The Search for Beauty in Islam | Khaled Abou el Fadl | At The Threshold Documentary

leveraged in so many thoroughly ugly ways is a betrayal of divinity.

The human soul is from God’s breath. The human soul is divine, and so a human being is an ongoing revelation. And when this ongoing revelation hunts contact with the text, it is divinity coming into contact with divinity. That engagement is what makes the Qur'an an ongoing and never-ending revelation. If the text of the Qur'an is approached as a text only to regurgitate it, then it becomes a closed book. There’s no longer ongoing revelation. It’s just a word on a text, and that’s it. We’re done. That’s how the voice of God dims and becomes silent.

If there is a key to understanding the Islamic civilization, it is the search for beauty. But you cannot sit back and just expect God to do what is beautiful for you. It won’t happen. You must play an active role. God wants mercy to manifest in creation. And God has charged me as a human being, as a student of the Qur'an, to manifest His mercy..”

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Khaled Abou El Fadl is one of the world’s leading authorities on Islamic law and theology. A distinguished legal scholar and public intellectual, he serves as the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and is the founding director of the UCLA Islamic Studies Program. His work spans Islamic jurisprudence, human rights, political theory, and ethics, and he is widely respected for his nuanced, deeply moral approach to Islamic tradition and reform.

A prolific author, his scholarship challenges authoritarian interpretations of Islam and insists on a return to beauty, reason, and mercy as central to the Islamic moral tradition. His legal expertise has been sought by the U.S. Department of Justice and other institutions, and his writings have shaped debates on Islamic law both within Muslim communities and in global academic and policy circles.

In recognition of his commitment to justice, religious ethics, and interfaith understanding, Abou El Fadl was awarded the University of Oslo Human Rights Award in 2007, joining the ranks of other global figures who have made substantial contributions to the field of human rights.

Fluent in classical Arabic and trained as both a Western legal scholar and a traditional Islamic jurist, he continues to speak and write with clarity and courage—calling for an Islam that resists tyranny and honors the divine dignity of every human soul.