Abou El Fadl - The search for beauty in Islam : a conference of the books

THE SEARCH FOR
BEAUTY IN ISLAM

And say: O my Lord, increase me in knowledge (XX:114)

By: Mohammad Agha Miri

Khaled Abou El Fadl

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 means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, 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 / 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: 978-0-7425-5094-0

1. IslamAppreciation. 2. IslamEssence, genius, nature. 3. Sufism. I. Abou El Fadl, Khaled, 1963- Conference of the books. II. Title.

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

This book is dedicated to my sons, Cherif and Medhat; may the Conference find them and may they find beauty.

These 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 Islamwhat is beautiful in Islam, about Islam, and in the lives of those who adhere to the Islamic faith. Often this search has forced me to wrestle with the challenge of understanding 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 unfair 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 overwhelming 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 liveson 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 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 encouragement 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 editor 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 jurists of Islam, my everlasting companions in the search for beauty.

The precursor to this book was a collection of essays published in 2001 under the title The Conference of the Books: The Search for Beauty in Islam. Since the original publication, what began as a humble collection of essays, written with the hope of igniting a spark of interest in the Islamic intellectual heritage, has exceeded all expectations in striking a meaningful chord in enough hearts and minds so as to set off a flurry of interest around the world. In its pre-9/11 publication,