Next to Shirk, There is no Affliction Like Arrogance

VII condition

That he/she shall entirely give up pride and vanity and shall pass all his/her life in humbleness, cheerfulness, forbearance and meekness.

[From the Friday sermon delivered at Frankfurt, Germany, on August 29, 2003, in which seventh and eighth conditions of bai‘at were discussed in detail.]

Next to Shirk, There is no Affliction Like Arrogance

After exhibiting his pride, Satan had decided from the very beginning that he would try his utmost to hinder men from becoming true servants of Allah. He had made up his mind to entrap mankind through various ways. Even when man would perform a virtuous act, Satan would make him selfconceited, and thus through his personal vanity and egotism, he could be led to be proud and arrogant. This sense of pride would, in the end, make man lose the reward of his virtuous

act. Satan himself disobeyed Allah’s command due to his personal vanity. Therefore, from day one, through the use of this very tool in its various forms, he resolved to lead man astray from the right path. Only the servants of the Gracious God, who are His special servants and are engaged in His worship, generally remain unharmed of Satan’s attack. Otherwise, it is through the trap of pride that Satan usually succeeds in holding mankind in his captivity.

One must not take it lightly that we accepted the condition at the time of making bai‘at that we would not indulge in pride and vanity. Give up arrogance in its entirety. It is not easy. Arrogance has many diverse forms. Satan attacks mankind utilising different methods. It is an extremely terrifying state! Actually, it is only through the Grace of Allah that one can be saved from it. Therefore, in the seventh condition, the Promised Messiahas also introduced a way to obtain Allah’s Graces. He said if we try to break away from the habit of arrogance, but do not fill in the emptiness with humility and meekness, then arrogance would attack us again. Therefore, adopt humbleness! Allah the Almighty loves the way of humility. The Promised Messiahas himself demonstrated humbleness to such an extent that it has no parallel. That is the reason that Allah the Almighty was so pleased with him that He said to him in a revelation: (Urdu) ‘He liked your humble ways!’ We claim to have made bai‘at with the Promised Messiahas, and we have accepted him as the Imam of the Age. Therefore, it is all the more important for us to adopt this moral quality.

Man has no reason to show arrogance and haughtiness. In the Holy Qur’an Allah the Almighty says:76

And walk not in the earth haughtily, for thou canst not rend the earth, nor canst thou reach the mountains in height.

This verse makes it clear that man has no position at all to strut about. What is it that he is so proud of? Some people think they are the kings of the time. They do not wish to come out of their limited circle. Remaining within their limited circles, they think of themselves as something grand. I am going to give the example of the smallest circle—that of domestic circumstances. It is truly alarming to see how savagely some men mistreat their wives and children. Some girls write to me telling me they have now become adults, but since their childhood they have been witnessing the oppressive treatment of their fathers towards their mothers and themselves, but now they cannot tolerate it any more. They used to hide in their rooms as soon as their father entered the house. If their mother or anyone of them happened to say anything against his likings, the father was so cruel that he would beat them. It is only arrogance that has turned fathers like this to commit such extremities. Most of them keep a nice posture outside their homes and people think no one is as noble as those persons. Thus, the outsiders have a favourable opinion about them. But there are some who keep an

76.(Bani Isra’il, 17:38)

arrogant attitude both inside and outside of their homes, and their condition is obviously well known to all. Consequently, on coming of age, the children of such ill-mannered and arrogant men, especially their sons, show a reaction to their father’s cruelty to their mothers, sisters or themselves. They start confronting their father, and when the time comes when the father becomes weak in his old age, they take their revenge. There are several circles in society, and the circle of domestic affairs is only one of them. There is also a social circle outside the home. If you take a survey, you will continuously discover such examples of arrogance in all these circles.

The extreme form of arrogance is found in the wider circle: due to arrogance some nations, countries, and governments look down upon the rest. They despise poor nations and countries. Today, this is a major cause of disorder and trouble in the world. If the arrogance is eliminated, disorder shall disappear, but the arrogant nations and governments do not realise that when Allah decides to break the disdainful attitude of the haughty, they disappear forever from the face of the earth.

Allah says in the Holy Qur’an:77

And do not puff up your cheek before men in pride nor walk in the earth haughtily; surely, Allah loves not any arrogant boaster.

77.(Luqman, 31:19)

As is evident from this verse, Allah says that we should not walk around displaying pride and arrogance. The proud people have a special style of their own. Allah does not like a stiff-necked person walking around. Some people habitually stand proudly in front of their subordinates, but they show humbleness in front of their superiors. The evil of hypocrisy is evident in such persons. Thus, the trait of arrogance breeds many other evils; slowly and gradually all paths of virtue are fully closed. Such persons drift away from religion and also from the Nizam-e-Jama‘at [Organisation of the Jama‘at]. As their arrogance increases, they move further away from the nearness and blessings of Allah and His Messenger.

It is mentioned in one hadith:

Hadrat Jabirra narrated that the Holy Prophetsa said, ‘On the

Day of Judgement the dearest to me, the closest to me, shall be those who are the best in good morals. And those among you shall be most severely under the wrath and farthest from me who are tharthar, those who are foul-mouthed and vain babblers; mutashaddiq, those who talk making wry faces and distend their cheeks; and mutfaihiq.’ The Companionsra asked,

‘O Messengersa of Allah! We know the meaning of tharthar, and matashaddiq, but who are the mutfaihiq? He replied,

‘Mutfaihiq are those who speak haughtily, arrogantly.’ (Sunanut-Tirmadhi, Abwab-ul-Birri was-Silah, Babu fi Ma‘alil

Akhlaq)

Hadrat Ibn-e-Mas‘udra narrated that the Holy Prophetsa said,

‘Three things are the roots of every sin. One should avoid them. Refrain from arrogance because it was due to arrogance that Satan was instigated not to prostrate to Adam. Second,

stay away from greed because it was greed that made Adam eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Third, avoid jealousy because it was out of jealously that one of Adam’s sons killed his brother.’ (Ar-Risalah Al-Qushairiyyah, Bab-ul-Hasadi, p. 79) Hadrat ‘Abdullah Bin Mas‘udra narrated that the Holy Prophetsa said, ‘One whose heart has arrogance as little as a small grain will not be allowed to enter Paradise.’ One man said, ‘O Prophet of Allah! Man wishes to be well-dressed, to have good shoes on, and to look good.’ The Holy Prophetsa replied, ‘This is not arrogance,’ adding, ‘Allah the Almighty is Elegant and likes elegance, that is, He likes beauty. Real arrogance is when man rejects what is true, considers people lowly, holds them in contempt and treats them badly.’ (Sahih Muslim, Kitab-ul-Iman, Babu Tahrimil-kibri wa Bayanihi)

Another tradition relates that:

Hadrat Abu Hurairahra narrated that the Holy Prophetsa said, ‘Heaven and Hell had a discussion and argument. Hell said that great oppressors and haughty people entered in it; Heaven said that weak and meek people entered in it. On this Allah the Almighty said to Hell, “You are the manifestation of My punishment. Through you I punish whomsoever I wish.” And He said to Heaven, “You are the manifestation of My mercy. I grant mercy on whomsoever I please through you; and both of you shall have your full share that may belong to you.’” (Sahih Muslim, Kitab-ul-Jannati wa Sifati Ni‘amiha wa Ahliha, Babun-Nari yadkhuluhal-Jabbaruna wal-Jannatu yadkhuluhad-Du‘aafa’a)