Quran, Hadith of Prophet Muhammad, Plato and Plotinus: On Beauty of Sound
Photo: Dancing girls of Ouled Nail Mountains of Algeria; 1860.
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Allah hath created the seven heavens in harmony.
(Quran, LXXI, 15)
Allah listens more intently to a man with a beautiful voice reading the Quran than does a master of a singing girl to her singing.
(Prophet Muhammad ﷺ)
Musical training is a more potent instrument than any other because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul, on which the mightily fasten, imparting grace, and making the soul of him who is rightly educated graceful, or of him who is ill-educated ungraceful.
(Plato, Republic)
Beauty addresses itself chiefly to sight: but there is a beauty for hearing too, as in certain combinations of words and in all kinds of music, for the melodies and cadences are beautiful; and minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to a higher order are aware of beauty in the conduct of life, in actions, in character, in the pursuits of the intellect; and there is beauty of the virtues.
(Plotinus)
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Recommended Reading:
'Heart of Plotinus: The Essential Enneads'
By Algis Uzdavinys
Purchase Book:
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Description:
Drawing parallels with other traditions, U davinys emphasizes that Plotinus' philosophy was not a purely mental or rational exercise, but a complete way of life incorporating the spiritual virtues. Plotinus is widely regarded as the founder of the school of Neo-Platonism and this book provides an introduction to his teachings and an informative commentary on the Enneads. Also included is a commentary by Plotinus' leading disciple, Porphyry (c. 233-305 A.D.), on an enigmatic passage from Homer's epic, the Odyssey.
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