The search for beauty in Islam : a conference of the books

428 Pages·2006·22.8 MB·English

by  Abou El Fadl

THE SEARCH FOR
BEAUTY IN ISLAM
And say: 0 my Lord, increase me in knowledge (XX: 114)
By: Mohammad Agha Miri
THE SEARCH FOR
BEAUTY IN ISLAM
A CONFERENCE OF THE BOOKS
Khaled Abou El Fadl
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
LANHAM • BOULDER • NEW YORK • TORONTO • OXFORD
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright © 2006 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
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without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abou El Fadl, Khaled, 1963-
The search for beauty in Islam : a conference of the books I Khaled M. Abou El Fadl.
p.cm.
Originally published: Conference of the books. Lanham : University Press of America,
2001.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7425-5093-1 (cloth: alk. paper) - ISBN 0-7425-5094-X (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN: 978-0-7 425-5094-0
1. Islam-Appreciation. 2. Islam-Essence, genius, nature. 3. Sufism. I. Abou El
Fadl, Khaled, 1963-Conference of the books. II. Title.
BP163.A258 2005
297.2-dc22 2005018902
Printed in the United States of America
@™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO 239.48-1992.
This book is dedicated to my sons, Cherif and Medhat;
may the Conference find them and may they find beauty.

Acknowledgments
T
hese essays were written over a time period spanning a decade or more. All of the
essays were inspired by a single compulsion: the search for beauty in Islam
what is beautiful in Islam, about Islam, and in the lives of those who adhere to the Is
lamic faith. Often this search has forced me to wrestle with the challenge of under
standing the beauty of the Divine as well as the divinity of beauty. This, however, is
not a book of philosophical speculation. The essays take full account of the ugliness
that often plagues Muslim realities, and it is through the process of engaging those
unseemly realities that the search for beauty takes place. The overwhelming majority
of the chapters that comprise this book resulted from actual encounters with Muslims
and non-Muslims, but I have avoided using names, and have changed some of the
facts to dilute the identity of those involved. I apologize if I have been unjust or un
fair to anyone who unwittingly inspired the writing of one of these essays. I owe an
enormous debt of gratitude to all those who knowingly or unknowingly and directly
or indirectly played a role in this search for beauty.
The publication of this book in its current form owes its existence entirely to the
dedicated readers from different parts of the world who, believing in the mission of these
essays, accompanied me in the search for beauty in Islam. It is their consistent and over
whelming enthusiasm and encouragement that led to the publication of The Search for
Beauty in Islam. A large number of readers wrote me describing the profound impact that
the essays now printed in this book have had on their lives--on their understanding of
Islam and relationship with God. To each one of these readers I can only say that I am
deeply humbled and honored to have been able to contribute to and possibly enrich their
vii
THE SEARCH FOR BEAUTY IN ISLAM
own personal journeys while seeking to understand what is beautiful about the Islamic
faith and the reasons for the ugliness that exists in Muslim life.
I am extremely grateful to so many people who contributed time, effort, and en
couragement to this project. I am most grateful to my parents Medhat Abou El Fadl and
Afaf El Nimr, and to the teachers and Shaykhs who molded me, gave me the love of
knowledge and beauty, and taught me that the height of beauty is God. I cannot find
the words to thank my wife Grace and son Cherif for helping and encouraging me, and
for being my most trusted and critical readers. They became the pulse that kept this
project alive through many hurdles, and I am grateful to them both. I have had the very
distinct privilege of working with Jeremy Langford, a truly honorable and dedicated ed
itor at Rowman and Littlefield who I am proud to call a friend. He continued to believe
in the importance of this work and expended every effort to ensure it was promptly
published. I express my sincere gratitude to Naheed Fakoor, Omar Fadel, and Hisham
Mahmoud for their unfailing support, valuable insights, and for reading and editing this
work. I also thank Mazen Asbahi, Lena Shahbandar, and Assim Mohammad. I would
like to express my very special gratitude to Mr. Mohammad Fareed for his faith in my
work, and for his unwavering moral support. Lastly, I would be quite remiss not to
thank those without whom these essays could never have been written: my books who
kept The Search going night after night, and who are the joy of my life; and also the ju
rists of Islam, my everlasting companions in the search for beauty.
viii
Contents
Acknowledgments ............................................ vii
Preface for the New Edition .................................... xiii
Introduction ................................................ xv
1 The Conference of Books: The First Admission ...................... 1
2 The Night's Visitor ............................................ 5
3 The Pirates of the Intellect ...................................... 8
4 The Terror of Bigotry ......................................... 12
5 The Civilization of the Book .................................... 14
6 The Interminable Conference ................................... 18
7 On Betrayal ................................................. 20
8 A Prayer ................................................... 22
9 Donkeys Carrying Books ...................................... 25
10 To Murder the Soul ........................................... 28
11 A One More Knowing ........................................ 31
12 Women as an 'Awra ........................................... 33
13 The Authoritative and the Authoritarian ........................... 35
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