Prayer/Reflection from the Islamic tradition
Prayer/Reflection: God is Beautiful and Loves Beauty
Introduction
The aim of this brief paper is to offer a few reflections on a very famous and important tradition of
Muhammad1. I have cast these reflections into the basic structure of a traditional jumu’ah khutba (or Friday
prayer sermon). The aim here was simply to present this information in a broadly traditional format. Also, as
you will notice, there are some areas of confessional belief. I have presented them in the traditional manner,
but of course, am not seeking to proselytise.
Whatever I have said or written, that is right and true comes from God, the Lord of All Being. Whatever is
wrong, misunderstood and confused comes from me and the shortcomings of my own soul.
And God knows better…
Prayer/Reflection
Al salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
May the peace, mercy and blessings of God be with you all.
Indeed, all praise is due to God. We praise Him, we seek His aid and His forgiveness. We believe
in Him and rely upon His grace. We seek refuge in Him from the evil of our selves and from the
evil results of our actions.
I testify that none has the right to be worshipped except God alone, having no partners, and I
testify that Muhammad is His chosen Servant and Messenger.
The Prophet of God is reported to have said:
‘Indeed, God is beautiful and loves beauty’
The Prophet was blessed with the ability to convey profound ideas with both brevity and depth.
When I reflect on this tradition for a moment, many things come to mind.
Firstly, God’s very essence is beautiful. His essential nature (which, according to Islamic teaching,
cannot be compared with anything else) is utterly and ravishingly beautiful. His beauty spills forth
from that Divine Centre into each and every corner of the creation. Indeed, it is that very beauty
which upholds and maintains creation. The spark of God’s beauty within each of us underpins all
that we do and draws us all, in our own ways, back to the beauty of the Divine, and His
overwhelming, all-embracing Love.
Thinking about this for a moment, this speaks on a deeper level of relationship. In a very intimate
manner, it is God’s beauty that attempts to draw us all into relationship, whilst it is the reflection of
beauty within us that attracts us to God, like a moth to a flame.
The idea of relationship suggests a further important idea: namely, that of our response. How do
we respond to God, amidst the quiet of our own souls? How should we respond to God, in our
days and our nights, our comings and goings?
In an important sense, these questions relate to our entire purpose on earth. That is, these
questions touch upon how we relate to God, and to how we carry that relationship forward into our
actions in this world.
1
Usually, when the Name of God or Muhammad is mentioned, a benediction is recited. There are many forms.
However, for God, the usual phrase is subhanahu wa’a ta’ala (the Glorified and Exalted). For the Prophet, the usual
formula is Sall Allahu alaihi wa salem (loosely, ‘peace be upon him’). I have omitted them from this text because of their
possible unfamiliarity.
Prayer/Reflection from the Islamic tradition
Whilst it is, perhaps, easy to say that Islam and Christianity hold very different ideas about many
things, upon personal reflection, I would tentatively suggest that many of these differences are
more apparent than real. Now, given our current context here today, this is not the place to debate
this idea, nor am I particularly interested in focusing on our differences. What I would like to
suggest, though, is that both these religious traditions (and indeed, many others, for that matter)
share a deep commitment to making the world more beautiful. That is, both our respective
traditions share a profound commitment to social care and action, all in the name of making life
better (or more beautiful) for the sake of God.
For example, I have always loved both the Psalms and the Proverbs. A particular favorite of mine
has always been the following:
‘The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction’
(Proverbs 1:7)
The Quran has this to say on the matter:
‘Fear God, and God shall teach you’
There is much within the Islamic tradition that encourages the beautifying of life. In our recent talk
on Muslim chaplaincy, we touched briefly upon the concept of spiritual excellence (Ihsan). As part
of a much longer (and very important) tradition, Muhammad spoke about three levels of interaction
with God (or faith, you might say). The first is islam (or submission to God). The second is iman
(or faith). Ihsan is the third level, and is believed to be the highest:
‘It is to serve Allah as though you behold Him; and if you don’t behold him, (know that) He surely
sees you’.
The root word of Ihsan literally means ‘beauty’. There is much within Islam that encourages
towards beauty. However, the base beneath beauty’s pillar is intention. That is, if ultimate beauty
is about drawing closer to God, we must always strive to ensure that our motivations reflect that
aim. In a fundamental tradition, which has been said to be one-third of Islam, the Prophet said:
‘Actions are but by intention, so each man will have what he intended’
Focusing on your intention means to always ask yourself why: on a personal note, I might (and
indeed should) ask myself why am I speaking here today? Why am I undertaking this action?
