
66. “O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice.
He will [then] amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins” (Q33:70–1).
67. “Indeed, Allah only accepts from the righteous [who fear Him]” (Q5:27).
68. “Indeed, Allah is with the patient” (Q2:153).
69. “And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they
will have gardens [in paradise] beneath which rivers flow” (Q2:25).

24
 29–31. That the action is described as good conduct,70 a
cause for negating sadness and fear from its actor,71 or with
promise of amnesty in the Afterlife.72
32. That the prophets (peace be upon them) supplicated for
the action to occur.73
33. That the action is a cause for friendship with Allah.74

He then notes that each of the forms go back to praising an

action or its actor, or promising rewards for its performance.75
He gives a similar list of forty-seven additional phrasal forms
to indicate prohibition. He similarly notes that all of them go
back to dispraise and threats.76
Someone who truly loves Allah will seek anything that
pleases Him and avoid anything that displeases Him. Know-
ing what pleases and displeases Him requires looking beyond
“Do!” and “Do not do!” (“ifʿal!” and “lā tafʿal!”) as those
are just two of the many phrasal forms Allah uses for clari-
fying these things. And it is these clarifications that make up
the Sacred Law.
Love of Allah and love of the Sacred Law are tied together
since Allah is beautiful and the Legislator of the Sacred Law,
and the Sacred Law is beautiful. Recognizing beauty leads
to love, and love motivates the lover to obey in certain ways
towards the object of their love.

70. “And let there be [arising] from you a nation inviting to [all that is] good,
enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong, and those will be the
successful” (Q3:104).
71. “Indeed, those who have said, ‘Our Lord is Allah’ and then remained on a
right course—the angels will descend upon them, [saying], ‘Do not fear and
do not grieve but receive good tidings of paradise, which you were promised’”
(Q41:30).
72. “Indeed, the righteous will be within gardens and springs. [Having been told],
‘Enter it in peace, safe [and secure]’” (Q15:45–6).
73. “Cause me to die a Muslim and join me with the righteous” (Q12:101).
74. “Allah is the ally of those who believe” (Q2:257).
75. ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Sulamī, al-Imām fī bayān adillat al-aḥkām
(Beirut: Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah, 1407/1987), 87–103.
76. Ibid., 105–25.

25
 So recognizing the beauty of the Sacred Law and its Leg-
islator should lead to a profound change in perspective and
motivation in one’s practice of the Sacred Law. Islamic texts
affirm this expectation. When writing on love of Allah in his
tafsīr, Ibn Juzay (the well-known Maliki scholar of law and
exegete of the Qur’an, who died in 741ah/1340ce) wrote:
“Know that when love for Allah is established in the heart,
its effects appear on the limbs. Its effects include earnestness
in obeying Him and energy for serving Him; coveting what
pleases Him; delight in His secret discourse; contentment with
His decrees.”77 Elsewhere, he pointed out that it is false to
claim one’s love for Allah—and by extension His Messenger
(Allah bless him and grant him peace)—while continuing to
engage in acts of disobedience. He summarizes the idea in
two lines of poetry:

You disobey God while displaying love for Him,

this, by my life, is an unprecedented analogy.78
Had your love been true you would have obeyed Him;
Verily the lover is obedient to his beloved.79

True love does not settle for barely scraping by, but rather
strives towards perfection. True love does not disobey or ra-
tionalize away the need to please or obey. Such rationaliza-
tions are the product of a love that is false—a mere lip service
and vanity.

77. Ibn Juzay, Ibn Juzay’s Sufic Exegesis, trans. Musa Furber (n.p.: Islamosaic,
2015), “Love of Allah”; idem, al-Tashīl li ʿulūm al-tanzīl (Beirut: Dār al-Arqam,
1416/1995), 1:105.
78. Another version of the poem has “shanīʿ” instead of “badīʿ”.
79. Ibn Juzay, Ibn Juzay’s Sufic Exegesis, “Love of Allah”; idem, al-Tashīl, 1:169.

