Did Allah Really Say, “God Created Human Beings in the Most Beautiful Form”?

Abstract

This essay critically revisits the widely accepted interpretation of Qurʾān 95:4, often rendered as “God created humankind in the most beautiful form.” Challenging this reading, the author examines the original Arabic phrasing fī aḥsani taqwīm to uncover its linguistic, theological, and anthropological implications. By distinguishing between aḥsan (“most excellent”) and ajmal (“most beautiful”), and by tracing the root q-w-m behind the word taqwīm, the essay highlights how the Qurʾān emphasizes “uprightness” and “sound constitution” rather than aesthetic beauty.
Through linguistic analysis and comparative reference to the Book of Genesis, the author argues that humanity’s divine distinction lies not in outward appearance but in the unique capacity for upright bipedalism — enabling tool use, speech, and moral responsibility. This physical and existential uprightness, however, is inseparable from human imperfection, requiring constant striving and submission to God. The essay ultimately calls for self-reflection in light of Yawm al-Qiyāmah, the Day of Resurrection, inviting readers to re-embody the upright form granted by God — starting with a single, conscious step.

The Most Beautiful Form

How beautiful it sounds.
“God created humankind in the most beautiful form.”
It has been over thirty years since I became a Muslim, and during that time — how many times must I have recited this verse in prayer?
لَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا ٱلۡإِنسَٰنَ فِيٓ أَحۡسَنِ تَقۡوِيمٖ
Laqad khalaqnā al-insāna fī aḥsani taqwīm
The Qur’ān, Sūrat al-Tīn (95:4)
Though I have always recited the verse in Arabic, what resonated in my mind was its automatic replacement:
“In the most beautiful form.”
That was the phrase that echoed vividly within me.
Perhaps I even quoted it that way when introducing the Islamic view of the human being in my long-standing university lecture, “Religion and Contemporary Society.”
From the time I began studying Islam, the Japanese-Arabic bilingual translation published by the Japan Muslim Association had left a deep imprint on me. That version rendered the verse as:
“God created humankind in the most beautiful form.”
And yet — even as I accepted

Between Arabic and Its Japanese Translation

And yet, Allah did not say ajmal (أجمل) for “most beautiful,” but rather aḥsan (أحسن);
nor did He say ṣūrah (صورة) for “form,” but instead used taqwīm (تقويم).
Of course, both jamīl (beautiful) and ṣūrah (form, image) appear elsewhere in the Qur’ān.
It is not that these words are absent from the Qur’ānic vocabulary.
In other words, in this specific verse — Sūrat al-Tīn, verse 4 — Allah deliberately chose the expression fī aḥsani taqwīm.
The preposition fī (في) means “in” or “within.”
Aḥsan is the superlative form of ḥasan, which means “good” or “excellent.”
If it does not refer to aesthetic beauty or outward appearance, it must instead point to the quality or soundness of a condition or state of being.
Taqwīm is the verbal noun (maṣdar) derived from qawwama, the causative form of the verb qāma (to stand, to rise), and it conveys the meaning of “making something upright” or “setting something straight.”
There is no ajmal — “most beautiful.”
There is no ṣūrah — “form” or “image.”
And yet, the phrase “God created humankind in the most beautiful form” has been deeply imprinted in our minds.
Something must be done about this.

What About Genesis?

Incidentally, the expression “God created humankind in the most beautiful form” is not found only in the Qur’ān.
In the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, we read:

In Hebrew, the expression is בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים (be-tzelem Elohim), meaning “in the image of God.”
This has traditionally been interpreted as referring to both “image” (tzelem) — a reflection of divine qualities — and “likeness,” indicating moral and spiritual attributes such as free will and rationality.
If you search for the phrase “created in the most beautiful form,” this very passage from Genesis often appears in the results.
In other words, one might even infer the notion of “the most beautiful form” from this Genesis passage.
However — as we have already seen — nowhere in Genesis do we actually find the words “most beautiful.”

