Asking Allah to make one handsome

26/05/2010| IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamu alaykum, My question is that can you ask Allah anything like due'a, you can ask Allah any dua you want right like, o allah make me smart, or give me beauty, will Allah except this dua , please let me know insha allah assalamu alaykum

Fatwa:

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

 

There are some etiquettes for supplication that should be observed, and a person is not totally free to ask whatever he wants without restrictions, rather it is forbidden to exceed the limits when supplicating. It is reported that 'Abdullaah Ibn Mughaffal, may Allah be pleased with him, narrated: "I heard the Prophet saying: ''There will be people among this (Muslim) nation who would exceed the limits in ritual purification and in supplication." [Ahmad and Abu Daawood]

 

Exceeding the limits when supplicating is, for example, when one supplicates for something which contradicts the wisdom of Allah in creating people with a certain share of beauty that could be less than others. Ibn Taymiyyah said: 'To exceed the limits when supplicating is to ask for what one is not permitted to ask for, like supplicating for help in forbidden matters, or when supplicating for something which Allah  has willed not to do, like asking Him to make one live until the Day of Judgement, or to make him stand free of basic necessities of human beings like food and drink, or to ask Allah to show him the unseen, or to make him infallible, or to bless him with children without being married, and other forms supplications that exceed the limits, and which Allah does not like, and does not like the person who supplicates with them.'

 

Therefore, the supplication that is mentioned in the question, despite being among things that Allah is able to grant, it is a kind of exceeding the limits as Allah created the creation in this universe according to certain constant Divine laws, among which is the impossibility of changing the form of a person from ugly to handsome for instance. Therefore, one should not ask Allah something that is contradictory to these universal laws set by Allah.

 

Nonetheless, a person may ask Allah to improve his manners and make him accepted by people and make his moral conduct better than his outside appearance, as this is something that is within the realm of possibility and reason.  As a matter of fact, this supplication is better for the person than having a good outside appearance which conceal an evil inner self.  

 

Allah Knows best.

 

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb