What do the Ahl as-Sunnah believe about the nature of beauty and ugliness, and how are these qualities determined?

Dear Brother / Sister,

In Badiuzzaman Said Nursi’s booklet on delusions/scruples, Husn (beauty/goodness) ​​and Qubh (ugliness/badness) are not dependent on the things themselves, but on Allah’s command. It is the general view of the Ahl as-Sunnah.

According to the Ahl as-Sunnah, husn and qubh, i.e., beauty and ugliness, are only the result of Allah’s commands and prohibitions. They do not lay a condition on Allah’s pre-eternal will by saying that when Allah says something is beautiful, it becomes beautiful, or when he says something is ugly, it becomes ugly. That is beauty and ugliness are things that happen based on the wish and will of Allah. Therefore, due to His wisdom, He sometimes calls what is ugly beautiful, and it becomes beautiful; for example, something that is forbidden in one shari’a is allowed in another shari’a.

“While the true school, the Sunni School, says: ‘Almighty God orders a thing, then it becomes good. He prohibits a thing, then it becomes bad.’ That is, goodness becomes existent through command, and badness through prohibition. They look to the awareness of the one who performs the action, and are established according to that. And this good and bad is not in the apparent face which looks to this world, but in the face that looks to the hereafter.”

“For example, you performed the prayers or took the ablutions and there was a cause that of itself would spoil them, but you were completely unaware of it. Your prayers and ablutions, therefore, are both sound and acceptable. However, the Mu’tazilites say: “In reality it was bad and unsound. But it may be accepted from you because you were ignorant and did not know, so you have an excuse.” Therefore, according to the Sunni School, do not say about an action which is conformable with the externals of the shari’a: “I wonder if it was sound?”; do not have scruples about it. Say: “Was it accepted?”; do not become proud and conceited.”(1)

1) see Sözler, Yirmi Birinci Söz, İkinci Makam.

If a person performs a prayer though he knows that something has invalidated his wudu, it will be an ugly sin. If the same man performs a prayer without knowing that his wudu has been invalidated, this time the prayer will be good and rewarding.

Although there is no change in the deed, the fact that the same deed is regarded both as sin and as a reward depends on whether a person is aware of that thing or not, that is, whether he knows it or not. While it is a sin to pray though he knows that his wudu has been invalidated, his prayer will be valid if he performs it without knowing that his wudu has been invalidated. So, the state of reward and sin varies depending on whether the person knows it or not.

If thawabs and sins themselves were ugly or beautiful, it would not matter whether man knew it or not. If wudu itself was flawed, it would not be possible for it to be rewarding.

Ahl as-Sunnah scholars say, “The real cause of thawabs and sins is based on Allah’s command and prohibition.” If Allah is pleased with something that is done, it is beautiful; if He is not pleased, it is ugly. The prayer of a person who performs a prayer with an incomplete wudu without knowing is valid and rewarding. However, if he deliberately performs a prayer with an incomplete wudu, Allah will never be pleased with it.

Mu’tazila state the following: “Allah calls something beautiful or ugly because that thing is beautiful or ugly in essence.” By saying that, they seem to have restricted the eternal will of Allah in a way. According to this idea of ​​theirs, it would be impossible for shari’as to be different because according to them, something beautiful in essence is always beautiful, and something ugly in essence is always ugly. Therefore, it would be a contradiction to call something beautiful at one time and ugly at another time. However, Allah sent each of His prophets with a different shari’a. In one shari’a, He prohibited something that he ordered in another shari’a. This difference points to the fallacy of the Mu’tazilites.

According to the Ahl as-Sunnah, husn and qubh, i.e., beauty and ugliness, are only the result of Allah’s commands and prohibitions. They do not lay a condition on Allah’s pre-eternal will by saying that when Allah says something is beautiful, it becomes beautiful, or when he says something is ugly, it becomes ugly. That is beauty and ugliness are things that happen based on the wish and will of Allah. Therefore, due to His wisdom, He sometimes calls what is ugly beautiful, and it becomes beautiful; for example, something that is forbidden in one shari’a is allowed in another shari’a.

According to Mu’tazila, “Every good thing is commanded, every ugly thing is forbidden”. In that case, those who follow this madhhab will fall into delusion and ask, “Is my deed really as ordered?” For, according to their acceptance, when what is beautiful is not reached, their deeds go for nothing.

However, Allah wishes ease for people, not difficulty. Deeds done with good intentions are accepted by Allah even if they are incomplete.

The reason of deeds of worship is command, and the reason for avoiding harams is prohibition. That is, the answer to the question “Why are we fasting?” is “Because Allah commanded it.” Fasting has many benefits. Ramadan booklet shows those wise reasons very well. However, as Nursi mentions it on different occasions, we do not fast due to those wise reasons.

