beauty. Pride is rejecting the truth and looking down on people.” (1)
His words, “Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty,” mean that He loves His servant to beautify and adorn himself for His sake, as Allah Most High said:
“Take your adornment at every mosque.”
[Surah al-A‘rāf: 31].
He dislikes His servant praying to Him naked. Indeed, He—Glory be to Him—dislikes a woman praying to Him bareheaded. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:
“Allah does not accept the prayer of a woman of menstruating age unless she wears a head covering.” (2)
For this reason, [when] (3) the polytheists used to circumambulate the House naked and say, “Allah has commanded us to do this,” Allah Most High said:
“Indeed, Allah does not command indecency. Do you say about Allah what you do not know?”
[Surah al-A‘rāf: 28].
Ensuring that one’s sandals and clothing are fine for the worship of Allah is therefore part of the adornment Allah loves. But if someone were to adorn himself [with it] (4) for an act of disobedience (5), Allah would not love that. When Allah illuminates a believer’s heart with faith, the light of faith becomes manifest upon his face, and he is invested with love and reverence, whereas the hypocrite
(1) Ibn Taymiyya combined the preceding hadith with this one. The authentic version contains only the following portion of the preceding hadith: “No one who has an atom’s weight of pride in his heart will enter Paradise.” The hadith appeared earlier at 3/161.
(2) The hadith is narrated from ‘Ā’isha—may Allah be pleased with her—with the wording, “The prayer of a woman of menstruating age is not accepted unless she wears a head covering,” in Sunan al-Tirmidhī, 1/234 (Book of Prayer, chapter “The Report That the Prayer of a Woman of Menstruating Age Is Not Accepted Unless She Wears a Head Covering”). Al-Tirmidhī said: “There is also a report on this subject from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr. The hadith of ‘Ā’isha is hasan (good).” It also appears with the wording, “Allah does not accept the prayer of a woman of menstruating age unless she wears a head covering,” in Sunan Ibn Mājah, 1/213–214 (Book of Purification, chapter “When a Girl Begins to Menstruate, She Must Not Pray Except with a Head Covering”). The hadith is also in al-Musnad (al-Halabī ed.), 6/218, 259.
(3) “When”: omitted in N and M.
(4) “With it”: omitted only in B. W reads: “even if he adorned himself with it.”
(5) H, R, and Y: “for disobedience to Him”; B: “for an act of disobedience to Him.”