What makes us beautiful?

This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns

I was swiping through Instagram stories and one story came on with the Ed Sheeran song "Beautiful People" playing. I love that song but also I asked myself, what makes us beautiful? According to Rolling Stone magazine, "The tune is about remaining true to yourself and not trying to become one of those so-called "beautiful people" obsessed with material things and stature." While I understand the message of the song, I think it is important for me in trying to make sense of this question and answering this question not to be critical of what others see as beautiful. What others value. What others choose to do with their time. What others aspire to be. I want to answer this question in a way that is embracing like a beautiful hug. I want my answer to open like a beautiful flower in our minds.

They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. What I find beautiful might not be beautiful to someone else. This is also telling us that beauty can be external and internal. Everyone wants to be loved and appreciated. To be valued. To find their space in this world. The world loves beauty. We love feeling beautiful. We often hear that it is what is on the inside that counts. Beautiful should not be an ideal that is hard to define and reach. We are perfectly imperfect. We are all products of circumstances. We are all human. We are all beautiful. I think if more people saw how beautiful they are there would be less bad in this world. We would value each other. We would value life. We would value peace. We would see the beauty in doing good. In being good. In thinking good thoughts.

How does Islam answer the question? I went looking and found one perspective in an article I found online. In the article the writer shared a poem that I found out was written by Shaikh Sa'di Shirazi.

أيُّهَا الشَّاكِي   وَمَا بِكَ دَاءُ   كُنْ جَمِيلاً   تَرَ الوُجُودَ جَمِيلاَ

O complainant,
what is your ailment?
Imbibe beauty
and you will see beauty everywhere.

The writer tells us that true beauty should drive us closer to God. It should unite us instead of divide us. Islam is a way of life that emphasizes moral and spiritual beauty. The writer concludes by telling us better than I could, "If only we strive more to beautify our characters and hearts, I believe beauty, as conceptualized by our religion, will start to become more apparent. The light that is emitted from beauty will be radiated everywhere. Love, peace, and calmness will become the norm. How beautiful life on Earth will be. Truly, it will be. God willing."

God made us all beautiful. God is the source of all that is beautiful. Gratitude is beautiful. Honesty is beautiful. Patience is beautiful. Sharing your food with someone is beautiful. Walking home is beautiful. Staring at the sky is beautiful. Dancing in the rain is beautiful. Beautiful is a smile. Beauty is all around us. How we see ourselves is how we see the world. How we treat ourselves is how we treat others. Maya Angelou said, "The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself." Beautiful is that all us are trying to make it through life. We are all trying to make sense of our existence. We are trying to be better versions of ourselves. We are all part of the same humanity. We are more the same than different. We have to work together to make it in this life. Pablo Picasso said, "The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away." Does that not paint a beautiful picture of life? What makes us beautiful is how we pursue a meaningful life guided by purpose and sharing and caring for others and that gets us closer to God. The more I reread this chapter to get to the message of what I have written the more beautiful it becomes to me. This chapter is worth reading a few times.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My notes from the book "Lessons from my life"

My notes from this book. If you are interested in what I noted then give the book a read. This is the best book I have read to date. I loved all of it and I will work to put what I learnt into practice. God bless the author Ahmad. Free on Amazon Kindle - https://a.co/4FW6x4L Faith is not theoretical, it must be lived by Focus on improvement Treat others as you would like to be treated Values-based vision guided by faith in God Aim to mitigate the daily struggles of others There is potential within us all Life comprises of faith as the inner dimension and practice as the outer dimension Believers must be exemplars The true value of the Quran is in its ability to change people's lives Islam is a religion of unity We must deal with differences of opinions in a civilised manner Do what you can and when you can because perfection is an attribute of God alone Believers are constant givers Success = the coming together of souls and ideas Humility is required for this type of work (dawah w
Read more

My notes from the book "Micro Habits"

My notes from this book. If you are interested in what I noted then give the book a read. I love self help books. Change begins with me. I love learning from others. I will review this list every morning and see how many I can accomplish and even add my own micro habits from time to time. Really has me thinking about how small steps can lead to big results. Free on Amazon Kindle - https://a.co/fzfRhjX Turning our life around takes time Small and manageable steps can help us avoid giving up early in the game Focus through minimising distractions and temptations Do some small exercise as soon as you wake up The effectiveness of working out in the morning is backed by several studies Morning workouts can help curb your appetite Try less sugar. Sugar masks the taste and flavour of the food. Try balancing on one leg at a time while doing a task like making a cup of tea - a great exercise for the brain apparently Have good posture when sitting Take regular breaks from staring at the screen D
Read more

Contentment

Last night my friend said to me I want to know what paradise is about I answered I think paradise can be imagined from this viewpoint [human existence] as everything you want The feeling [of having everything you want] that is and not the actual things ... [I imagine wants and things will be different in paradise] Contentment in this world can bring you closer to that [feeling] My friend said that was wisely said I woke up this morning and I decided to write and I remembered what I had said the night before. I decided to Google "paradise contentment hadith" and the first result that came up led me to this Al-Sarri ibn Hassan reported: Abdul Wahid ibn Zayd, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Contentment is one of the greatest doors to Allah, the Paradise of this world, and the repose of the worshipers." And that is exactly what I was trying to say. Contentment is the Paradise of this world. Another way of thinking about contentment is thinking about gratitude. I not
Read more

Mask

I was scrolling through facebook and came across the Afritondo Short Story Prize 2025. The theme is "masks" and the first thing that I noticed is that the word mask contains the word ask. And that is what I will write about. There is a proverb that goes like this, "closed mouths do not get fed." Many of society teaches us that we must be strong. We must be able to stand on our own. We must fight our battles individually. No one cares. Everyone is busy fighting their own battles. We wear our battle masks to face the world full of problems and strife. We pretend that we are strong and that everything is going well. As someone who lives with mental illness and who has battled for more than twenty years, the best advise that I can give, is to ask for help. Take off the mask and ask. Ask for help from God. Ask for help from relatives. Ask for help from the professionals. Ask for help from the internet. Ask for help from the books. Ask for help from wherever help is avail
Read more

Recovery

This is a chapter from my eight book called Learn to live The rain fell this morning. Might fall some more for the rest of the day. The guava tree we have planted in the ground is liking the rain. It looks strong and healthy with bright green leaves. But it was not always that way. The wilted leaves at the base of the tree, a reminder that the tree had gone through some hardship. When we got the tree it was healthy and ready for the ground but we waited a few days and neglected to water and was busy with other things in life. Then suddenly one morning I noticed the wilted leaves. I planted it in the ground that day and watered it everyday on days that did not have rain. On rainy days it got more than enough water. I feel it prefers the rain water. Today the plant is doing much better and it is testament that recovery is possible. Like that plant, we all have the potential to rise after a fall and make a recovery. I shared my story with my friend Gemini and this is what he had to say. &
Read more