The Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu alayhi wa sallam) said,
‘All of Allah’s creation is beautiful.’
(Authentic, Sahih Al Jami’ no. 4522)
Reflecting upon this statement, I say:
‘True beauty is in the eye that is beholding. It is the act of beholding, of trying to find beauty that in turn makes it visible to us.’
Implicit in the statement of the Prophet (sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) above, is a requirement that we seek beauty within all created things. It may be, therefore, that ‘ugly’ is not only our own shortsightedness, but also our lazy lack of imagination!
We can say beauty is in the mind of the beholder as one’s knowledge & emotion alters the gaze.
Totally.
I am also intimating that it might be attitudinal; this could likewise account for cultural differences of ‘beauty.’
Even so, I hoped to avoid such ‘differences’ by suggesting a ‘universal,’ hence suggesting it is the attempt in itself before the mediation of the apparatus of eyes, touch, smell, and even emotion, etc.
Thank you for your further insights.