26
 References

al-Aṣfahānī, Rāghib. al-Mufradāt fī gharīb al-Qurʾān. Edited by

Ṣafwān ʿAdnān al-Dāwūdī. Damascus: Dār al-Qalam, 1412/1991.
Brown, Jihad Hashim. Metaphysical Dimensions of Muslim Envi-
ronmental Consciousness. Tabah Essay Series 3. Abu Dhabi:
Tabah Foundation, 2013.
al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʿīl Abū ʿAbdullāh. al-Jāmiʿ al-ṣaḥīḥ
al-mukhtaṣar. Edited by Muḥammad Zuhayr ibn Nāṣir al-Nāṣir.
Beirut: Dār Tawq al-Najāh, 1422/2001.
al-Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad. Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Beirut:
Dār al-Maʿrifah, n.d.
———. al-Maqṣad al-asnā. Edited by Bassām ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Jābī.
Cyprus: al-Jaffān wa al-Jābī, 1407/1987.
———. Mukhtaṣar Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn. Damascus: Maktabat Dār
al-Bayrūtī, 1420/1999.
———. Mukhtaṣar Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn: The Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm ad-dīn as
abridged by himself. Translated and annotated by Marwan
Khalaf. Nikosia, Cyprus: Spohr, 2013.
———. The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God: al-Maqṣad
al-asnā fī sharḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā. Translated with notes
by David B. Burrell and Nazih Daher. Cambridge, UK: Islamic
Texts Society, 1995.
Haddad, Gibril Fouad. “Beautiful Names of Allah”. In Integrated
Encyclopedia of the Quran. 7 vols. Edited by Muzaffar Iqbal.
Sherwood Park, AB: Center for Islamic Sciences, 2013.
Ibn Fāris, Aḥmad. Muʿjam maqāyīs al-lughah. Edited by ʿAbd
al-Salām Muḥammad Hārūn. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1399/1979.
Ibn Juzay. Ibn Juzay’s Sufic Exegesis. Translated by Musa Furber.
N.p.: Islamosaic, 2015.
———. al-Tashīl li ʿulūm al-tanzīl. Edited by ʿAbdullāh al-Khālidī.
Beirut: Dār al-Arqam, 1416/1995.
Ibn Mājah, Abū ʿAbdullāh Muḥammad ibn Yazīd al-Qizwīnī. Sunan
Ibn Mājah. Edited by Muḥammad Fūʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Aleppo:
Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah, n.d.

27
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. Rawḍat al-muḥibbīn wa nuzhat
al-mushtāqīn. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1403/1983.
al-Kharāʾīṭī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Jaʿjar. al-Muntaqā min kitāb
makārim al-akhlāq. Edited by Muḥammad Muṭīʿ al-Ḥāfiẓ and
Ghazwat Badīr. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1406/1985.
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj. al-Musnad al-ṣaḥīḥ al-mukhtaṣar. Edited by
Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth, n.d.
al-Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ. Muhammad, Messenger of Allah: Ash-Shifa of Qadi
ʿIyad. Translated by Aisha Abdarrahman Bewley. Inverness,
Scotland: Madinah Press, 1991.
———. al-Shifā bi taʿrīf al-Muṣṭafā. Amman: Dār al-Fayḥāʾ,
1407/1986.
al-Qushayrī, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. al-Taḥbīr fī al-Tadhkīr:
Sharḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā. Edited by Muḥammad Amīn
al-Fārūqī. Damascus: Maktabat Dār al-Bayrūtī, 1424/2003.
Sartwell, Crispin. “Beauty”. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Phi-
losophy. Spring 2014 Edition. Edited by Edward N. Zalta.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/beauty/>.
al-Sulamī, ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn ʿAbd al-Salām. al-Imām fī bayān adillat
al-aḥkām. Beirut: Dār al-Bashāʾir al-Islāmiyyah, 1407/1987.
al-Tirmidhī, Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā ibn Sawrah ibn Mūsā. al-Sunan.
Edited by Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir, et al. 2nd ed. Cairo:
Sharikah Maktabah wa Maṭbaʿah Muṣṭafā al-Bābī al-Ḥalabī,
1395/1975.

28