Beauty by Definition

assalamualaikum wbt. everyone!


How are you?  May Allah guide you, and me in the right path, towards eternal success, insyaAllah.


Today I would like to share a very nice video.  This brother made a poem, on 'beautiful'.  Very nice, masyaAllah.  But before you press the play button, I would like to ask you to take time and reflect for a while.. what is YOUR definition of beautiful?  


Think...


Think..


Okey, you can watch it now.. (^_^)

Hope you had watched it, and enjoyed it as much as I did.  Did it penetrate through your mind and have you re-define beauty as it had on me?  


A few highlights of the video...


Everyone loves beauty.  Everyone appreciates beauty, and wish to be beautiful.  Girls spend their time in front of the mirror, while guys try their best to look sharp in their ties, blazers and slacks.


Yet is that the limitation of beauty that we seek?  Is beauty, showing off sexuality, make-ups, injections, faking here and there?  Is that all there is?


But if the whole world was blind, then how many people would you impress??


Beauty by definition, should not be so vague.  If it is all up to sights.. then there must be a huge piece missing out of the whole picture.  Because beauty is obviously more than just about sights and smells.  It should be more than just face paints, hair dyes, and perfumes.


Love yourself first, before anyone else can love you.  And to love yourself, is to love The One of which to all love belongs.
Never thought of it this way... but yeah, in order to appreciate yourself, you must first appreciate your Creator and Sustainer.  The Most Beautiful.  Thus to be confident that Allah had made us, the best, is to love, and really feel that He, our Creator, is, first and foremost, The Best.  The Most Beautiful will indeed made us beautiful, as He loves beauty.  And thus we also realize that, because He created us, He'll know what's the best protection for us, to remain beautiful in His eyes.  Thus, we try our very best to obey Him.

Once, I've faced with a challenge.  Which opened up my own view of how some people view hijab, and of my own views and stand, too.  In primary school (Primary Four, if I'm not mistaken), I was once laughed at when a strong gust of wind blew and my hijab went right off.  Alhamdulillah, my friends back then were very supportive, and immediately surrounded me so that I can wear them properly again.  I was really mad at the boy who laughed.  And yes, a tad bit ashamed, too, at the time, perhaps.  But as I pondered upon the incident years afterwards, I guess... it was not his fault.  The boy is just a kid.  Stereotyping people is everywhere, and kids just follow others.  Yet , alhamdulillah, at the time, I have proudly persevered with my attire, for it represents me, as a Muslimah.  And I've to show that, despite what others say, I am not oppressed by what I choose to wear.  Without a doubt, his insults hurt.  I am just a kid.  But thankfully Allah sent me good friends who protect me and reassure that it is alright to practice what I understand. To backtrack a little, at the time, the Public School I went to had only two full time hijabis.  Me, and another Iranian girl who is two years older than I. Hence, his views and acts, were, I presume, an act done out of ignorance.  And yes, many others have faced much harder criticism and mockery than I had.  Undoubtedly.


Which brings me to this stanza: Maybe she doesn't even care what people think.  'Coz most people's opinion ain't even valid.


In this so called 'modern' world, so many people view hijab as oppression.  Others, in many parts of the Muslim society (even in Malaysia), view hijab as more of a fashion, rather than an act done willingly, in order to obey the Creator, because she truly understands and realize fully what the hijab meant for her.  Opinions, to girls, especially, seem to matter a lot, somehow.  "How do I look?  Is this zit so big that it showed?  Is my hair right today?"  are just some of the many questions girls ask themselves, again and again.  But through the hijab, Allah thought us to look at beauty in a different perspective.  Not as how others see you, but how did Allah look at you? What is His opinion?


The hijab should not just be a fashion sense.  Nor should someone wear them, just for the sake of obeying a teacher, or parents.  If so, then at another place, some other situation, at work, etc, she might just take them off again, because of what people see, because it is not the trend, or because of the weird way she's being seen.  


Enough of my own rants.  What is beauty to you?  Let's ponder and reflect.
May Allah bless....