Beauty is in the Nature of Things: A Sufi Theory of Beauty in the Works of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī and Rūzbihān Baqlī

Towards a decolonization of the theory of Islamic art, this paper consults doctrines of the Persian Sufis Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273) and Rūzbihān Baqlī (d. 606/1209) as they bear upon a Sufi understanding of beauty. Their teachings on the Sufi doctrine of tajallī (manifestation), that is, that all things are manifestations of God, imply that beauty is not in the eye of the beholder but is in the nature of things. Given that the Divine is Absolute (muṭlaq), as exemplified by the Divine Name the Truth / the Real (al-Ḥaqq), beauty can be described metaphysically as an objective reality that exists in the true nature of all manifest beings. Ultimately, this theory necessitates that a distinction be made between the subjective nature of attraction and the objective nature of beauty, as well as offers decolonial support through insight into traditional intellectual principles that inform Islamic aesthetics.