Beauty and Social Context

[Goldi]

Im curious.

We are commanded to look beautiful and not to look unsightly. (im sure there is sunnah and quran that affirm this)

Now, what is beauty? When the primary sources talk about beauty, do they mean:

1. What is prevalent at the time of revelation in regards to beauty is beauty. So, if wearing a cloak a certain way is considered beautiful, then that is the definition of beauty and that will continue to be beauty for eternity.

or

2. Beauty is looking religious. As in, what is is commonly known as 'sunnah' clothing is only beautiful. So in our case, a jubbah would be beautiful and pants ( or basically anything other than what the religious people wear) would be ugly. So the definition of beauty here would be, whatever the religious people wear.

or

3. Whatever the prevalent social norm is WITHIN the bounds of Shariah. (so say, pants and shirt covering awrah and fulfilling criteria for permissibility) So, for example, if the social norm for beauty in your surroundings is wearing a backwards hat (we are assuming that in a hypothetical situation, if you do this, you look beautiful)

I do not want to hear arguments about looking 'muslim'. That's another discussion. I don't want to read pasted fatwas either. I want to analyze the command of looking pleasant/beautiful. What does it mean?

[abdushakur]

whatever dress u wear u should wear it well...and then inshallah it will be beautiful or appealing.

sloppy dressing, even tho it may appear cool on da street is NOT beautiful.
its 'street'.

eg. when one wears an english suit one should wear it how the english wear it. if one extends the jacket so it extends down to the knees it will not look beautiful!

having said that, a man with a loose flowing sunnah beard can only ever look beautiful in flowing clothes. anything remotely fitting looks out of place.
i suppose fitrah bodily appearance guides to fitrah clothing styles.

[Goldi]

eg. when one wears an english suit one should wear it how the english wear it. if one extends the jacket so it extends down to the knees it will not look beautiful!

having said that, a man with a loose flowing sunnah beard can only ever look beautiful in flowing clothes. anything remotely fitting looks out of place.
i suppose fitrah bodily appearance guides to fitrah clothing styles.

Excellent points. (ones that I share)

do I HAVE to say something blasphemous to get more discussion going?
;)

[Muawiyah]

Whatever we find beautiful in this world is actually what is beneficial to us at a basic animal level. We find flowing water to be beautiful because our lives depend on it, a rainbow is beautiful because it the sign of rain, babies are beautiful because the survival of the human race depends on them, greenry is beautiful because it is the primary source of food for all creatures. Similarly the qualities that are considered to be the basic standards for beauty in a human are all signs of health or harmonal balance like a symmetrical face or a wide jaw for men and a narrow jaw for women.

{Ideas borrowed without thanks from Sir Syed Ahmad Khan}

[choppa]

Brother Goldi thats what I'm talking about. We must beautify ourselves. Man Goldi I just figured this out resently after being muslim for 14 years.

[abdushakur]

Whatever we find beautiful in this world is actually what is beneficial to us at a basic animal level. We find flowing water to be beautiful because our lives depend on it, a rainbow is beautiful because it the sign of rain, babies are beautiful because the survival of the human race depends on them, greenry is beautiful because it is the primary source of food for all creatures. Similarly the qualities that are considered to be the basic standards for beauty in a human are all signs of health or harmonal balance like a symmetrical face or a wide jaw for men and a narrow jaw for women.

{Ideas borrowed without thanks from Sir Syed Ahmad Khan}


beautiful words and ideas. nice.








Brother Goldi thats what I'm talking about. We must beautify ourselves. Man Goldi I just figured this out resently after being muslim for 14 years.

we MUST beautify our hearts and characters. our priority.

inshallah this purity of heart will reflect itself on our bodies.

[Iqbal Muhammad Raakin]

Assalamu 'Alaikum. I think that we are required to look beutiful because every human being, naturally inclines towards beuty and those who are beutiful are treated with a certain respect and affection as opposed to people who are not so beutifully.
There was a programme on the other day where a baby was tested by putting different pictures in front of him/her and whoever the baby looks at longer is a sign that they are more attractive than others. The baby inlined to stare longer at the people who adults regarded as attractive. This states that it is a part of human fithra to prefer the beutiful over those who are not so beutiful.
Assalamu 'Alaikum.

[Goldi]

Good points made by all.

I would now like to explore further.

