PRIDE AND SELF-PRAISE

The Prophet said: Pride is My shirt and greatness is My garment. I destroy one who takes something out of them. He also said: There are three destructive things - miserliness which is obeyed, passion which is followed and self-praise. So pride and satisfaction owing to self-praise are bad and destructive diseases of mind and such a mind is greatly diseased and object of hatred to God.

SECTION 1

CONDEMNATION OF PRIDE

QURAN - God says: Soon I shall turn away from My signs those who take pride unjustly in this world - 7: 16 Q. God says: Thus God seals the hearts of each proud and oppressive person - 50: 35 Q. God says: they prayed to be victorious and every proud and boastful man was destroyed -14 :15 Q. God says: God does not love those who are proud. God says: Those who turn away from My service out of pride will soon enter Hell being disgraced. There are many verses of pride in the Qiiran.

HADIS: The Holy Prophet said: He who has got in. his mind pride to the weight of a mustard seed will not enter Pardise and he who has got in his mind faith to the. weight of a mustard seed will not enter Hell. The Prophet said: God will throw Hell over the face of one in whose mind there is the slightest pride. Once Hazrat Solaiman addressed the birds, beasts, animals, and men: Go out in procession. Two lac men and two lac beasts joined the procession. The wind was taking them upwards. He rose to such a height that he heard the sound of Tasbih of angels in the sky. Then he got down to the bottom of the sea. Then he heard advice from heaven: If the least sign of pride was found within the mind of your friend Solaiman, he would have been destroyed in the bottom of sea before he rose upto sky.

The Prophet said: A long neck will have two ears to hear, two eyes to see and a tongue to speak. It will say: I have been entrusted with three persons - every proud and insolent man, every man who worships others along with God and every maker of pictures. The Prophet said: Paradise and Hell once 3:249quarrelled with each other. Hell said: I have been entrusted with the proud and oppressors. Paradise said: The weak, the destitute and the helpless will enter in me. God said to Paradise: You are God's mercy. I will give you out of My mercy those whom I wish.

He said to Hell: You are My punishment. I will punish those whom I wish by you. I will fill you up both. The Prophet said: He who is an oppressor and exceeds limit being forgetful of the Almighty is hated. He who is engaged in fruitless talks and lives being forgetful of grace and destruction is hated. He who is disobedient and lives being forgetful of the First and the Last is hated. Once the Prophet was informed that a certain man was very proud. He said: Has he got no death after this? When the death of Prophet Noah, came near, he called his two sons and said: I am giving you two injunctions and two prohibitions. I prohibit you to take pride and Shirk and I order you to recite "There is no deity but God" and Tasbih and Tahmid. If the heaven and earth are placed in one scale and La Ilaha Illallah is placed in another scale, the latter scale will be heavy. Jesus Christ sAid: He is good whom God taught the revealed Book and who does not die being an oppressor. The Prophet said: Every passion-loving man, every proud man, every boarder and every hypocrite are dwellers of Hell and every poor and weak man is a dweller of Paradise. The Prophet said: He who is best among you in conduct will be dearest and nearest to me in the next world. The most distant of me among you and the object of most hatred are those persons who are talkative, the trouble-givers and the mutafihequns. The companions asked: Who are mutafaihequns? He said: The Proud. The Prophet said: The Proud will be raised up on the Resurrection Day as dwarfs. The people will go on treading with feet these dwarfs. The figure of everything will be higher than their figures. They will then be driven to a Hell name Bulas. Their food will be the fire of Hell and their drink will be Khobal or bloods and pusses of the dwellers of Hell. The Prophet said: On the Resurrection Day, the proud and the oppresses will be presented in Hell as dwarfs. The people will be treading upon them as toys of God. The Prophet said: There is a palace in Hell where the proud will be admitted and then it will be shut up. The Prophet used to pray: 0 God, I seek refuge to you from the pride of the proud. He also said: He from whose body life has gone out and is saved from three matters - pride, debt and deceit, will enter Paradise.

3:250Wise saying. Hazrat Abu Bakr said: No Muslim shall hold in contempt another Muslim as he who is small among the Muslims is great near God. The sage Wahab said: When God created Adam, He looked to him and said: You are unlawful for every proud man. Mohammad-b-Hussain said: Whenever something of pride enters into the mind of a man, small or great, his wisdom to that proportion is reduced. Solaiman wasonce asked: Is there any sinner whose virtues do not do him any benefit? He said: A proud man.

DEMERITS OF PRIDE AND SIGNS. The Prophet said: God will not look towards him who walks with garment out of pride. He also said: Once a man was feeling delight looking at his dress. God ordered him to be drowned underneath the earth upto the Resurrection Day.' The Prophet said: When my followers will walk with pride and their servants will be the inhabitants of Persia and Byzantium, God will place some of them to rule over others. The Prophet said: He who thinks himself great and discloses pride in his behaviour will meet with God in His enraged condition. God says: Don't walk upon the earth with pride. You can neither pierce through the earth, nor reach the height of a mountain-10:37 Quran.

