Part 6

Mawriq said, “I have never said a word, when angry that I have

regretted, when I am calm,”

And Ibn ‘Awn was never angry. When a man would make him angry, he would say, ‘May Allah bless you!”

Section Four: Being Composed before Reprimanding

A petson who is angry at another should not punish him while he is angry, that is if he deserves to be punished at all. He should rather wait until he calms down, so that his punishment is equal to the offense not equal to his anger.

A man was brought to ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul ‘Aziz, who ‘Umar was

angry at. He told him, “If I was not angry at you, I would have beaten you.” And then he let him go.

RROGANCE IS GLORIFYING one’s self and disdain-

ing others, The reason why arrogance occurs is due to feel~

ing superior over others that are less in lineage, wealth,

knowledge, or worship etc. The sign of arrogance is disdaining

those who one feels superior over, also swaggering, pride and one’s love for being glorified by others.

The cure for this disease lies in two approaches: a general approach and a detailed approach. The general approach is further divided into two types; theoretical and practical. The theoretical cure is through textual and logical evidence of the demerits of arrogance. The practical cure is achieved by accompanying humble people and hearing their stories.

On the other hand the detailed approach is achieved by reflecting on the flaws of the self and knowing that if someone is proud about his money, it will soon be taken away from him. He should also know that excellence lies in being sufficient from a thing, not in needing it. If it is knowledge that he is proud about, then he should know that many people, who are more knowledgeable than

him, and preceded him in that path. Moreover his knowledge forbids him from arrogance, so it is an evidence against him. In addition if it is a deed that is making him proud, then looking at it and thinking that it is perfect is a demerit not a merit.

Section One: Arrogance in the Heart

Abii Salamah narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr (radiyAllabu ‘anhuma) ran across ibn “Umar (radiyAllahu ‘anhuma) on the hill of Marwah, so they descended and talked. And then ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Amr left and ibn ‘Umar sat and wept. He was asked, “Why are you weeping?” He said, “He (Abdullah ibn ‘Ams) claims that he heard the Messenger of Allah (8) say, “Whoever has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart, Allah will throw him in the hellfire on his face.””!

Tyas ibn Salamah (radiyAlléhu ‘anhu) reported that his father said, “The Messenger of Allah (3) said, “A man shall glorify himself until he is written among the tyrants, so that he suffers from what befell them.”?

Muslim reported that Ibn Mas‘td (radiyAllabu ‘anbu) narrated from the Prophet (3) that he said, “Whoever has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart will not enter paradise.” A Man said, “A man likes that his garment is nice and that his shoes are nice.” He ($8) also said, “Indeed Allah is Beautiful and He loves beauty.

' Reported by al-Bayhaqi [10:191]. Al-Haythami, referred itin ‘Majma‘az-Zawidid? to al-Tabarani in a/-Kabir and Ahmad. Al-Haythami said: Its men are in the sahih (Bukhari and Muslim reported a hadith from these men in their Sahihs)

? Reported by Al-Tirmidhi 2000, al-Baghawi in Sharh-us-Sunnab (13:167] and alDaylami 7576. ‘Umar Ibn-Rashid is in the chain of narration, he is weak.

Arrogance is rejecting the truth and disdaining people.

Muslim reported from al-Aghar from Abia Hurayrah (radiyAllahu ‘anbn) and Abii Said (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) that they narrated that the Messenger of Allah (48) said, “Allah, glorified and exalted is He, says: ‘Pride is my cloak, and glory is my lowet garment, so whoever contends with Me regarding either one of them, I will torment him.”

Al-Khattabi said, “This means that pride and greatness are two attributes of Allah that He alone is particularised with, no one shares them with Him, no created being should have them because the attribute of the created is humbleness and lowness. Allah has set the cloak and the lower garment as an example; no one shares his cloak, or his lower garment with another person. Likewise Allah does not share his pride and greatness with anyone, and Allah only knows.”

He (al-Khattabi) said, “And his saying: ‘Whoever has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart will not enter paradise,’ may have two meanings: the first is that this refers to the arrogance of disbelief and the second is that He takes arrogance out of the hearts of those who will enter paradise. And his saying: ‘disdaining people’ means looking down at them and belittling them.”

Al-Hasan said, “You see people praising a man extravagantly, saying to him, you are indeed such and such, so he just sits silently believing what is being said to him, and you see a man walking

> Reported by Muslim in the Book a/-Birr wa’/-Silah (Virtues, Good Manners and Preserving the Ties of Kinship) hadith 136 under the text ‘Glory is His lower garment and pride is His cloak, so whoever contends with me, I will torment him.’

slowly and boastfully, not in a normal manner [he does that out of arrogance].”

indeed the faults of the beloved are never noticed and are not believed to be flawed, rather they are seen as perfect, by the lover.