Since we've now established the relative necessity of looking beautiful, let us define beautiful.

going back to my initial post:


1. What is prevalent at the time of revelation in regards to beauty is beauty. So, if wearing a cloak a certain way is considered beautiful, then that is the definition of beauty and that will continue to be beauty for eternity.

or

2. Beauty is looking religious. As in, what is is commonly known as 'sunnah' clothing is only beautiful. So in our case, a jubbah would be beautiful and pants ( or basically anything other than what the religious people wear) would be ugly. So the definition of beauty here would be, whatever the religious people wear.

or

3. Whatever the prevalent social norm is WITHIN the bounds of Shariah. (so say, pants and shirt covering awrah and fulfilling criteria for permissibility) So, for example, if the social norm for beauty in your surroundings is wearing a backwards hat (we are assuming that in a hypothetical situation, if you do this, you look beautiful)

[abdushakur]

Since we've now established the relative necessity of looking beautiful, let us define beautiful.




as u know we are taught to adorn ourselves with any bounties that Allah ta'ala has given us.
to dress in beautiful clothes (without feeling proud or arrogant or vain) is to be thankful to Allah.

i think the old adage rings true here: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

however
there is a real difference between looking beautiful and looking smart

REAL beauty is something which is in harmony with FITRAH.
other styles of dressing can be smart, even attractive, but never truly beautiful.

and who was the epitomy of fitrah?

[Goldi]

as u know we are taught to adorn ourselves with any bounties that Allah ta'ala has given us.
to dress in beautiful clothes (without feeling proud or arrogant or vain) is to be thankful to Allah.

i think the old adage rings true here: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"

however
there is a real difference between looking beautiful and looking smart

REAL beauty is something which is in harmony with FITRAH.
other styles of dressing can be smart, even attractive, but never truly beautiful.

and who was the epitomy of fitrah?

good point.

So is beauty different than smart? and who is defining beauty here? so if i were to say that a certain thing is beautiful [say a particular style of clothing] would it not be beautiful because it didn't conform to the dictates of 'being in harmony with the fitrah'?

if there is a difference between 'beauty' and 'smart'ness. does that mean that smartness is a function of beauty? [of course necessating the assumption that beauty is an all encompassing adjective of sorts] that is to say, can smartness [I]not be beauty?

perhaps i should be more practical.


suppose that your best clothes are a pair of jeans that you purchased for a lot of money and a coat that is well made and you bought with much enthusiasm in order to beautify yourself [establishing the fact that] it is your best clothing.

Now would it be appropriate to wear your 'best' clothing to jummah or would you resort to 'sunnah' clothing even though it may not be of the highest quality or all that 'best'? can the person wearing his 'best' be crticized in anyway? is he in the wrong in ANY way?

[Live for Islam]

A nice quote that I came across:

Beauty is not through apparel that decorates us;
true beauty is through knowledge and manners.

(Found in 'Learning about Islam; A Pressing Need of Our Times' by Shaykh Maulana Saleem Dhorat, Leicester)


Anyway, in terms of clothing, wearing clean clothes and being tidily dressed is real beauty... especially wearing clothes which are ironed... that makes a whole load of difference!

[salman]

Salamu Alaikum

I think the commands of looking beautiful and so forth must be interpreted according to the depth of tradition.

We all know that "beauty" can be a physical manifestation aswell as a spiritual one, both having their proofs in the Hadith of the Prophet - Allah bless him and grant him peace. The Prophet - Allah bless him - would, for example, rebuke those who had unkept hair which has come explicitly in hadith. He would also command us to wear beautiful clothing, put on Kohl, oil our beards and so forth. This all comes into the physical manifestation of the prophetic command.

As for what kind of clothes we are referring to and the social context, then the points made by sacred texts are based on the generality of its lexical meaning, not the specifity of historical context.

As for the spiritual, then it is what the Prophet stated in the Hadith of Umar, as narrated in Bukhari when Jibrael - Allah bless him - said "FaAkhbarani ana al Ishan" and the Prophet replied, "Ana Ta'budullah ka'naka turah, fa ini lam takun turah fa inaho yUraka." Ihsan being from the root H-s-n, which means beauty or beautiful, and therefore Ihsan is doing what is beautiful, doing signifying sincere action, worship, humblesness and other praiseworthy acts. It is related to ones heart and spiritual upliftment and purity.

Wallahu A'lam

[Mossy]

Husn?

Beauty is truth. And vice versa.