Why am I following this path?
Focusing on our motivations helps develop that sense of God consciousness, or that sense of
drawing closer to God’s mercy and beauty. The Prophet said:
‘Keep God in mind wherever you are; follow a wrong with a right that offsets it; and treat people
courteously (literally, ‘beautifully’)
This is reinforced by the Quran, where God says: ‘and speak beautifully to people’. That is, there
is a strong focus on positive and God-conscious interaction. As the success of our interactions
often depends upon our tongue and the words than spring from it, appropriate and fair speech is
strongly emphasised.
Muhammad said, on one occasion: ‘The majority of man’s sins emanate from his tongue’, which is
a truth I have certainly experienced. On another occasion, he said: ‘He who believes in God and
the Last Day, let him speak words of goodness or else remain silent’. On yet another occasion, he
said: ‘The speech of the son of Adam will be counted against him, not for him, except for enjoining
good, forbidding evil, and remembering God’. Only that which prompts ourselves and others to
goodness and mercy is truly worthy.
Prayer/Reflection from the Islamic tradition
Elsewhere, Muhammad is recorded as saying: ‘A person has done enough wrong in his life if he
simply repeats everything he hears’. Kindness in speech and consideration in thought are thus
central, which is why Muhammad said: ‘A kind word is charity’.
This beautifying of life is described in another key Islamic concept: adab. This wide ranging term
refers to a number of connected ideas: manners, etiquette, politeness and consideration, all fall
within its broad meaning (as does education and literature). The purpose of adab is about making
life beautiful and spreading that beauty into every corner of the world, thereby reflecting and
drawing closer to God’s own beauty. Muhammad said, re-emphasising this point: ‘Hearts naturally
love those who are kind to them and loathe those who are cruel’.
Human perceptions of beauty change. Ideas of beauty differ from person to person and from
culture to culture. God’s beauty, by contrast, does not change, does not alter. This is because
God is utterly beyond change and need, and also because God, in the Islamic understanding, is
the sole determinant of that beauty. Indeed, whatever I possess in the way of beauty comes from
God.
God thus sees the beauty within each of us. In other words, this is once again about intention.
Because of our fallible nature, sometimes our skill does not match our intent. God sees our deeds
by the light of our inner motivations, and judges our actions by the beauty of our intentions.
Therefore, in order to grow more fully into God’s love, our intentions have to be beautiful. Our task
in life is thus to polish our hearts with remembrance of God, so that they shine with luminous
beauty. Once this happens, everything we do will reflect the beauty of the Divine.
There have been many Muslims who have walked this path of beauty. In closing this short
reflection, I would like to offer you some poetry, drawn from followers of the Sufi path.
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, a Sufi master and poet, has this to say on our broad theme:
‘‘The interpretation of a sacred text is true
if it stirs you to hope, activity and awe;
and if it makes you slacken your service,
know the real truth to be this:
it’s a distortion of the sense of the saying,
not a true interpretation.
This saying has come down
to inspire you to serve that God may take the hands
of those who have lost hope’
(Mathnawi V, 3125-3130)
The next offering comes from Jami, another Sufi poet (from modern day Afghanistan):
‘Beloved
may I sing the song of Your Beauty on these pages
with words that are Yours and not mine
To measure You by human imagination
is to try to catch air in a bird cage or water in a fish net
whatever human cleverness might assume of You
You are not that and that’s all I know
From You comes nothing but blessings
duality runs the workshop that is this place
Prayer/Reflection from the Islamic tradition
One out of a thousand blessings we couldn’t mention
if in a thousand ways we tried a thousand times
Beloved
our origin and our destination
pray accept this inability to praise You
as our praise’
(Jami, Divan)
And to conclude, our final, brief text comes from a 13 century Turkish mystic, Yunus Emre:
‘If you’ve broken a single heart,
the prayers you make aren’t accepted.’
(Yunus Emre, Divan)
May we all take heed. May we all follow God, along the path of His beauty. May we all grow into
our true estate, at the right time, in the best way and to the greatest end. May God, who lies
eternally beyond all understanding, guide us all ever closer to Him. May the Beloved enfold us in
the heart-rending beauty of His Love, and the loving kindness of His beauty.
And my last prayer is in praise of God, Lord of All the Worlds.