The Beauty Standard - 4th Ramadan 1434/2013

'A'udhu bil-Lahi, min al-Shaytan, al-rajim. Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulil-Lahi Rabbi al-'Alamin, wa bihi nasta'in. Innahu khairun naserin wa mu'een, wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa bil-Lahi al-'Aliyu al-'Adheem. Fa ma as-salatu wa as-salamu 'ala ashrafi al-anbiya'i wa al-mursaleen, wa Khatam an-Nabiyyin, habibina Abi 'l-Qasimi Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad] wa 'ala Ahli Baytihi, at-tayyibin, at-tahirin, al-ma'sumeen.

My brothers and sisters in Islam and Iman, salamun alaykum wa rahmatu Allahi wa barakatuh. Tonight is, I believe, the sixth night of the holy month of Ramadan. Taqabbal Allah a'malukum, may Allah accept all your worship, your fasting in this month.

Just as a reminder for myself and in'sha'Allah, for all of you, according to the Ahl Al-Bayt 'alayhum as-salam, the bare minimum of fasting, is to stay away from food and drink. But the expectation is that we go beyond that. And, you know, you all know the story, it's good to remind ourselves of it. This is reported to us in a number of traditions, including one which is from your Imam as-Sadiq, 'alayhi as-salam, in al-Kafi, where he says that one time there was a woman who was fasting. Perhaps it was a Mustahab fast she was keeping. Anyhow, she was fasting and she started to get angry at her servant without any reason, meaning that beyond the limits, she just she lost it with the servant. So the Prophet saw this, he ordered that food be brought for her. She says that: o Prophet of Allah, oh Messenger of Allah, I'm fasting, how can I eat? So he tells us that fasting isn't just from food and drink.

We are told by the Ahl Al-Bayt that when we are fasting, we should particularly be aware of what we say to one another, which is really interesting because usually when we are fasting, you know, we feel grumpy, we feel tired. We kind of feel like, you know, lashing out at one another. But that is where the the jihad, that is where the struggle lies. To be able to control our tongues, to be able to, in fact, use the opportunity to strengthen our ties with our brothers and our sisters. Sallu 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad].

I just wanted to recap some of the highlights of the topics we have been discussing until now, the overall theme is the revolution of the Self, or the soul, anyhow, revolution of the soul, of the Self, same thing. And we started out by first talking about how it is important that we connect this to God, and how, if we want to rediscover ourselves, have a rebirth, we have to understand and appreciate the presence of God in the universe.

And we talked about the way that Imam Rida', 'alayhi as-salam, taught us to do so by reflecting on the system of creation, and how everything eventually goes back to an origin, which is Allah. And then we started talking about some of the false gods that people worship and cling to in our society, because if we want to be able to hold onto the rope of God, we have to let go of the ropes that we are clinging onto from these false idols and these false entities.

And the last couple of nights we have been talking about one of those entities, which is, you know, the the notion, the false notion of progress and technology, and we talked about how technology and one of the manifestations of that, which is social networking, that is not something which is purely innocent, that there is, we as Muslims have to be careful and be aware of how we can be duped by these things as well too. We shouldn't just assume that we should that they are always good for us. No, there is different conditions and we talked about that.

Tonight inshaAllah, with the help of Allah, I would like to go into a different subject. And this has to do with popular culture and the media. I want to talk about the artistic production of our society, things like movies and music. How do we interact with that? What can we understand from that?

And I want to start out by first asking you a question. Are you aware of what currently is the highest ranking YouTube video on YouTube for the most number of hits? I think many of you are probably aware of that, but recently there was a video that surpassed the one billion mark. I mean, more than a billion people have seen this video. No, I'm not encouraging you to go and see what this video is. OK, I'm just I'm using it as an example to illustrate a point.

Basically, every culture has a form of art. Every society has a form of art, where they put together their creativity to come up with something which is beautiful and attractive and people go and look at it. Some people in different times had different forms of art that people, different peoples were good at. For example, during the time leading up to the revelation of the Qur'an and the coming of our Prophet, as you know, the Arab society, their form of art was poetry. But you had different forms as well too: paintings and sculptures and other things.

