Sufi Aesthetics as an Epistemological Critique of Western Aesthetic Thought:
Aqlania December 30, 2025 Alifah Yasmin
Contemporary Western aesthetics typically separates beauty from morality and spirituality, treating it as an autonomous domain of sensory judgment. In contrast, Islamic intellectual traditions, particularly Sufi thought, integrate aesthetic experience with the holistic cultivation of the soul (tazkiyat al-nafs) and the recognition of divine perfection. Through philosophical and hermeneutic analysis, the research shows that Sufi aesthetics roots beauty in harmony among body, character, and spirit, and uses spiritual taste (dzawq) as a way of knowing that goes beyond rational cognition. While Western models prioritize artistic autonomy, Sufi aesthetics links beauty to ethical refinement, ontological purpose, and the pursuit of human perfection (kamāl). The argument suggests that this spiritually grounded framework can correct contemporary aesthetic discourse's moral fragmentation and loss of transcendent meaning.