MERITS OF MODESTY AND HUMILITY. The Prophet said: God increases the honour of a man by virtue of his pardon. God raises him up who takes to modesty for pleasure of God. The Prophet said: There is no such man with whom there are not two angels. They fix reign to his mouth. When he raises up his head, they lower it. When he is modest, they say: 0 God, raise up his head. The Prophet said: He who shows modesty being powerful, spends what he earns lawfully, shows kindness to the helpless and the destitute and keeps company with the wise and the learned is blessed. The Prophet said: God humiliates him who takes pride. God makes him solvent who takes middle course in spending. God makes him poor who is extravagant. God loves him who remembers him most.

Once the Prophet was taking meal with some of his companions. At that time, a beggar came and stood at his door. he was crippled being attacked with paralysis and the people began to hate him. The Prophet gave him permission to come in and kept him seated on his thigh and said: Take food. A man of the Quraish saw this and prohibited him being greatly hateful of 3:251him. It was seen that he died afterwards of this disease. The Prophet said: My Lord gave me option of either of the two things - slavery with the office of prophethood or reign with the office of prophethood. I could not determine as to which of these two I should choose and therefore I raised my head towards my friend Gebriel who said: Be humble to your lord. I said: I choose slavery with prophethood. God sent revelation to Moses I accept the prayer of one who humbles himself before My glory, who does not boast over My servants, keeps My fear attached to his heart, spends the day in My remembrance and deprives himself from passions and desires for My sake, The Prophet said: There is honour in God-fear, pedigree in humility and real wealth in faith. Jesus Christ said: those who are humble in this world are blessed. They will gain'high rank on the resurrection Day in the highest heaven. Those who keep their minds pure in this world are blessed. They will gain the sight of God on the Resurrection day. The Prophet said: When God gives a servant guidance of Islam, fine figure, does not put him to any place of dishonour and gives him the quality of humility, he becomes dear to God. He said; Modesty does not increase but progress. So be modest, God will bestow mercy on you. Once the Prophet was taking his meal. At that time a black man being attacked with small pox came and was trembling before him. The neighbouring men were going away from him. The prophet kept him seated by his side: The Prophet said: God gives four qualities to a man whom He loves - (1) silence n divine service. (2) reliance on God, (3) modesty and (4) renunciation of the world.

The Prophet said: God raises him to seventh heaven who takes recourse to modesty. He said: He who carries himself the necessary things of his family, destroys his pride. The Prophet once said to his companions: Why do I not get from you the pleasure of divine service? They asked: What is the pleasure of divine service? He said: Modesty. He said: When you find the humble among my followers, be humble to them. When you find the proud, treat them with pride, because they will then feel humiliated and humble.

Wise sayings. Hazrat Omar said: When a man takes recourse to modesty for God, He raises his wisdom. When he takes to pride and enmity. He drowns him underneath the earth. It is then ordered: Be off, God has removed you. He is great to himself, but 3:252small to the people, even he is worse to them than a pig. Eusof-b-Asbat said: God-fear is sufficient for more divine services. A little modesty is sufficient for great labour. Ibnul Mobarak said: To treat with modesty with a person who is inferior to you in wealth is the root of modesty. The latter will then understand that superiority is insignificant to you. Treat with superiority with one who is superior to you in worldly riches, he will then understand that worldly superiority is insignificant to you. God revealed to Jesus Christ: When I give you wealth, I will give you in full if you accept it humbly. Ka'ab said: If God gives a man worldly wealth and if he expresses gratefulness for it to please God and becomes humble. He will give him its benefit in the world and will increase his rank in the Hereafter. Hazrat Abdul Malek was asked; Who is good? He said: that person who is modest inspite of his power, who gives up his low desires and who pardons inspite of his strength. The sage Ibnus Samak went to Caliph Harunur Rashid and said: 0 Commander of the Faithful, the modesty which you show inspite of your unsullied power is more honourable than the honour of your lordship, He said: What a good word you have uttered? Ibnus Samak said: 0 Commander of the Faithful: If one who has been given by God the beauty of physique, the quality of modesty and wealth and prosperity acquires the quality of God fear, removes the wants of others by his wealth and earns the attributes of modesty, his name is enrolled along with the friends of God in the special record of God. Then the Caliph kept these instructions written with his own hand. It was the habit of Hazrat Solaiman that at dawn he received the rich and the honourable persons and then he took seats with the poor and said to them: He who is poor sits with the poor.