We are ordered in the verse to fast in the month of Ramadan but if a person fasts for ten months in other months, he will not be freed of the debt of fasting. If a person starts to fast after sunrise and remains hungry until three hours after isha, he will not be regarded to have fasted. Those wise reasons of fasting are fulfilled in this second case but since it has not been done as ordered, this hunger is not regarded as fasting.

Thus, what is essential in deeds of worship is to obey the command, to remember servitude, and to fulfill its requirements consciously. It is out of the question for us to know the wisdom of some of the deeds of worship. For example, why do we pray two rak’ahs for the morning prayer, but four for the noon and three for the evening prayer? There is no explanation for it. There is only one answer to it: Because our Lord ordered it so and the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) performed prayers like that.

We obey the order by performing the fard of the morning prayer as two rak’ahs and by performing the evening prayer as three rak’ahs. What matters is not the number of rak’ahs but to obey the order. This subtlety is neglected in the Mu’tazila madhhab. As Nursi states, they say,

“Actions and things for which a person is responsible are either, of themselves and in regard to the hereafter, good, and because of this good they were commanded, or they are bad, and because they are bad, they were prohibited. That means, from the point of view of reality and the hereafter, the good and bad in things is dependent on the things themselves, and the Divine command and prohibition follows this. “I wonder if my action was performed in the good way that in essence it is?”

This decree may be valid to some extent for halal and haram foods; we say to some extent because it is a fact that foods that are halal for some nations are rendered haram for others. If the main thing for a food to be halal were its beauty, it should be halal for all people and all ages.

This decree does not apply to prayers at all. Let us go back to the example of prayer. What is the harm in performing the morning prayer as three rak’ahs since it is forbidden to perform it as three rak’ahs? Why does it have to be performed as two rak’ahs? It is not possible to find an answer to this question. Similarly, what is the badness of fasting in another month? Why is it fard in the month of Ramadan, not in that month? This question cannot be answered either.

In that case, the view of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnah is important: The beauty of a prayer is based on the amount of the rak’ahs Allah commands. Similarly, the beauty of fasting occurs in the month He made it fard to fast.

There are endless examples of it in the universe, which is the book of power. Let us give an example from our own body. It is beautiful that we have five fingers, two eyes and one nose.

The command “Therefore stand firm (in the straight Path) as thou art commanded...” (Hud, 11/112) has been given to all believers. Our belief becomes true by believing in the realities of belief based on the creed of Ahl as-Sunnah; similarly, our honesty in trade occurs by doing business that is free from lies, interest and profiteering.

The firmness of our deeds of worship is only possible if they are performed as ordered. Some delusional people, who are heedless of this fact, go to extremes and make mistakes when they want to make their worship perfect. For example, a fasting person needs to eat something at iftar and suhoor even if a little. A person who goes hungry for days to perform perfect fasting without making iftar or suhoor performs a makruh deed under the name of taqwa.

The following is stated in verse 87 of the chapter of al-Maida:

“O ye who believe! Make not unlawful the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, but commit no excess: for Allah loveth not those given to excess.”

The following information is given about the reason for the revelation of the verse above and the verse after it:

Having heard that a group of Companions decided to fast during the day, to pray without sleeping at night, not to approach their wives and not to eat meat, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) went to them and said, “I have not been commanded to worship like that.” Then, he said, “He who goes out of my way is not of me.”

Those venerable people fell into a kind of delusion with the thought of taqwa and assumed a path that contradicted the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) and turned away from their mistakes with his intervention.

The delusion of taking the wrong path with the thought of taqwa is more common in wudu and prayer in particular. When a believer performs his wudu as ordered, the issue is complete. When he washes an organ that should be washed three times five times by showing more sensitivity, it is not called taqwa; it is called delusion. If it was better to wash an organ to be washed three times five times, it would be more acceptable to perform five rak’ahs instead of a three-rak’ah prayer.

Tayammum is permissible where there is no water. If it was necessary to make wudu with water since washing with water is good in itself, it would not be permissible to make wudu with tayammum.

We act according to the decrees “There is no difficulty in religion” and “Religion is ease”, and make wudu with tayammum when there is no water. What matters is not water or soil, but obedience and fulfilling orders. Both the person who makes tayammum and the person who makes wudu with water obey the command.

The way to get rid of such delusions is to try to perform our deeds of worship exactly as we are ordered, but not to force ourselves too much in terms of tranquility and awe, and to be careful to keep away as much as possible from states that prevent tranquility.