Now, in our world today, you could say that one of the good measures of like what is it that our culture is producing? What is it that people look towards that people find attractive? One good measure is just this. What is the most highly viewed video on YouTube? And if you go and see what this video is, it has to do with some guy who is jumping around like a horse, like he's riding a horse. And, um, I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about, but he's jumping around that is riding a horse. Right. There's scenes of, you know, different sorts of, you know, sexual sort of connotations. And it all has to do with a conversation. I mean, sorry, that's to do with the dialogue of it. The context behind that is how he wants to meet a particular woman and make her his girlfriend or something like that. Now, for some reason, though, this video has gone viral and it has become something that everyone is attracted to.

Now, we as Muslims, we are not immune from the effect that media has on us, things like movies and music. And for many believers, it's very clear they know what the rules are. They know that, OK, there's some area which is haram, which is to be avoided. There's some area where, you know, it's better to stay away from it, and there's some area, which is totally OK, and actually it can be beneficial when it comes to things like movies. But sometimes our problem isn't that we don't know what's right and what's wrong. Even though we know it, we still find ourselves attracted to it and wea re influenced by it as well to.

One of the believers was talking to me last Ramadan, and she was saying that, look at, you know, I everything else that God tells me to do, I'm right there when it comes to the prayers, the fasting, the dress code, eating halal, respecting my parents, getting a halal income, all that's there. But there's one thing that I cannot find that resolve within myself to get rid of, which is the addiction that I have to listening to music. It's something that is just I find very difficult. I'm very attracted to it. And that's something that's within my soul. That's what she's saying.

And some of the other forms of attractive things for believers that they're plagued with, they don't know how they can find that resolve with them to get out of it. Sometimes it's not music, sometimes it's porn. Pornography is unfortunately an issue which even Muslims are have to deal with as well, to an attraction to pornography. And inshaAllah, some other night, if we get a chance, we'll talk more about pornography.

But tonight, I want to talk about this concept of being attracted to a form of art. What is it that makes up, what is it that we would consider something to be attractive? This is something that, again, I am poising this to as a question, what makes something attractive?

If you think about it and ponder upon it, you'll see that that which is attractive, something that we find, something that we want to view, we want to engage with is something that has to be beautiful. And so tonight, I want to focus on this topic of beauty. What is it that is beautiful and what is it that's not beautiful?

First of all, we have to say that all human beings have an attraction to beauty, and this is something that we are born with that we don't have to be taught, that can never leave us either. And it's always been there. In all societies, all peoples. Everyone throughout time has always been attracted to beauty. They want to produce beautiful things and they're attracted to beautiful things as well, too. They have a sense within them that tells them, OK, this is beautiful and this is ugly.

For example, if I take you to a beautiful garden where there's flowers and there's, you know, beautiful plants and trees, it would be hard to find somebody who would not say that this is something which is beautiful because within them they are wired to understand that, hey, this is something which is attractive and this is something which is beautiful.

Different colors, different objects of nature, human beings, and especially certain types of human beings, certain figures, all of these are things which we are wired to understand and appreciate as having beauty.

But beauty isn't something which is so simple. It's not the case that we can just say that, OK, everything is either beautiful or it's not beautiful, because when you start to think about it a little bit more, then we start to see that it's a little bit more complicated than that.

If we were human, if we were. If human beings were just, uh, and if we just existed in the material dimension, we just had our body and all we consisted of were our five senses. And if anything, the only thing we could do is we could hear and see and touch and smell, etcetera, then our notion of what's beauty would be very simple. It would be that which pleases our senses, that which appears to be beautiful, that which sounds beautiful, that which tastes beautiful, that which feels beautiful, for example.

But because we're a little bit more sophisticated than that, we have another dimension to us, we have a soul as well. Therefore, our understanding of what is beautiful and what beauty is is also more sophisticated as well.

