Beauty in Islam: Poems of Wholeness, Light, and Concord: (Responding to the Qur'an, to Scholars, to Legacies of Tradition)

The Arabic word "Islam" is related to the words "Peace," Wholeness," and "Surrender." Two sayings relate to this. Qur'an 20:3 "Allah! There is no God save Him. His are the most beautiful names." A hadith adds that "God is beautiful and His are the most beautiful names."What is beautiful will have the qualities of Completeness, Brightness, and Harmony; that is, of Wholeness, Light, and Concord. Ultimate Being cannot be intellectually known by a finite creature, but the "names" or metaphoric words we're inspired to say by the Created Worlds point to the unwordable nature of the Ultimate. The Ninety-nine Names of God are imaginative metaphors for what we cannot know with the mind but can love intensely with the heart.Each name of God is an approximator, imagination-expander, view-extender, capacity-stretcher. They are each a metaphor, a Greek word for" bearing beyond." And as the ultimate metaphor-crafting world imaginer, the Unnamable is ultimate poet.Ultimate Being's works of creative imagining each feel like an act of Mercy. The calligraphic work, reproduced here, by my friend Shahid Alam, says "Ar-Rahim, The Merciful." Anything beautiful and beloved is a gift of God's Mercy. I think of Mercy as Beauty manifest in Goodness. Read more