The Linguistic Domain of Q-W-M

If it was not “in the most beautiful form,” then what exactly was the message of Allah?
Allah chose Muhammad, an Arab, as His Messenger — that is, as the recipient of His message and the one to convey it to the people — and He revealed it in his own language: clear and lucid Arabic.
In other words, and it may seem almost too obvious to state, the best way to understand Allah’s message is to return to the Arabic in which it was revealed.
Tracing the word taqwīm (تقويم) back to its origin, we find the triliteral root qāf–wāw–mīm (ق–و–م), or q-w-m.
The simple and basic verb derived from this root is qāma (قَامَ), meaning “to stand” or “to rise.”
As noted earlier, taqwīm is the verbal noun of qawwama (قَوَّمَ), which means “to straighten,” but also includes a range of meanings such as: “to make upright,” “to level,” “to restore,” “to shape,” “to organize,” “to adjust,” “to appraise,” or “to evaluate.”
Personally, I have most often used the sense “to shape.”
However, what is particularly noteworthy here is the meaning “to make upright.”
Since taqwīm is the noun form of that verb, it means “the act of making upright.”
And if this is the case, it aligns perfectly with the uniquely human capacity, among all animals, for bipedal upright walking — a superior physical structure and form endowed to human beings.

Uprightness as the Best Physical Constitution

In other words, when we trace taqwīm back to its root, we begin to see the meaning “to make upright” emerge.
The blessings bestowed upon humanity through upright, bipedal walking are countless.
By standing and walking upright, our hands were freed.
We became capable of using tools — including pens that teach us what we do not yet know.
Since the brain is placed atop the neck, it could develop significantly.
A mouth distant from the feet is not merely for consuming food.
The tongue is not only for eating or swallowing — it developed to allow for speech as well.
Upright bipedalism is the most energy-efficient means of locomotion, enabling long-distance movement.
All of these capabilities are made possible because of uprightness.
That is why it is aḥsan — the superlative form meaning “the best” or “most optimal.”
If one were to describe these attributes, “beautiful” would overly emphasize external appearance, while “noble” or “virtuous” would miss the mark.
Indeed, it is aḥsan — “the most excellent,” “the most well-constituted.”

Vicegerent on Earth

Could it not be that it was precisely because human beings are capable of upright bipedal walking that they were created in the image of God — and appointed as vicegerents on earth?
That said, we are human, after all.
We are, by nature, imperfect.
We were not “created in the most beautiful form.”
At best, we were created in a form that was just sufficient to be entrusted with the role of vicegerent on earth.
And this vicegerent is a representative of the Lord of all existence — whose creations include over 8.2 billion humans alone.
One of the derived forms of q-w-m is qawm (قوم), meaning “people” or “nation.”
In Arabic, the word for nationalism is formed by turning this adjective into a noun: qawmiyyah (قومية).
If one is so obsessed with their own qawm that they launch attacks on others, seeking to dominate people and lands for themselves — and if they concentrate all their intelligence in pursuit of such acts —
they are utterly unworthy of being called vicegerents on earth.

Today Is That Day

Unless the human will is sufficiently restrained, it inevitably runs wild along with desire.
That is precisely why, when upright, bipedal humans bow their foreheads to the earth in prayer, their reverence, love, and devotion to the Almighty Creator are all embodied therein.
To “stand up” is called qiyām (قيام).
This too is a derivative of qāma — the root q-w-m.
It encompasses everything from “waking up” in the morning, to “fulfilling” one’s obligations, to “establishing” a company or organization, and even to the act of standing during the first part of prayer.
Qiyām underlies both our daily lives and our faith.
And then there is Yawm al-Qiyāmah — “the Day (yawm) of Qiyāmah” (qiyāmah meaning resurrection).
The Day of Resurrection. The Day of Final Judgment.
It is the day on which good and evil are placed on the scales, and each person’s standing place in the afterlife is determined.
It is the day on which one is ultimately made to face their own lack of virtue, their betrayals, and their inherent imperfection.
Yet, signs of the Day of Judgment come to us every day.
We have a head. We have a tongue.
Whether we come to embody a beautiful form or not — it all depends on ourselves.
Today, too, which began with the breath of the fig and the olive, is surely that day.
So — rise up, and take your first step with the pen of knowledge in hand.
Allāhu aʿlam — Allah knows all.

Special Thanks to: ChatGPT-4o
Title Image: Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Special Thanks to: WikiMedia Commons

This English version was prepared with the support of ChatGPT-4o.
Special Thanks to: ChatGPT-4o
Original Version in Japanese:
アッラーは本当に「神は人間をもっとも美しい姿に創造した」とおっしゃったのか？