Let me give you an example. Suppose that tomorrow it rains outside, OK, and let's say that somebody is playing sports, has signed up for outdoor sports, and tomorrow they have like a big match lined up for them. All right? Now, it starts raining in the morning. This person, this child who wants to play sports tomorrow. They see that rain falling. They'll be like, oh, man, this just is kind of lame, right? I really wanted it to I really wanted to play that. I really wanted to participate in that game that we're going to have, but I can't do that because of the rain.

Now, you take that same rain and you go to a farmer. Let's say there's a farmer whose land is, you know, parched and they're just waiting for that rain to fall. They'd be like: Alhamdu lil-Lah, thank God it's raining. This is something which is really nice, I really appreciate that.

The same rain, the same event that takes place from one perspective, it can be something which is positive and from another perspective, it can be something which is negative.

What's the difference here? It's the same rain, the same physical entity. But there are two different human beings, and they have two different motives in mind. One of them wants to play their sports. One of them wants to get on the football field and throw that thing around. Right. Another one wants to get out on their field and see the crops grow so that they can ensure they have a good crop this season. The same thing can be interpreted in two different ways.

Let me give another example. Brother Adil, who's taking me around these days, has a big car. I don't know if you guys have seen it, right. And this car is in some ways very beautiful. OK, it can go fast. It's, you know, we can see above the heads of the other small little, you know, normal cars that are around us. It gives us a sense of the hey, I'm big important. It has all the features and everything as well, too. So from that perspective, you know, as somebody who was just there for a good ride, has a good AC as well too, right, in these hot days, we really need that. It's something which is good. It's beautiful.

But if you take that same car and you give it to somebody who let's say they're tight on their gas budget, OK, well, they said it's OK. The same vehicle right here, yeah, it might have all these bells and whistles and it's big and huge and everything, but for me, it's the worst type of vehicle I could possibly have. I have no attraction to that thing, take it away from me. Because it just sucks gas like, you know, it just drinks it down. The same thing, why? Because you have two different individuals, and they have two different motivations to different purposes in mind. I think you see where I'm going here.

What I'm saying is that as human beings, we are sophisticated. We have there's more to it than just the apparent the first blush, the first view of something. It's not just a matter of something appearing, for example, in a symmetrical sort of way, with the right amount of, you know, like proportions, and, you know, in the case of a car like the right type of engineering. No, there's something that goes beyond that as well, too. And it has to do with something that's not material. It's it's our motivation and our purpose.

Now, the question that we have to ask ourselves is, what should our purpose be as human beings? What are we supposed to be striving for? How can we measure whether something is good for us or it's not good for us?

And this is something that Allah and the Prophet and the Ahl Al-Bayt, 'alayhum as-salam, and they wanted us to think about. Allah says in a verse in the Qur'an: he says, "aina tadh-haboon?" (81:26), where i it that you're going?

I remember one time one of my teachers was telling me a story of this one famous figure who was involved in the Islamic revolution in Iran. He was one of the important figures. He was a very special person and eventually he became a shaheed. Anyhow, he said that this person had a lot of, you know, nice sort of traits about him. One of the things that he used to do is write on top of his door. He put a sign up. And on that sign, he had this Ayah of the Qur'an written, which is "aina tadh-haboon?" (81:26). Where is it that you're going?

And every time he would leave his home, he would see that and he would reflect on it. Now, of course, it's not a simple question. It's not just saying that. Where are you going? I'm going to like, you know, the grocery store. I'm going to school or something. No, where are you going? Like, what is it that you're striving for in life? What is it that you're moving towards in life? What is it that's worth moving towards?

The Ahl Al-Bayt, 'alayhum as-salam, they gave us this concept. They wanted us to reflect on this, which is what is it that is your hamm? What is it that you're striving for? What is it that's important for you? What is it that defines everything that you do?

Now if you ask this question of different people, they will come up with different answers. Some people, if you ask them, you know, what is it that drives you? What is it that, you know, makes you satisfied and makes you happy about your life and what you do? A lot of people first of all, they wouldn't have an answer for you.

