Beauty in the Holy Quran and Sunnah

Thursday, 05 August 2010

User Rating: / 4
PoorBest 

Written by Dr. Ragheb Elsergany

Introduction

Muslims invoked the beauty which the verses of the Noble Qur'an and the prophetic Hadiths abound, thus, created beautiful gardens on the earth.   

The description of paradise that the verses of Noble Qur'an and the Hadiths of Prophet Mohamed (Pbuh) abound with was apt to form the sense of beauty of the listener. It was also apt to turn into a bent for creativity as Islam is a religion which urges its followers to work.

Islam gave great attention to environment beauty, which makes its instructions in that domain a significant addition for human civilization, which took interest - only recently- in the environment protection and beauty.

In these articles, we would touch upon the beauty with which the Islamic civilization had endowed the environment surrounding it, which made nature beautiful, green, fresh …pleasing to the eye.

First: beauty in the Holy Quran and Sunnah

The beauty in the Holy Quran

Trees, plants and fruits were created not only for their known vital benefits as food for man and animals or for providing the environment with pure Fresh air, but for another function, as Allah (the Great and Almighty) referred in his holy book, the Qur'an, that trees and gardens have another job in man's life and feelings, which is represented in giving a sense of delight, vigor and vitality, thus, Allah says: {Or, Who has created the heavens and the earth, and Who sends you down rain from the sky? Yea, with it we cause to grow well-planted orchards full of beauty of delight: it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. (Can there be another) god besides Allah. Nay, they are a people who swerve from justice} an-Naml (the ants).60.

The beauty of nature with its different components is only part of the general beauty of all features of the universe as Allah wanted people to seek beauty in everything, which is (the rule of beauty)!  Ibn Msoud (May Allah bless him) said that prophet Mohamed (PBUH) said: "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty"[1]

Strikingly, trees, fruits and gardens are repeatedly mentioned in the Holy Quran. The word trees, and its derivatives, was mentioned about 26 times, the word fruit, and its derivatives, 22 times, the word plant, and its derivatives, 26 times, the word gardens, 3 times and the word paradise, singular and plural, was mentioned 138 times.

However, when the Holy Quran talks about trees and fruits as food for man and animals, it talks about them in an attractive context, for example Allah says:  {Then let man look at his food, (and how We provide it) (24) For that We pour forth water in abundance (25)  And We split the earth in fragments (26) And produce therein corn (27) And Grapes and nutritious plants (28) And Olives and Dates (29) And enclosed Gardens, dense with lofty trees (30) And fruits and fodder (31) For use and convenience to you and your cattle} [Abasa (He Frowned): 24-23]

Description of paradise in the Holy Quran

In addition to clarifying the aesthetic reason behind creating gardens with their trees and fruits in that fantastic way, the description of paradise and what it contains of moral and concrete pleasures mentioned by the Holy Quran and Sunnah strongly urged Muslims to imitate that ideal vision of beauty when dealing with the environment.  

In describing paradise's scenes in the Holy Quran Allah says:

{But for such as fear the time when they will stand before (the Judgment Seat of) their Lord, there will be two Gardens * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?* Containing all kinds (of trees and delights) * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them (each) will be two springs flowing (free) * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them will be Fruits of every kind, two and two * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * They will recline on Carpets, whose inner linings will be of rich brocade: the Fruit of the Gardens will be near (and easy of reach * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them will be (Maidens), chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Like unto Rubies and coral * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Is there any Reward for Good - other than Good? * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * And besides these two, there are two other Gardens* Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Dark-green in colour (from plentiful watering* Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them (each) will be two Springs pouring forth water in continuous abundance* Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them will be Fruits, and dates and pomegranates * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * In them will be fair (Companions), good, beautiful * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Companions restrained (as to their glances), in (goodly) pavilions * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Whom no man or Jinn before them has touched * Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny? * Reclining on green Cushions and rich Carpets of beauty [Ar-Rahman (The Beneficent, The Mercy Giving): 46-76]

And many other verses of Quran.

Beauty in the prophetic Sunnah

The second source from which Muslims got their vision about the beauty of the environment was Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh), in addition to the prophetic Sunnah and Hadith. Abu Hurirah said: we said O Messenger of Allah, tell us about Paradise, what is it built of? He said: َ"Bricks of gold and bricks of silver; its mortar is musk, its pebbles are pearls and rubies, and its soil is saffron. Whoever enters it will be happy and will never be miserable; he will abide therein forever and never die. His clothes will never wear out and his youth will never fade"[2]

Abu Musa Al-Ashari said, the prophet (Pbuh) said: "In Paradise there would be for a believer a tent of a single hollowed pearl the breadth of which would be sixty miles. It would be meant for a believer and the believers would go around it and none would be able to see the others"[3]

Abu Hurirah said, Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) said: "There is in paradise a tree under the shadow of which a rider can travel for a hundred years and even then he would not be able to cover it”[4]

          Anas said that the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) said: "While I was walking in Paradise (on the night of Mi'raj), I saw a river, on the two banks of which there were tents made of hollow pearls. I asked, 'What is this, O Gabriel?' He said, 'That is the Kawthar which Your Lord has given to you.' Behold! Its scent or its mud was sharp smelling musk!"[5]”[6]

The Holy Quran and the prophetic Sunnah have many features of that beauty, which made Muslims yearn for such a beauty. Muslims have, thus, offered the human civilization whatever they could make in imitation of those wonderful Quranic and prophetic visions.  

Add comment