Reflections

Islam’s teaching is that one should never consider oneself greater than other people, because that judgement will come from Allah alone.


It has been called ummul-amradh, or the root of all sicknesses of the heart. Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) warned that a person having even an iota of it in his heart shall never enter paradise. This deadliest of all sins is kibr, or arrogance.


No one likes arrogance in others. We never like a person who is haughty, too proud, or condescending. We detest a person who belittles us and has a huge ego. Similarly, we love people who are humble, polite, and easy to talk to. We love people who give us respect and honour. Thus if we follow the principle of treating others the way we like to be treated, most of these problems might be cured easily.


In reality, the treatment of ummul-amradh requires a deeper look. For that we need to appreciate the difference between adaab or manners, on the one hand and akhlaq or morals on the other. While adaab deals with one’s external disposition, akhlaq as defined by Islam deals with our inner thoughts, feeling, and attitudes. In a healthy personality, the manners and morals are in harmony. But it is also possible to have the former without having the latter. The first concerns itself with how a person deals with others. The second is concerned with what a person thinks of himself. Two persons showing humbleness in their dealings with others may have exactly opposite ideas in their minds. One may do it out of his or her “generosity”, the other may do it because he genuinely thinks that he is not better than the other person. The first person only has a shell of humbleness, which will crumble when tested. It is the second person who is really free of arrogance.


Real greatness belongs only to Allah, our Lord, Creator, and Master. Human beings are just a creation of Allah and a very small creation in comparison to the unimaginably vast universe. Anyone who understands this will realise that our proper status is only that of the servants of Allah. In fact for a Muslim the real human model is none other than Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) who is the greatest of all human beings. His greatness lies in being the humblest of all 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 kibr, given in a famous hadith: “Kibr is knowingly rejecting the Truth and belittling other people.” (Muslim, Hadith 131). This hadith exposes two strains of this deadly disease, both dealing with our exaggerated ideas of self-importance. The first suggests that I am more important than the Truth. The second suggests that I am more important than other people.


We know about the Quraish and Jews of Arabia who had come in contact with Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) and who knew in the heart of their hearts that he indeed was the Messenger of Allah. Their arrogance, though, kept them from accepting it. History has recorded statements from some of them who said they knew he was the Promised Prophet, but that they would keep on opposing him to maintain their leadership.


While that was the most blatant form of arrogance, we can witness the same attitude on a smaller scale in our discussions and arguments. A person realises that he was wrong, but then his pride keeps him from admitting it. No matter how polite or “humble” that person may appear to be ordinarily, this test shows the presence of arrogance in his heart. It is arrogance that keeps a person from saying, “I was wrong.”


The second strain involves our feeling of superiority with respect to other people. Islam’s teaching is that one should never consider oneself greater than other people, because that judgement will come from Allah alone, on the Day of Judgement. None of us knows what our end will be, whether we will end up being a winner or a loser over here. The person who appears to be nobody here may end up with eternal bliss because of his goodness that only Allah knew. The person who is a big shot here may end up among the sinners who will be punished there, because of his evil that only Allah knew. How foolish, it is then to congratulate ourselves over our fleeting “superiority.”


What if a person does have an edge over another person inmeasurable in worldly terms? How then can he not consider himself superior than the other person in that respect? The point is sometimes made in jest: it is difficult to be humble when you are so great. Islam does not ask us to reject reality and imagine we don’t have what we really do. Rather it asks us to take a deeper look at the reality and not be misled by a superficial perception of it. And the simple reality that escapes many is that our health, wealth, talents, and power are not of our own creation. God gave those to us as a test and he can take them back whenever He wills.


The truth is, a humble believer is a happy, content, grateful person who thanks God for his blessings and has no notions of his own superiority. He puts his trust in Allah and that trust sustains him through all the ups and downs in life. He becomes neither depressed nor arrogant. He is remarkably free of all complexes. On the other hand, problems arise when we turn away from reality. For, it is the false notions of superiority or of one’s entitlements in life that lead to frustrations and complexes.