In the Name of Allâh,
the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
By Imam Uthman dan
Fodio
Pride is one of the
blameworthy qualities and it is forbidden to have it. Allah ta`ala said:
"I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant in the earth
without right." As far as its reality is concerned, you should know that
pride is divided into inward and outward pride. Inward pride is a quality
within the self, and outward pride is action which appears through the limbs.
The name pride (kibr)
is more appropriate for the inward quality. As for action, it is the result of
that quality, and you must know that the quality of pride demands action. When
it appears on the limbs, it is called arrogance (takabbur), and when it does
not manifest itself, it is called pride (kibr). Its root is the quality in the
self which is satisfaction and confidence at seeing the self above anyone
towards whom he is overbearing. Mere self-exaltation does not make someone
arrogant. He might well exalt himself while seeing that another person is
greater than him or his equal. In this case, he is not overbearing toward him. It
is not enough merely to disdain others. In spite of his disdain, a person might
see himself as more despicable and therefore, he would not be considered
arrogant. If someone sees the other as his equal, he is not considered
arrogant. He must see that he has a rank and someone else has a rank, and then
see his rank as above the other's rank. When he exalts his own value in
relationship to someone else, he despises the one below him and puts himself
above the other's company and confidence. If it is very extreme, he may spurn
the other's service and not consider him worthy to stand in his presence. If it
is less extreme, he may reject his basic equality, and put himself above this
other in assemblies, wait for him to begin the greeting, think that it is unlikely
that he will be able to fulfill his demands and be amazed at him. If he
objects, the proud man scorns to answer him. If he warns him, he refuses to
accept it. If he answers him back, he is angry. When the proud man teaches, he
is not courteous to his students. He looks down upon them and rebuffs them. He
is very condescending toward them and exploits them. He looks at the common
people as if he were looking at asses. He thinks that they are ignorant and
despicable.
There are many actions
which come from the quality of pride. They are too many to be numbered. This is
the reality of pride.
The harm it does is
immense. The 'ulama' can help you but little against it, let alone the common
people. How could its harm be other than great when it comes between a man and
all the qualities of the mu'minun? Those qualities are the doors to the Garden.
Pride locks all those doors because it is impossible for him to want for the
mu'minun what he wants for himself while there is anything of self-importance
in him. It is impossible for him to have humility - and humility is beginning
of the qualities of those who guard themselves out of fear of Allah - while
there is any self-importance in him. It is impossible for him to remain
truthful while there is self-importance in him. It is impossible for him to
abandon anger while there is self-importance in him. It is impossible for him
to offer friendly good counsel while there is self importance in him. It is
impossible for him to accept good counsel while there is self-importance in
him. He is not safe from the contempt and slander of others while there is
self-importance. There is no praiseworthy quality but he is incapable of it
from the fear that his self-importance will slip away from him.
As far as its cure is
concerned, there are two parts: the knowledge-cure and the action-cure. The
remedy can only be affected by joining the two of them. The knowledge-cure is
to know and recognize yourself and to know and recognize your Lord. That will
be enough to remove your pride. Whoever knows and recognizes his own self as it
should be known and recognized, knows that it is not worthy of greatness, and
that true greatness and pride are only for Allah. As for gnosis of his Lord and
His glory, it is too lengthy a subject for us to discuss here [...].
Self-recognition is
also a lengthy subject. However, we will mention what will help you towards
humility and submissiveness. It is enough for you to recognize one ayah of the
Book of Allah. The knowledge of the first and the last is in the Qur'an for
whoever has his inner eye open. Allah ta`ala said: "Perish man! How
thankless he is! Of what did He create him? Of a sperm-drop. He created him,
and determined him, and then made him the way easy for him. Then He makes him
die, buries him, and then, when He wills, raises him."
This ayah points to
the beginning of man's creation, his end, and his middle. Let a man look at that if he desires to understand its meaning.
As for the beginning
of man, he was "a thing unremembered". He was concealed in non-existence.
Non-existence has no beginning. What is lower and meaner than obliteration and
non-existence? He was in non-existence. Then Allah created him from the basest
of things, and then from the most unclean thing. He created him from earth and
then from a sperm-drop, blood-clot, then a lump of flesh. Then He made the
flesh bones, and then clothes the bones in flesh. This was the beginning of his
existence and then he became a thing remembered. He was a thing unremembered by
reason of having the lowest of qualities and attributes since at his beginning,
he was not created perfect. He was created inanimate, dead. He neither heard,
saw, felt, moved, spoke, touched, perceived, or knew. He began by his death
before his life, by weakness before his strength, by ignorance before
knowledge, by blindness before sight, by deafness before hearing, by dumbness
before speech, by misguidance before guidance, by poverty before wealth, and by
incapacity before capacity.
This is the meaning of
His word, "From what did He create him? And determined him," and the
meaning of His word, "Has there come upon a man a period of time when he
was a thing unremembered? We created him of a sperm-drop, a mingling, trying
him. We made him hearing, seeing. We guided him upon the way, whether he is
thankful or unthankful."
He created him like
that at the beginning. Then He was gracious to him and said, "We made the
way easy for him." This indicates what He wills for him during the period
from life to death. Similarly, He said, "of a sperm-drop, a mingling,
trying him. We made him hearing, seeing. We guided him on the way." The
meaning here is that He gave him life after he was inanimate and dead - first
from the earth, and then from a sperm-drop. He gave him hearing after he was
deaf and He gave him sight after he lacked sight. He gave him strength after
weakness and knowledge after ignorance. He created his limbs for him with all
they contain of marvels and signs after he lacked them. He enriched them after
poverty, made him full after hunger, clothed him after nakedness, and guided
him after misguidance. Look how He directed him and formed him. Look at how He
made the way easy for him. Look at man's overstepping and at how thankless he
is. Look at man's ignorance and how he shows it.
Allah ta`ala said,
"Part of His sign is that He created you from earth." He created man
from humble earth and unclean sperm after pure non-existence so that he would recognize
the baseness of his essence and thereby recognize himself. He perfected the
sperm-drop for him so that he would recognize his Lord by it and know His
immensity and majesty by it, and that He is the only one worthy of true
greatness and pride. For that reason, He described him and said, "Have We
not given him two eyes and a tongue and two lips, and guided him on the two
roads?"
He first acquainted
him with his baseness and said, "Was he not a sperm-drop extracted? Then
he was a blood-clot. Then He mentioned His favour and said, "He created and
fashioned and made a pair from it, male and female," in order to
perpetuate his existence by reproduction as his existence was acquired in the
beginning by original formation. When you begin in this manner and your states
are like this, how can you have arrogance, pride, glory, and conceit? Properly
speaking, man is the lowest of the low and the weakest of the weak. Indeed,
even if He had perfected him, delegated his command to him and made his
existence go on by his own choice, he would still dare to be insolent and would
forget his beginning and his end. However, during your existence, He has given
illnesses power over you, whether you like it or not, and whether you are
content or enraged. You become hungry and thirsty without being able to do
anything about it. You do not possess any power to bring either harm or
benefit. You want to know something but you remain ignorant of it. You want to
remember something and yet you forget it. You want to not forget something and
yet you do forget it. You want to direct your heart to what concerns it and yet
you are caught up in the valleys of whispering and thoughts. You own neither
your heart nor yourself. You desire something while your destruction may be in
it, and you detest something while your life may be in it. You find some foods
delicious when they destroy and kill you, and you find remedies repugnant when
they help you and save you. You are not safe for a moment, day or night. Your
sight, knowledge, and power may be stripped away, your limbs may become semi-paralyzed,
your intellect may be stolen away, your soul may be snatched away, and all that
you love in this world may be taken from you. You are hard-pressed, abased. If
you are left alone, you go on. If you are snatched away, you are annihilated. A
mere slave. A chattel. You have no power over yourself or anyone else. What can
be more abased? If you recognize yourself, how can you think yourself worthy of
pride? If it were not for your ignorance - and this is your immediate state -
you would reflect on it. Your end is death. It is indicated by His word,
"Then He makes him die and buries him. Then, when He wills, He raises
him." The meaning here is that your soul, hearing, sight, knowledge,
power, senses, perception, and movement are all stripped away. You revert to
the inanimate as you were in the first place. Only the shape of your limbs
remains. Your form has neither senses nor movement. Then you are placed in the
earth and your limbs decay. You become absent after you existed. You become as
if you were not, as you were at first for a long period of time. Then a man
wishes that he could remain like that. How excellent it would be if he were
left as dust! However, after a long time, He brings him back to life to subject
him to a severe trial. He comes out of his grave after his separated parts are
joined together, and he steps out to the terrors of the Rising. He is told,
"Come quickly to the Reckoning and prepare for the Outcome!" His
heart stops in fear and panic when he is faced with the terror of these words
even before his pages are spread out and he sees his shameful actions in them.
This is the end of his affair. It is the meaning of His word, "Then when
He wishes, He raises him."
How can anyone whose
state this is be arrogant? A moment of freedom from grief is better than
arrogance. He has shown the beginning and the middle of his condition. If his
end had appeared to him - and we seek refuge from Allah - perhaps he would have
chosen to be a dog or a pig in order to become dust with the animals rather
than a hearing, speaking man, and meet with punishment (if he deserves the
Fire). When he is in the presence of Allah then even the pig is nobler than him
since it reverts to dust and it is spared from the Reckoning and the
punishment. Someone with this state at the Rising can only hope for pardon, and
he cannot be at all certain about it. How then can he be arrogant? How can he
see himself as anything to which excellence is attached? This is the
knowledge-cure.
As far as the
action-cure is concerned, it is to humble yourself to people in a constrained
unnatural manner until it becomes natural for you.
Courtesy Of:
Islaam.com Source: kalamullah.com
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