If “patience is the mother of virtue” and if it is a jewel among the jewels of paradise, then humility on the other hand is considered as the ‘first lesson of wisdom’. One can be knowledgeable, rich, surrounded by power and pelf, but such a person may not necessarily be a wise one. Wisdom rarely dawns on a proud and haughty person. They are puffed up with pride and keep their noses high. They would be blind with power and rarely keep their eyes on the ground. Humility is the virtue of the pious. Surely such persons are filled with patience and tolerance. One can reach any Himalayan height of glory; achieve and win even the ‘Noble Prize,’ but it is very difficult to scale the heights of humility. One needs to grind the inner ego and all its related weaknesses to reach the point of humility. It is our self assumed importance and pride in having achieved any position in life that makes us always egoistic and puffed up with pride, losing sight of the very many milestones still to be reached and heights of glory still to be attained. When power and position enters the mind, one goes blind to reality and every little wisdom withdraws from their sight. Such persons ultimately make more enemies and seldom have good and sincere friends around them. A humble person is sincere to the core. Sincerity and truth oozes out from a humble being. His intentions are always pure and he never gives room for false pretensions and for assumed importance. A humble person does not give importance to ostentatious living, but is satisfied with a humble dwelling. He is neat and clean. He is fully aware and conscious that cleanliness is next to godliness. He never utters any word that would cause annoyance or will hurt anyone. He is gentle to the core and he puts his foot on the earth softly and is upright in his daily conduct. A humble person is also meek and for this reason, the Holy Scriptures speaks of the ‘meek ruling the world’ and humble persons being much loved by Lord Almighty. Satan promised the Lord that he will not trouble or go near the humble. A humble person is totally surrendered to the will of the Almighty Lord as a single minded slave. He has no desire of his own. His main aim of life is to please the Lord and live a life of righteousness, truth and be just at all times. He doesn’t curse time or adverse circumstances, but accepts all good and bad events as a test from the Lord and excels in patience and tolerance. When Prophet Jesus (Pbuh) advised good and virtuous people to turn the other cheek, when someone slaps, it means that one should express one’s humility at all times and not be quick to react and take revenge. When our Prophet (Pbuh) said about himself as ‘Fukrulfakri,’ he meant to say that he is not ashamed of poverty, but took pride in that as he was a totally surrendered person and a person of utmost humility and patience. All seers, saints and prophets are deeply humble and virtuous beings. Every individual who believes in civilized living practices humility though at times human weakness may over power him, but he is quick in seeking repentance and forgiveness. He is filled with remorse and quickly mends himself.
(The writer is Editor of Sufi World. He can be reached at: internationalsuficentre@gmail.com. Visit: www.internationalsuficentre.org.)