BEAUTY

The concept of beauty that leaves an impression on us, caresses our soul, changes us spiritually, and gives us an indescribable and sweet excitement has intrigued man since the earliest ages. This is the science of aesthetics. Philosophers and scholars have interpreted the meaning of beauty according to their under­standing. Many books have been written on this subject to explain beauty in a scholastic and scientific way. Rumi, on the other hand, expresses beauty not in terms of reason but in terms of the heart, love, and faith.

According to Rumi, all beauty and the beautiful refer to God who is Beautiful. Ail beauty that we see in this world is the minute particles of God's Beauty because God is the Absolute Beautiful. True beauty, complete and comprehensive beauty is His. He manifests His attribute of Beauty in everything He creates. In the stars that shine in the heavens during the night, in the moonlight, in the sunrise and sunset, in the seas, heavens, forests, mountains, rivers there is beauty In the flowers, butter­flies, creatures living in the depths of the sea, and in the birds that fly—in everything—there is beauty The physical and spiri­tual beauty in man who is the most honorable of all the crea tures cannot even be listed. Similarly, the beauty in the works of art that humankind produced is impossible to be framed.

Rumi, who is familiar with the secrets of the heart, clarified the reason for the fascination and admiration that we feel when listening to a beautiful voice or observing a beautiful landscape, even if we cannot explain exactly our attraction and merely say: "I like this. " According to Rumi, the admiration that we feel for beauty brings us closer to that Most Beautiful of the Most Beautiful, God. Through the fascination and admiration that we feel for beauty, our heart enters a different state, and we feel a sweet and indescribable excitement. For example, when a nay (flute), a violin, a piano, or any other instrument is played with emotion, we come under its influence, A beautiful poem, a play that deals with courage, self-sacrifice, affection, and compassion touches us. When we listen to a hymn that is sung properly according to its rules, our personality changes. At that moment we come out of our body and go to a different world. Our spir­it is freed from the prison of our body, and we leave our physi­cal existence. At that moment it is as if we became a new per­son. We are in the presence of our Beloved Lord as pure and spotless people who have slipped away from our ambitions, bad habits, and sins. At that moment we are taking spiritual nour­ishment at the Maida al-Asman, the heavenly table of God, pos­sessor of favors, where He bestows upon us beautiful voices and divine melodies. When this voice that we like becomes silent, we return to our old state by falling from the sky like birds with broken wings. We want the divine melodies that take us beyond to continue. The artists that produce these divine sounds are people who sense something from beyond and express it in dif­ferent ways. Artists have a spiritual sense that not everybody has. Sometimes even the artist has no idea about his own spiri­tual power. Some fascinate us with their voices, some with their instruments, some with the works of art they produce, some with their beauty and manners. Regarding this matter, Rumi says the following: "Beautiful faces are mirrors of God's Beauty.

Loving them is the echo of loving and seeking God. It is con­templating God. " There is a point where we have to be very careful: To avoid polytheistic thoughts, we should think of God's Beauty in spiritual terms. In fact, Rumi warns us in this matter: "Transcend the glasses of forms and beauties of faces, and do not be taken by them. The wine may be in the glass, but it is not the glass itself. "

Can mortal and transient beauty really be the same as God's Beauty? Divine Light can be seen on this body that is a pile of flesh and bones. Sunlight falls on the wall. The wall shines brightly. But the wall is not the sun. A poet expresses this feeling as follows: "The sun of beauty of the beautiful eventually sets. I do not like mortal beauties. I love the Beautiful to whom there is no end and who never sets. " To avoid polytheism, Rumi tells us to see and love beauty and not the beautiful: "You go to visit a friend. But your going is not only for seeing his physical form and outer appearance. It is for his appearance to show closeness with love and affection to you. In reality, you did not go to see your friend. In spirit you went to the universe of formlessness and infinity. But you did not have the slightest idea of this goal since you are unaware. " In a quatrain Rumi says: 'O God, after learning of your love and getting to know you, my eye stopped seeing the beautiful of this world. " Also in the Divan-i Kabir he prays for beauty: "We Sufis came to Your neighbor­hood. For Your holy sake give us something from Your beauty. "