Because most of us kind of just go through life. We're drifting through and we don't think about things too much. We kind of go with the flow. But if we think about it a little bit more for a lot of us, if we want to be honest about it, the answers that we come up with aren't very impressive.

The reason why I make certain decisions, why I spend my time in this way, why hang around with these friends, why I don't do this and I do that. A lot of times it can be something which is pretty mundane, not something that we are going to be too proud about, if we want to tell others about it.

Sometimes it's money that drives us. Sometimes it's the opposite gender, sometimes everything, for example, a young teenage guy who's fallen, who has a crush on a girl, everything that he will do from the moment he wakes up till he goes to sleep has to do with somehow, you know, figuring out a way to make that happen.

What is it that drives? What is it that's worth driving towards? This is the question I'd like to pose tonight. Please say salawat 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad wa ajjal Farajahum].

The only beauty, the only true beauty, and the ultimate beauty that we understand to exist is Allah. Everything else, every other beauty, everything else that we would find attractive is something which pales in comparison and can it cannot even be compared to Allah.

And so the point, the main point I want to convey tonight is this right here, that as we are searching for what is it that is truly beautiful, what can we define as being beautiful, it is that which is associated with Allah and the religion of Allah.

Why is that? Why is it and this is the important point, because a lot of us know this, but we haven't come to appreciate it. We don't really believe it. Sometimes the way that Allah is introduced to us is that He is a being who is very scary. He is a being who we need to kind of run away from. And from one perspective, we do need to be scared about Allah. We need to be scared of our actions in His presence, because He has given us so much, and we have no excuse to fall short in His presence and knowing that He is always aware of us.

But this is not fair. If we just limit ourselves to understanding Allah as a scary entity, then we will never truly appreciate what it means to be a believer and to have a goal in our life and making that goal be Allah.

Look, I just want to see what are the Ma'sumeen, 'alayhum as-salam, what do they say about Allah? Let me just quote you some lines of how they see him and how they define beauty.

This is from Imam as-Sajjad, 'alayhi as-salam. He says that, in one of his Munajat, one of his whispered conversations with God. He says, oh, my God, "Kaifa ansaka wa lam tazal dhakiri?" how can I ever forget You, when You are always remembering me? "Wa kayfa alhu 'anka wa anta muraqibi?". How can I turn away from You and stop remembering You and be distracted by something other than You, while You are always watching me and taking care of me? You got my back.

OK, this is one of the one of the, just one line which tells us a little bit about how they viewed Allah. Some other lines, now, this is from Du'a Jawshan al-Kabir. This Du'a that we inshaAllah will recite, all of us know we typically do recite this in the month of Ramadan. And this, Du'a is a profound supplication. I have seen that people who, you know, before reading this, you know, they are confused a little bit about God and the relationship with God and how they should see Him. Throughout the course of just going through this Du'a, they can completely transform as individuals. And you will find them weeping and supplicating to God just because of these words right here.

In one of the lines of this Du'a we say the following. We say: "ya habiba man la habiba Lah. Ya tabiba man la tabiba Lah. Ya mujiba man la mujiba Lah. Ya shafiqa man la shafiqa Lah. Ya rafiqa man la rafiqa Lah. Ya mughitha man la mughitha Lah. Ya dalila man la dalila Lah. Ya anisa man la anisa Lah. Ya rahima man la rahima Lah. Ya sahiba man la sahiba Lah" [Du'a Jawshan al-Kabir 59].

Look at these words. They have, there is a world of meaning behind them. Oh the One who is the beloved for the one who has no beloved. Oh the One who is the physician, the one who can heal for the one who has no one else to heal him. Oh the One who answers the call of the one who has no one else to turn to to answer their call. Oh the One who is the companion for the one who has no companion. Oh the One who comes to the aid of the one who has no one else to turn to for aid and assistance. Oh the One who is there as a close companion for the one who has no close companion. Oh the One who shows mercy and compassion to the one who has no one else to show compassion and mercy to him.

