COLLEGE OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONS) ARCHITECTURE

CFAP243

MALAY TRADITIONAL ART AND AESTHETIC

ADE493

TITLE OF ASSIGNMENT:
ASSIGNMENT 1

GROUP:
CFAP2431A (SEMESTER 1)

PREPARED BY :
FATIN NURSYUHADA BINTI AZMI
2023399973

PREPARED FOR:
SIR MOHD JAMIL BIN MUHAMAD AMIN

DATE OF SUBMISSION:
7 JUN 2023
 QUESTION 2
Explain your understanding of the beauty concepts in our life by Imam Al-
Ghazali

Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali that was
famously known as Imam Al-Ghazali is a beauty of religion and has been given a title
of Hujjat Al Islam, which is mean the proof of Islam. Although, he never wanted to be
considered as philosopher, but he is the leading figure in Islamic philosopher that
can never be unmatched by anyone and also regarded as the foremost expert on
Islamic theology and law, second only to the Prophet Muhammad (Imam Al-Ghazali
Institute, 2020). Imam al Ghazali wrote many books and there is one book that he
wrote about beauty in it which is Kimia Al-Saadah which is also know as The
Alchemy of Happiness. In accordance with Al-Ghazali's Concept of Beauty in The
Alchemy of Happiness, his appreciation of beauty is a Sufi sense that can only be
connected to God the Beautiful which everything in universe that created by god
reflects god majesty and beauty (IPL, n.d.). This shows that he ties beauty closely to
god.

There are three types of beauty that written by Imam Al Ghazali in The Alchemy of
Happiness which is the first one is external beauty or zahir. It can be seen in Chapter
1 , as to [mans] beauty, he is little more than nauseous matter covered with a fair
skin. Without frequent washing he becomes utterly repulsive and disgraceful” (Nur
Wahyu, 2010). External physical beauty can be seen by the sense of human which is
the eyes. Al-Ghazali further explains zahir by stating that this form of beauty is
frequently connected to the features and physical attributes of the person or an
object. A man that only used zahir to see the beauty will neglects the intrinsic values
because it can only see how attractive something without knowing the internal value
of it.

The external beauty is not permanent. It can be taken away by many factors which is
it can ages or something bad can happen and damages the external beauty. This
mean it can be taken by the god or the man carelessness. According to Al-Ghazali, a
man is nothing more than a repulsive creature who, in the absence of frequent
cleaning, becomes highly nasty and repulsive (The Ripper, 2020). Furthermore,
external beauty can be changed. In this era, man’s can changed how their look by
doing make up or plastic surgery. This shows that external beauty can be pretended

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and as long as it is good in the man’s view, then it will be praised without knowing
the real value of it. This is very loosely related to god and it is portrayed as a fake
sort of beauty (The Ripper, 2020).

The second type of beauty is moral beauty or we called it as batin (Fakhrul Yusof,
2015). Batin is the person’s character that was resulted from a man’s heart and mind.
People that have been called as a person that have an internal beauty is the one that
have a good moral. According to Imam Al-Ghazali in Alchemy of Happiness, he
stated that "The former kind of man [a man who is only acquainted with sensuous
delights] will say that beauty resides in red-and-white complexions, well-proportioned
limbs, and so forth, but he will be blind to moral beauty” (Nur Wahyu, 2010). This
means a man’s that only looks for sensual delights can said someone have a beauty
character just because they have a good looks and appearance. The man’s that not
blind by the external beauty will look for batin and can loved someone that have a
moral beauty like Caliph Abu Bakar even though they never meet with each other
(Nur Wahyu, 2010).

A person that have a good moral usually will be able to choose between the right and
wrong. They stick to God’s will and never do the things that against the law of God
which will shape their character to become a good person. They will never changed
they self to become someone that fit to the trend if it means it will against the law of
god. For example, in this era, curse with each other is something that have been
normalized and someone that do not do it will be labeled as outdated. Person with a
good moral will never do this because curse to each other is a sin that is prohibited in
Islam.

Internal beauty or batin in a man’s is possible to be looking through instantly. People

will realized about someone internal beauty if the really know each other which is it
will take time. It is different with external beauty because it can be seen without a
need to know about each other. The internal beauty can be shown by caring, love
and knowledge. A man's beauty on the outside is not necessarily what draws people
to them which it is the beauty of their knowledge or the good characters (The Ripper,
2020). A prophet is a very good example of someone that we never see but we love
because of their knowledge and the good characters that their shown to anyone no
matter the Islam people or the enemy of Islam. A moral beauty of the prophet be a
big impact to the Islam world because it is one of the main factors that attract people
to see Islam as a beautiful religion. This shows that, internal beauty is permanent

2
and if a man’s have a moral beauty, he will never be forgotten but will be loved and
will always be remembered.

The third type of beauty is spiritual. It is the most magnificent since it is achieved
through ecstasy and has a strong connection to the Almighty (Fakhrul Yusof, 2015).
According to Imam Al-Ghazali in Alchemy of Happiness, he stated that "The heart of
man has been so constituted by the Almighty that, like a flint, it contains a hidden fire
which is evoked by music and harmony, and renders man beside himself with
ecstasy” (Nur Wahyu, 2010). Someone that have a heart that filled with God and
Islam is a person that have a spiritual beauty. Spiritual beauty is the one that hard to
achieved by a man’s but it the most important. A man’s will have a happiness of
religions if he can achieved the spiritual beauty (The Ripper, 2020).

The spiritual beauty cannot be achieved by animals or any other thing beside the
human. It is special connection between a god and a man’s that can be achieved by
the spiritual knowledge itself. A person must fully commit to engaging in activities
related to God, such as loving prayer more than anything in the world and putting
God first above all else. According to Al-Ghazali's philosophy, a man can only
become spiritually beautiful if he develops a natural fondness for anything that is
connected to Allah. The essence of spiritual beauty is love for Allah because He
created everything (The Ripper, 2020). A person that have a spiritual beauty will
love the Creator more than the creation. If a person loves God wholeheartedly,
spiritual beauty will come to him naturally.

The conclusion is, the external beauty, internal beauty and spiritual beauty is a
beauty concept in our life that is portrayed by Imam Al-Ghazali. It is from the beauty
that can be seen from the man’s sense until to the beauty that the only the man’s
and the god can see. All of the beauty is created by god and everything that god
create shows his majesty and beauty. The beauty possessed love which is the love
that come from good appearance, love that come from good moral or characters,
and love that produced between the god and man’s. As a Muslim, we believed that
the internal beauty and the spiritual beauty is the most important because the beauty
that just seen by the eyes is not permanent and will be faded.

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 REFERENCES

Al-Ghazali. (1999). Al-Ghazzali’s alchemy of happiness. Renaissance Publ. House.

The Ripper. (2020). Concept Of Beauty. CourseHero.

https://www.coursehero.com/u/file/60203034/CONCEPT-OF-BEAUTYdocx/

Fakhrul Yusof. (2015). Imam al Ghazali. Prezi.com.

https://prezi.com/f1lrq_6pmohp/imam-al-ghazali/

Nur Wahyu. (2010). Al-Ghazali and Aesthetics.

http://naungan_nur_wahyu.tripod.com/id17.html

IPL. (n.d.). Al Ghazali concept of beauty analysis. https://www.ipl.org/essay/Al-

Ghazali-Concept-Of-Beauty-Analysis-PKJ9Y9NFJE8R