Because all beauty is the manifestation of God's Beauty, the fascination that a beautiful face awakens is not of itself, its mate­rial beauty. It is of the Most Beautiful of the Most Beautiful who gave it that beauty. For this reason, to be absorbed by outer beauty and not think of the Creator is a vice and among the greatest of sins. Seeing beauty that mesmerizes us, we should remember the Qur'anic verse: "Look closely, how high is the Glory of God who is the Most Beautiful of those who give form and create shape. " All beauties belong to Him. To find the Creator, who is the Most Beautiful of the Most Beautiful, in the

beautiful faces and to be fascinated by It, is a favor and grace of God to true believers. In the Mesnevi, Rumi says: "I am the foundation of both reason and divine ecstasy Now we realize that the beauty which we saw in forms and fantasies were the reflection of our beauty. " Since the admiration felt toward the beautiful is a bounty of God to the believers, the true human concentrates on the spiritual aspect of beauty rather than the physical aspect of it, and the Giver of that beauty from whom he accepts everything. God has been creating "living glasses" that will serve the wine of spirit, the wine of Mansur (al-Hallaj). Why do we like beauty and the beautiful? According to Rumi, beauty and the beautiful not only make us closer to God but also remind us of the beauty in the world of spirits. Just as there is an expression of longing in music, in beautiful voices and divine melodies, there is also a memory of the world of the eternal past in beauty and the beautiful. In this regard Rumi says: "In my ear nothing remained except for the noise of love. No reason or no idea remained in my spirit except for the beau­ty of the world of the eternal past. " According to Rumi, there is a predecessor to this life in which we live. Before we came to earth, our spirits were in the world of spirits. There were inde­scribable beauties in the world of the eternal past. It is for this reason that we love beauty that we see here. This beauty reminds us of the beauty in the world of the eternal past. Rumi mentions this in both the Mesnevi and the Divan-i Kabir. He says: "My universe, my world is illuminated with the holy light of the eternal past. My happiness is because of the Greatest of the Great, the Most Beautiful of the Beautiful. " Rumi expresses the same truth in the following poem:

Do you know where you came from? You came from God's pri­vate and sacred territory. Do you not remember that spiritual world, all of that beauty? You forgot them and became bewil­dered in this world. Your head is spinning and you give your life in return for a fistful of soil. What a cheap barter! Return that soil. Know your value, you are not a slave. You are the king, the sultan, and you have no idea of this, Many beautiful faces secretly came down to earth from the heavens for your sake.

Have these beautiful faces that we see in this world come down from the heavens to remind us of the beauty of the world of eternity? What a sweet and pleasant allegory in a metaphori­cal sense! In the world of spirits there were the most beautiful, the most perfect, and the most flawless samples of all the things that we see in this world. All the things that we see and like in this world—a beautiful view, a beautiful face, a work of art, music—remind us of the beauty in the world of spirits in the eternal past. Our Great Prophet also mentioned beauty in some of His Traditions: "Verily God is Beautiful and loves beauty" In another Tradition: "The green fields, rivers, and beautiful faces relax one and make one rest. " And: "Seek wisdom near the ones with beautiful faces. "

According to Rumi, beauty takes us from ourselves, frees us from the prison of the body, and brings us closer to another realm, to God. Thus we find God within the impact of the fine arts on sensitive people. God's Beauty is manifested in the beau­ty of the masterpieces of the great artists that mesmerize and fas­cinate people. This is because all the works of art are works of humans who carry the Divine Entrustment and are subject to Divine Grace no matter to what country or nation they belong. Man exhibits in the masterpieces that he produces himself, his humanity, his feelings, and his thoughts. However, God is the one who grants all artists the power to produce works of art. Just as no mosquito ever can move its wings without His per­mission, no masterpiece can be produced without His commit­ment. He is the one who allows the masterpieces to be pro­duced, gives the artists that inspiration, that power, and that tal­ent. Yet that great unique and peerless Artist conceals Himself. Can anybody know the intricacies of the abilities, talents, beau­ty, and the joy of the beauty bestowed by God upon man who has been created as the most honorable of all creatures? These God's love. He descends to the depths, exits the realm of humanity, and becomes someone resembling animals.

Let us conclude this section with a couplet by a lover of God: "O God, You manifested Your Beauty in the form of the beautiful. Thus in the eye of the lover., you are watching Your own beauty."

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