Envoys of Beauty
September 2020
“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature and Selected Essays
These words are imprinted into my memory.
Some lessons and applications are below. Feel free to reflect and come up with your own:
The Qur’ān
فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِمَوَاقِعِ النُّجُومِ
I swear by the positions of the stars
وَإِنَّهُ لَقَسَمٌ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ
a mighty oath, if you only knew
إِنَّهُ لَقُرْآنٌ كَرِيمٌ
that this is truly a noble Quran
فِي كِتَابٍ مَّكْنُونٍ
in a protected Record
لَّا يَمَسُّهُ إِلَّا الْمُطَهَّرُونَ
that only the purified can touch
تَنزِيلٌ مِّن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
A revelation from the Lord of the Worlds
سورة الواقعة: ٧٥-٨٠ | Translation: Abdel Haleem
Reflection 1
The Qur’ān is like a night sky. The more time you spend with it, the more accustomed your eyes become to the darkness, and the more stars you will see. If you are in a well-lit room and suddenly the lights turn off, initially you cannot see much. With the passing of a few minutes, you will be able to make our shapes and avoid bumping into things. In science, this is known as dark adaptation. The eyes adjust to the darkness and you’re able to see with more clarity than before.
Reflection 2
The positions of the stars in the sky change every night from our viewpoint. This means there is something different we may learn from the Qur’ān each time we turn to it. What you see in the night sky also depends on where you are on the globe. What is visible from the UK (Northern Hemisphere) may not be visible in other parts of the world. What situation am I in right now, where is my heart in this moment, and what stars of the Qur’ān will reveal themselves tonight?
Edit October 2021: Dr. Sohaib Saeed @tafsirdoctor April 2019
I just can’t get over how great this oath is. وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمࣱ لَّوۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ عَظِیمٌ “... a mighty oath, if you only knew...” Thinking about suras as constellations of verses which now appear together even though they were separated by time/place of revelation... Now we understand that constellations are like that too, not flat planes of star formations as they appear to us from Earth. In a single constellation, some stars are farther away and their light takes longer to reach us. But somehow the formation looks coherent to the eye. | Dr Sohaib Saeed @tafsirdoctor
Reflection 3
The stars only reveal themselves in their full glory and beauty to those who spend extensive time with the night sky. We must spend time in the company of the Qur’ān.
Reflection 4
These verses are our guiding lights. A bounty from our Generous Lord. They guide us to that which is better, to that which is purer, sublime and incandescent…
هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ لِّيُخْرِجَكُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ
سورة الحديد: آية ٩
He is the One Who sends to His Servant Manifest Signs, that He may lead you from the depths of Darkness into the Light and verily Allah is to you most kind and Merciful
I feel that the aforementioned quote from Emerson summarises our condition with the Qur’ān. We do not notice it and neither do we benefit from it. We do not strive and exert ourselves in its understanding. The stars are there every night, and that is why people do not rush to “believe and adore”; had they been visible only once in a thousand years, people would rush towards it. It is from Allāh’s immense Mercy and Favour upon us that we have the Qur’ān at every moment of our lives.
The Prophets
Who are the “envoys of beauty”? First and foremost, the Prophets and Messengers of the Almighty. عليهم الصلاة والسلام جميعا
They had undeniable, blinding intrinsic beauty but they were also conveying the most beautiful and most complete of messages.
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
سورة القلم: آية ٤
Truly thou art of a tremendous nature
Stars witness that which occurs between us all, even in the depths of the night when everyone retreats into their homes. Stars are a means of good news for those lost at sea, and a means of guiding themselves to safety and sanctuary. Stars cast “an admonishing smile” (Emerson) and thus remind and warn us of the Kingdom of God.
Our Imam and Exemplar, the Prophet ﷺ was addressed in the following verse:
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ شَاهِدًا وَمُبَشِّرًا وَنَذِيرًا
سورة الفتح: آية ٨
We have truly sent thee as a witness, as a bringer of Glad Tidings, and as a Warner
Blessed
Finally, I turn my attention to myself. What lessons can we apply on an individual and community level?
Stars burn. What we are seeing when we ‘see’ stars is the light that they emit as they burn furiously and produce energy. They are constantly emitting energy.
A quality of a dā’ī, someone who calls others to the Truth, is that they must have sincere concern for the welfare of the people — for their afterlife. They emit light and this luminosity is visible even to those far away — just as the light we perceive from stars is from many light-years away.
The star emits its light regardless of where it is in the night sky, and regardless of where you are looking at it from.
وَجَعَلَنِي مُبَارَكًا أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُ وَأَوْصَانِي بِالصَّلَاةِ وَالزَّكَاةِ مَا دُمْتُ حَيًّا
And He hath made me blessed wheresoever I be, and hath enjoined on me Prayer and Charity as long as I live
سورة مريم: آية ٣١
This is the speech of our Prophet ‘Īsā, upon whom be peace, attributed to him by our Lord.
I once attended a lecture by our Shaykh Akram Nadwi حفظه الله تعالى at a dinner event in the community. He did not speak at length regarding issues of minutiae, nor did he utilise technical terms. He simply instructed us: “be mubārak wherever you are”. Be a blessing to your community, to your family, to your friends, to strangers, to those in need. Be completely and perfectly wholesome and pure. Allow light to emanate from your face and presence. Become an envoy of beauty.
Oh Allāh, make us blessed wherever we may be!