In another part of the Du'a we say the following. We say: "Ya man adhahr al-Jamil", oh the One who displays the beauty. Where does all this beauty come from? If you go to the beauty that lies, let's say in in nature or the beauty that lies in a human being, you ask, well, did you yourself come with this beauty or is it the way that you are created? Well, if you are created in this way, then how beautiful the Creator must be.

"Ya man adhahr al-Jamil, ya man satar al-Qabeeh, ya man lam yuakhidh bi 'l-jareera, ya man lam yahtakit as-sitr, ya 'adheem al-'af, ya hasan at-tajawaz, ya wasi'a al-maghfirah, ya basit al-yadeeni bi 'r-rahmah, ya sahiba kulli najwah, ya muntaha kulli shakwah [Du'a Jawshan al-Kabir 22]. Oh the One who is vast in His forgiveness. Oh the One who, whose hands are open in giving and distributing His mercy. Oh the One who is there to listen to all of our whispered cries. Oh the One to whom all of our complaints are directed.

You see brothers and sisters, Islam presents us with a very simple but a very powerful solution to help us understand what is true beauty. All beauty emanates from Allah, and everything that is related to Him is what is beautiful. And so the Deen that Allah brings, that is what helps us determine what is beautiful and what is not beautiful.

In one of our of the Ziyarat, which is known as Ziyarah of Aali Yasin, where we say our salam to the Imam of our Time, we see some very powerful statements. We say: Al-Haqqu ma radhitu mu', wa al-batilu ma askhantu mu. Imagine that we say these types of things. But do we act upon them? We say that, look, there is some truth. There is a standard of what is right, and what is good, and what is beautiful. And that is what you are pleased with. Oh, Imam, I am telling you that whatever you are pleased with, that is what is good for me.

"Wa al-batil ma akhattu muhu", whatever that you are unhappy with, your displeased with, that is invalid. "Wa al-ma'rufu, ma amartum bihi", that which is good is what you ordered us to do. "Wa al-munkaru, ma nahiitu 'anhu", that which is evil is that which you prevented us and prohibited us from doing.

So you take this as a standard. We have a standard for what's beautiful and what's not, and now we reapply it to understanding different things around us.

Let's say, for example, you have a woman who is decked up. She is wearing the best of clothes. She is, you know, has makeup on, perfume on. Right. Is this something which is beautiful or something which is not beautiful? If we looked at things in a very materialistic way, then we would say that, of course. Right. Wearing makeup, wearing perfume, wearing the best of clothing. That is something which is good as beautiful.

But now that we have this yardstick, which we which we can use, which is measuring it against what Allah wants we say that, wait a minute, if this is for her family members, if this is for those who are mah'ram to her, then this is something which is beautiful. But if it's something which is in the front in the presence of non-mah'ram, then it's not beautiful, even though it might be the case that on some level there is some beauty there. We don't accept that to be beautiful. We're going to redefine the standards right here. That's not beauty anymore.

Another example, somebody shouting at the top of their voice, right. Normally would say that, hey, shut up. You know, why are you so why are you starting with the voice? That is something which is ugly. Don't do that. And in most cases, it is not appropriate. Right. You find unfortunately, sometimes even, you know, in a family, in the home, people shout at each other, why are you shouting at each other? What is the reason behind it? Is there any rational reason to be shouting with our fellow family members, our fellow believers?

Yeah, at times a parent might need to raise his or her voice, you know, in a measured way, with control, in order to make a point to their children. But for there to be shouting, there is really no room for that. So shouting in general is something which is bad, something which is ugly. But there are some times when it's not ugly. In fact, it's something which is necessary.

My rights are being trampled. The dhalim is coming and taking away my home. He is about to kill me. Then I need to speak up. I need to defend my rights. I need to get into action, I can't just be meek and submissive in that point. So the same action will go and will we're going to redefine it. We have a new standard by which we can look at it, please recite Salawat 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad wa ajjal farajahum].

