Wisdom of a prayer!

Following is the masnoon prayer to be recited when one looks in a mirror.

 اَلّٰھُمَّ اَنٓتَ حَسَّنٓتَ خَلٓقِی فَحَسِّنٓ خُلُقِی

'Allahumma anta Hassanta khalqi fa-Hassin khuluqi' (Hisan) 

or

اَللّٰھُمَّ اَحٓسَنٓتَ خَلٓقِیٓ فَاَحٓسِنٓ خُلُقِیٓ

'Allahumma aHsanta khalqi fa-aHsin khuluqi' 
(Masnad Ahmed)

اے اللہ آپ نے میری صورت اچھی بنائی ہے سو میرے اخلاق بھی اچھے بنا دے
O' Allah! You have made my physical appearance beautiful so beautify my character / manners too!

 Few points come to mind while thinking on the wisdom of this short prayer which are worth sharing with everyone.

1. Remembering Allah, the Creator:

Remembering Allah at every moment is one of the most desired attribute of a believer and is in fact a quality of those who are wise. 3:190,191There are indeed Signs for men of understanding، Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire". We are therefore asked to remember Him while looking our face in mirror.

2. Self Esteem:

Everyone among us may not be as good looking he or she wishes. The prayer suggests us to have self esteem and appreciate that all of us do have a lot of beauty and proportion in our appearance. It is just that it is hidden from our superficial way of looking at things. How could we miss the absolute beauty and proportion of all of our organs and systems right up to the microscopic level? So all of us are good looking!

3. Gratitude/ Arrogance:

Once the beauty and proportion in our physical appearance is appreciated we obviously look for its creator and we agree that all this was generously granted by Allah and it gives us an opportunity to thank Him for His Kindness and Generosity. Simultaneously it also makes us realize that our appearance is not of our own doing and therefore we don't have to unnecessarily feel elated due to our outward appearance. We attribute our outward make up to the blessings of our Creator and be grateful to Him.

4. Value of "Khulq" (manners):

The prayer emphasizes that what really matters in a human being is his or her manners (Akhlaq) which could either be good or bad. It is the predominant set of Akhlaq in a person which make him either good or bad. Appreciating the fact, we are encouraged to request our Creator Allah to beutify our manners so that we can attain real and ever-lasting beauty. 

5. Everything is from Allah:

Looking into the prayer we come to a conclusion that we are all created by Allah in the best possible manner and towards Him we should all look to purify our souls. He is the source of both "Khalq" (Creation) and "Khulq" (Manners). We should therefore never forget our dependence on Him and keep trying to improve our appreciation of His Presence closer to us than our neck vessels.

 واللہ اعلم بالصواب