Scholars of kalam state the following: “Allah does not follow wisdom; wisdom follows Allah’s command.” That is, Allah commands and wise reasons begin to cling to it like rosary beads. The issue should be viewed from this perspective.

The different shari’as of the prophets are the clearest evidence of it. Many things that were haram in the Torah were rendered halal in the Gospel. Some of the things that were halal in the Gospel are prohibited in the Quran. For example, while drinking wine was halal in the Gospel, it has been prohibited in the Quran.

Eating is haram in Ramadan but fasting is haram on Eid days. Therefore, if fasting were absolutely good, it would be permissible in any case. If drinking wine were absolutely bad, it should have been forbidden in the Bible.

Mu’tazilite puts the mind in place of the shari’a and says: The things that the mind perceives as good become fard once the mind makes it obligatory. Avoiding something whose badness is understood becomes obligatory upon the proposal of the mind.

HUSN (HUSN-QUBH)

Beauty, ugliness. Determination of the phenomenon of beauty/goodness and ugliness/badness.

All scholars agree that what the shari’a commands is beautiful and what it forbids is ugly. However, do beauty and ugliness exist in the deed itself? Or is it because the shari’a forbids or commands it? Is it possible for the mind to detect it? If the mind can detect it, is this detection valid for every deed? There is disagreement among scholars on such issues.

Beauty and ugliness can be summarized in four parts:

1- Perfect attributes are called beautiful, and imperfect attributes are called ugly. For example, knowledge is beautiful, ignorance is ugly.

2- What is suitable for the purpose is called beautiful, and what is not is called ugly; for example, calling justice beautiful and cruelty ugly.

3- Accepting what is suitable for human nature as beautiful and what is not as ugly. Accordingly, sweet is beautiful, bitter is ugly.

4- What causes praise in the world and reward in the hereafter is beautiful; on the other hand, what causes blame in this world and punishment in the hereafter is ugly.

The beauty and ugliness in the first three parts can be known by reason. There is an agreement among Islamic scholars on it.

Can the beauty and ugliness mentioned in the fourth place be known by reason alone, without the explanations of the shari’a? It is necessary to know the following basic points in order to get the answer to it.

Whatever God Almighty commands is good and whatever He forbids is bad. Islamic scholars agree unanimously on it.

According to most Ash’aris, husn and qubh are completely based on the shari’a. If something is good, it is only because the shari’a commands it, and if it is bad, it is because the shari’a forbids it. For example, having an adulterous relationship with a woman and having a relationship with one’s wife are the same acts but because the shari’a forbids one, it becomes ugly, and because it makes the other permissible, it becomes beautiful. In addition, the mind cannot comprehend whether an action is ugly or good without revelation. On the contrary, there is no such quality in the act itself; therefore, it is not in question whether the mind can comprehend it or not.

According to Mu’tazilites, Hanafis and even some Ash’aris, husn or qubh is present in the deed itself. Before the shari’a commanded or forbade a deed, it had those qualities. Therefore, when Allah commands something, He commands it because it is good; when He forbids something, He forbids it because it is bad.

However, can the mind perceive whether a deed is beautiful or ugly?

Mu’tazila is the madhhab that keeps the framework most broadly on the understanding of the mind. According to them, even if there are some issues that the mind cannot know whether they are beautiful or ugly, the mind will perceive it after the shari’a commands or prohibits it. Thus, the shari’a is only a guide related to those issues. In the end, the mind will decide.

According to Imam Maturidi, the mind can only perceive the presence of Allah and the sending of the prophets. Therefore, people to whom prophets were not sent will also be held responsible for it. According to some Hanafis, the mind knows whether some things are beautiful or ugly, but there are also some issues that it cannot know. For example, the mind can understand that cruelty is ugly and justice is good, but it cannot realize that prayer, its times and rak’ahs are beautiful. In fact, there are some issues that the mind might not be able to comprehend whether they are beautiful or ugly even after the shari’a’s guidance on that issue, that is, after stating its orders and prohibitions. Moreover, according to them, even related to the issues whose beauty or ugliness the mind perceives, it is not possible for a person to be rewarded or punished for doing them without the command or prohibition of the shari’a. According to Mu’tazilites, a person is rewarded or punished regarding those issues.

The issue of husn and qubh concerns the science of fiqh along with the science of kalam. When the issue is considered from this point of view, the view of the Mu’tazilites is extreme because the Mutazila’s view may result in raising the mind to the level of religion related to the issues that Allah and His Messenger did not decree.

Before concluding the issue, we would like to draw attention to the following point: Very different views have been put forward regarding the issue in detail. Even scholars affiliated with the same madhhab put forward very different opinions. Making generalizations regarding the issue can often cause problems.

M. Sait ŞİMŞEK

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