Likewise, He is beautiful in His attributes, for they are all attributes of perfection, worthy of praise and commendation. They are the broadest in scope, the most comprehensive, and the most far-reaching, especially His attributes of mercy, goodness, generosity, and bounty.

Likewise, all His deeds are beautiful. They consist either of acts of goodness and kindness, for which He is praised, extolled, and thanked, or of acts of justice, for which He is praised because they accord with wisdom and are worthy of praise. Nothing in His deeds is frivolous, foolish, purposeless, or unjust; they are all goodness, guidance, mercy, right direction, and justice:

‘Indeed, my Lord is on a straight path.’ 1

Because of His perfection, which no one can praise exhaustively, all His deeds are perfect. His judgments are the finest of judgments, and His creation and workmanship are the finest. He has perfected all that He has made:

‘The handiwork of Allah, who has perfected all things.’ 2

And He has made everything He created beautiful:

‘Who made everything He created beautiful.’ 3

‘And who is better than Allah in judgment for a people who have certainty?’ 4

The author5 then presented a rational argument for the beauty of the Creator: the universe contains all kinds of beauty, and its beauty comes from Allah Most High. He is the One who clothed it in beauty and bestowed loveliness upon it, so He is more entitled to beauty than it is, for the Giver of beauty is more entitled to beauty. This applies to all beauty in this world and the Hereafter, inward and outward, especially the extraordinary beauty that the Lord bestows upon the men and women of Paradise. If the palm of just one of the wide-eyed maidens of Paradise were to appear in this world, it would eclipse the light of