Abstract

The whatness of beauty has been considered one of the intricate philosophical problems since the time of Socrates. Muslim scholars have also spoken of the "whatness, types, and principles of beauty" in some of their philosophical and theological discussions. The compilation of their theories can be a step towards the development of Islamic aestheticism. Some words such as "jamal", "value", "ornament", "goodness", "benevolence", and rarely the word "beauty" have been used in Arabic and Persian texts to refer to "sensual and non-sensual", and "external and internal" kinds of beauty.Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ghazzali, and Suhrawardi have defined the concept of beauty based on perfection. While they acknowledge the existence of tangible beauty, they attribute true beauty to the Necessary Being. Farabi also qualifies voluntary acts, moral behaviors and habits which lead to ultimate happiness with true beauty and, in doing so, he considers "goodness", "beauty", and "perfection" to be synonymous with each other. Some theologians also believe that one of the meanings of beauty is "perfection in the sense of human perfection"