C ONCEIT ORIGINATES FROM LOVING the self. For

From among the consequences of conceit is that it leads to detesting the thing that caused conceit in the first place, because the one who possesses conceit regarding a matter does not increase himself in it, rather he advances to find faults in others.

The cure for conceit is to know one’s faults, as I have mentioned earlier, to ask other people about one’s flaws, to reflect on the state of those who preceded him and had what he has [i.e. conceit]. Therefore, when a scholar has conceit regarding his knowledge he should read the biographies of scholars who preceded him, or when one has conceit regarding his asceticism, then he should read the biographies of ascetics. For this is when he shall not be proud of himself. [How can a person have self-conceit when knowing that] Imam Ahmad knew one million hadith

by heart, and Kahmas ibn al-Hasan used to recite the whole Qur’an three times a day, and Salman al-Taymi prayed Fajr with the same wid’ (ablution) of Isha’ for forty years.

Whoever reflects on the lives of other people would know that he, compared to them, is like a man who has a dinar, he is so happy with it, yet he does not know that there are people who have thousands and thousands of dinars.

Ibrahim al-Khawis said, “Conceit prevents from knowing one’s capabilities and limits.”

A wise man said, “A man’s conceit of himself is an enemy of his mental capacities, and how harmful is conceit to the merits.”

Averting Riya’ (Insincerity and Pretentiousness)

HOEVER KNOWS ALLAH TRULY will make all his deeds sincere to Him. For riya’ occurs when someone lacks knowledge of His Creator, when he does

not glorify Allah as should be, when the inner self seeks people’s compliments and praise.

People vary in this disease, some seek praise from others only, some seek [the pleasure of] Allah in their deeds as well as people’s praise, some do not seek people’s praise at all, however when people see them doing good deeds, they improve their work to be praised. In the latter case it becomes a lesion that has affected a good deed.

The general cure for this disease is to know Allah truly. For whoever knows Him would make all his actions sincerely for Him and would not see anyone besides Him. He would locate himself in the position of the worshipper, who is humble to his Worshipped God, not in the position of the praised worshipped God. He would know that reward is given only for sincere deeds, there-

Aberting Riya’ (Insincerity and Pretentiousness)

fore he should be aware of the wasted exhaustion (of performing acts for other than the sake of Allah).

Moreover he should know that punishment for mya’ is severe. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (radiyAllahu ‘anhn) narrated that the Prophet (38) said, “Deeds are considered by their intention, and a person will be rewatded according to his intention.”

Abi Masa (radiyAl/ahu ‘anhu) narrated that a man came to the Prophet (3%) and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Tell me if a man fights in the battlefield out of valor, out of zeal, and out of hypoctrisy, which of these is considered fighting in the cause of Allah?” The Messenget said, “He who fights in order that the word of Allah reigns supreme, is considered as fighting in the cause of Allah.” ?

It was narrated from Abi Hurayrah (radiyAliahu ‘anbu) that Natil Ashami said, “O Shaykh! Relate to us a hadith that you have heard from the Messenger of Allah (g).” Abi Hurayrah (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah (48) say, “The first to be judged on the Day of Judgement will be a man who died as a martyr. He shall be brought forth. Allah will make him recount His blessings (1-e. the blessings which He had bestowed upon him) and he will recount them (and admit having enjoyed them in his life). (Then) Allah will say: What did you do (to requite these blessings)? He will say: 1 fought for you until I died as a martyr, Allah will say: You have told a lie. You fought that you might be called

Agreed upon. Reported by al-Bukhari [1:2, 8:175, 9:29] and Muslim in the Book of Jmarah hadith 155.

2 Agreed upon. Reported by al-Bukhari (1:43, 4:25,105, 9:166] and Muslim in the Book of Jmarab hadith 149-150 and 151.

“a brave warrior”. And you were called so. (Then) orders will be passed against him and he will be dragged with his face downward and cast into Hell. Then will be brought forward a man who acquired knowledge, who imparted it (to others) and recited the Qur’an. He will be brought, Allah will make him recount His blessings, he will recount them (and admit having enjoyed them in his lifetime). Then Allah will ask: What did you do (to requite these blessings)? He will say: I acquired knowledge and disseminated it and recited the Qur’an seeking your pleasure. Allah will say: You have told a lie. You acquired knowledge so that you might be called ‘a scholar’ and you recited the Qur’an so that it might be said: “He is a reciter’ and such has been said. Then orders will be passed against him, he shall be dragged with his face downward and cast into the Fire. Then will be brought a man whom Allah had made abundantly rich and had granted every kind of wealth. He will be brought, Allah will make him recount His blessings, he will recount them (and admit having enjoyed them in his lifetime). Allah will (then) ask: What have you done (to requite these blessings)? He will say: I spent money in every cause in which you wished that it should be spent. Allah will say: You are lying. You did (so) that it might be said about (You): ‘He is generous’ and so it was said. Then Allah will pass orders, he will be dragged with his face downward and thrown into Hell.” *