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• His words in the hadith, “Allah is beautiful and loves beauty” (1), cover the beauty of clothing about which the Companion asked in that very report, and by general implication they include every form of beauty.

Similarly, another hadith states, “Allah is clean and loves cleanliness” (2).

In the Ṣaḥīḥ we read: “Allah is good and accepts only what is good” (3).

The Sunan record: “Allah loves to see the effect of His favor upon His servant” (4).

They also relate that Abū al-Ahwaṣ al-Jushamī [from his father] said: “The Prophet ﷺ saw me wearing tattered clothes and asked, ‘Do you own any property?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘What kind of property?’ I answered, ‘Whatever Allah has given me—camels and sheep.’ He said, ‘Then let the effect of His blessing and honor be seen upon you.’ ” (5)

Thus He—exalted is He—loves the visible manifestation of His favor upon the servant, for that is a form of beauty He loves. Displaying it is also an act of gratitude, and gratitude is an inner beauty; therefore He loves to behold His servant adorned with outward beauty through His blessing and with inward beauty through giving thanks for it.