So as we draw the conclusion here, brother and sisters. The point I want to convey is that our standard for beauty and what's, what is attractive has to be more sophisticated. We have to use a yardstick that God gives us, which is His religion. And we have to realign ourselves with that. We have to tell ourselves that, you know, when we are going out in the streets, we see people openly sinning and we should say, wait a minute, this thing this is wrong. This isn't the way they were created for something better than this.

We should feel that within us, not just be jaded towards this type of thing, and the same thing applies when it comes to movies and different forms of art and music as well.

It might be the case that the soundtrack is something which is appealing to me. But the same thing I have to realize that there is a standard out there for what is beautiful and what is not. Look at this guys jumping up and down like he is riding a horse, right, and that makes me want to do the same thing. Wait a minute. I am a human being. I am supposed to have a little bit more dignity than that. I have to know how to carry myself with dignity. I am supposed to be the Ashraf al-Maqluqat, the most dignified of all the creatures. Is it right for me to be jumping up and down like that? Is that something which is admirable? Yeah, it might be funny, but it's not something which is appropriate given what the Deen has to offer me.

InshaAllah this is a discussion to continue on, if Allah gives Tawfeeq, in the future nights, where we look at a little bit more at music and the nature of music. But the important thing is that we keep in mind this fundamental point, that we human beings are attracted towards beauty. So we need to really understand what is beautiful and what is not beautiful and realign our attraction accordingly.

I'm going to just end now with, again, a remembrance of the Ahl Al-Bayt alayhum as-salam. Our discussion has been regarding beauty. And according to one of the respected scholars, when he was talking about this concept, he said, perhaps the most profound explanation of this concept can be found in what took place after the incident of Ashura.

As you know, the prisoners were taken as captives. The Ahl Al-Bayt, are now captives, they are being marched along towards Kufa, on the orders of Ubaidullah Ibn Zyad, and among them are the womenfolk of the Ahl Al-Bayt alayhum as-salam. As they get to Kufa, you can imagine the humiliation. You can imagine what people are seeing as they see these people. They, imagine them to just be captives who have revolted against the government of the time.

They are bound up together. They are taken to the court of Ubaidullah Ibn Zyad. I don't know what kind of scene that must have been, and how they could have beared to see what it was that he was doing to that sacred head of Abu Abdullah Al-Husayn, alayhi as-salam.

And then it got to a point that there was a companion there, an old companion of the Prophet who spoke up. He said Ubaidullah Ibn Zyad, how can you do this with your cane? Don't you know that these same lips were the lips that were kissed by the Prophet, the Messenger of Allah? Ubdaidullah Ibn Ziyad saw that among the captives, there was one woman who stood out and he asked about her. They told him that this lady is named Zaynab Bint Ali.

So he addresses hers. She he asked her, he tells her, he says to her that: all praise be to Allah who expose you to shame, who killed you and prove that you are liars. She responds to him and he doesn't like the way that she responds to him, so he goes on to taunt her. He says: "Kayfa ra'iyti sun Allahi be akhiki? How do you see what Allah did to your brother, and what He did to your family?

But this is what Zaynab, salamu Allah alayha says. She says: "Ma ra'iytu illa jamila". See, what is the nature of beauty in the eye, in the eyes of Hazarat Zaynab, salamu Allah alayha. Her standard is something else. All these difficulties, all these martyrdoms, all this blood that was spilled, all these children who are now orphaned, all these trials and tribulations that she has had to face. But still, because her goal is Allah, everything that helps her along that go to Allah, she sees as being something which is beautiful. She says that I didn't see anything but beauty in all of that.

As salamu alaykum ya ahla bayti an-Nubuwa, wa mawdu ar-risala, wa mukhtalafa al-mala'ika, wa mahbita al-wahi, ma ma'di ar-rahmah, wa khuzzana al-'ilmi, wa muntaha al-hilm, wa uwsula al-karam.

We ask Allah by the sake of the debate on alayhum as-salam that he accepts these efforts, that he helps us to benefit the most from these sacred and blessed days and nights, that he helps us to come closer to him in this month and to learn the teachings of his great religion, apply them to ourselves and spread them to others. Sallu 'ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad.