Arrogance Makes A Person Thankless To The Blessings Of Allah!

Written by admin on 03 January 2007

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The deadliest of all sins is Kibr (arrogance). Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) warned that a person having even an iota of it in his heart will never enter paradise. No one likes arrogance. We never like a person who is overbearing, proud or condescending. We detest a person who belittles us and has a huge ego.

Contrary to that, we love people who are humble, polite and friendly to talk to. To respect and honour others is a sublime virtue. The principle of treating others the way we like to be treated is the key to the solution of basic social problems. Treating arrogance hence requires serious thought.

For that we need to appreciate the difference between ‘manners’ on one hand and ‘morals’ on the other. While manners deal with one’s external disposition, morals as defined by Islam deal with our inner thoughts, feeling and attitudes. In a normal and healthy personality, manners and morals are in perfect harmony.

However, it is possible to have manners without morals. The first concerns itself with how a person deals with others. The second is related with what a person thinks of himself.

People show humility in their dealings in two cases – either out of generosity or after becoming genuinely convinced that he is not superior or better than the person standing opposite him. The sense of feeling equal leads to the quality of being free from arrogance.

Real greatness belongs to Almighty Allah, our Lord, Creator and Master.

Human beings are just a creation of His and a very small creation in comparison to the unimaginably vast universe. Anyone who understands this will realise that our proper status is only as servants of Almighty God.

For a Muslim the real human model is none other than the holy Prophet, who is the greatest of all human beings. His greatness lies in being the humblest of all the servants of Allah. It is impossible for any person who has this consciousness to entertain any notions of his own greatness.

This leads us to the definition of the kibr (arrogance) in a famous Hadith “Arrogance (Kibr) is rejecting ‘Truth’ and to belittling other people”.

This Hadith exposes two strains of this deadly ailment, both dealing with our exaggerated ideas of self importance. The first suggests that one considers himself to be more important than the truth if he is arrogant.

The second suggests that he considers himself to be more important than other people if he is arrogant.

It was sheer arrogance which kept the Quraish and Jews of Arabia from accepting the fact that the holy Prophet was the Messenger of Allah. Their sense of superiority prevented them from admitting to the fact of his prophethood. That was the most blatant form of arrogance, but we see the same attitude in our daily lives on a smaller scale if we take a closer look at our discussions, stands and arguments. The best form of bravery and courage is attributed to admittance of a mistake instantly and apologising for it and asking forgiveness from Almighty God for it. It is arrogance that keeps a person from saying “I am sorry” or that “I am wrong”.

Islam’s teaching is that one should never consider oneself greater than others because that judgement can also come from Almighty God on the Day of Judgement.

A person who appears to be nobody here may end up in eternal bliss because of his goodness that only Almighty Allah knows. Meanwhile a person who consider himself a bigshot here may end up among the sinners and shall be punished because only Allah know the evils and hidden follies. To take pride over our fleeting and material superiority is the business of those who lives in fools’ paradise.

Almighty God has created all human beings as equals, regardless of cast, creed or religion. Men and women cannot impose superiority upon themselves.

Islam expects us to stick to reality, pragmatism and moderation. Rather it asks as to take a deeper look at reality and not to be misled by superficial perceptions of it.

The simple realities that are evident in the form of our health, wealth, talents and power are not of our own creation. These are gifts of Almighty Allah to us and He can take them back from us when He wishes. Those who are conscious of this reality, bow before Him in gratitude and only those who are oblivious of this fact fall prey to the pride and arrogance.

All the crises of humanity in the modern times have emerged since people started ignoring the virtues of humbleness and got carried away by new dogmas which are a creation of arrogance.

Nineteenth and 20th century sociologists and scientists have misled people by putting forward the phenomenon of superiority and Inferiority complexes whereas the obvious reality is that a humble person is a happy, content grateful person who thanks Allah for His blessings and has no notion of his own superiority. –

Riaz A. Siddiqui (Khaleej Times)