A certain sage said: The more one is humble to himself, the more he is raised up to God. The more one is great to himself, the more he is mean to God. Jayad Noman said: A worldly renunciated man without humility is like a tree without fruits. The sage Fazil said: He who loves power will never be successful. The sage Shibli said: My humility has made the humility of the Jews void. A certain sage said: He who considers himself an asset has got nothing of humility in. him. The saint Abu Yezid said: So long as there is this thought in one;s mind that others are worse than him, he cam be called a proud man. He was asked: When will he be modest? He said: When he will not find,for himself any 3:253rank or honour. Hazrat Urwah said: Modesty is a means of earning pedigree. For every gift, there is a person of envy except for modesty. A certain sage said: It is good for every man to take to modesty but it is better for a rich man. To take pride is bad for everyone but it is worse for a poor man. A certain sage said: He who thinks himself modest for pleasure of God, there is honour for him. There is progress for one who is modest for pleasure of God. There is safety for one who fears the Almighty God. There is gain for him who sells himself for God. The sage Abu Ali Jayad said: Nature is filled up with pride, greed and envy. God deprives one of modesty, admonition and contentment whom He wishes to destroy. God gives those qualities to one for whom He wishes good. The sage Junaid said that the Prophet said: The worst men will be leaders in latter days. Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq said: We have found honour in God fear, contentment in firm faith and pedigree in modesty. We pray for God's mercy.

WHAT IS PRIDE?

Pride is of two kinds, open and secret. Secret pride is the name of feeling of a superiority. When it is expressed in actions, it is called open pride. Feeling of superiority in mind is called self conceit (kibr). When it is expressed in actions, it is called pride (Takabbar). So self-conceit is the root of pride. Self-conceit is self-contentment in thinking that one is superior to others. There are three elements in it - (1) one who is proud, (2) one on whom it is shown, (3) and the object for which it is felt. Self-praise (Uzab) has got only one element, namely the persons who takes pride, while self-conceit has got these three elements. Appreciation of one's own quality is not by itself self-conceit but with its appreciation if he believes it firmly, feels joy for it and thinks himself superior to others, it is to be understood that there are elements of self-conceit in him. For this reason, the,Prophet said: I seek refuge to Thee from the breath of the proud. Hazrat Omar said to that person who sought his permission to deliver lecture: I fear for you blow of pride. This feeling of superiority is called self-conceit. Hazrat Ibn Abbas explained it by saying that it is a feeling of superiority over others. If it is expressed in words or behaviour, it is called takabbar or pride which is the outward expression of self-conceit.

HARMS OF PRIDE: The Prophet said: He who has a atom of pride in him will not enter Paradise. A proud man cannot love for others what he loves for himself as there is pride in him. He cannot give up hatred as there is pride in him. He cannot stand on truth as there is pride in him. He cannot control anger as he has got pride in him. He cannot accept admonitions as there is pride in him. He is not safe from the accusations of the people as there is pride in him. The worst thing in self-conceit is to receive no benefit from learning, not to recognize truth and not to follow it. God says: Enter the door of Hell and live therein. How bad is the place of the proud-37: 72 Q.

God say: He who will receive the greatest punishment among the dwellers of Hell is one who is the most rebellious of them to God. God says: Then I will take out from each people such men as are more enemies of the Merciful God says: The hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter deny truth and they are proud. God says: Those who turn away out of pride from My service will enter Hell disgraced. God say: I will keep away those persons from Me who roam in the earth proudly - 7 146 Q. It has been explained that the understanding of the Quran will be taken out of their hearts. It has also been said that God will throw screen upon their hearts. The sage Jarir said in the explanation of the above verse that God will keep them away from thoughts of the unseen worldly and from acceptance of sermons. For this reason Jesus Christ said: Crop grows in soft earth. It does not grow in hard ground. Similarly wisdom arises in modest or soft mind. It does not arise in hard heart. Don't you see that the head of one who lifts it up to the roof is crushed and the head of one who keeps low is saved. These are illustrations of the proud. The Prophet said: He who is heedless of truth and a back-biter is proud.

OBJECTS ON WHOM PRIDE IS SHOWN

Such objects are of several classes - the Creator, then His Prophets, then the people in general. Man has been created an oppressor and ignorant, because sometimes he takes pride over His creatures and sometimes even over the Creator. So there are three classes of objects over whom pride is shown.

(1) First class - It is pride on God which is worst. Its cause is utter ignorance and infidelity, as the infidelity of Namrud and Pharaoh. It occurred in the mind of Namrud that he would fight ' with God. pharaoh and others claimed also godhood. Pharaoh Vol-III Pride and self-praise 3:2543:255said: I am the highest lord. For this reason God says: Those who turn away from My worship will soon enter Hell humiliated. God says: Jesus Christ and the near angels do not deny to become servants of God. God says: When they are asked to make obeisance to the Merciful, they say: Who is the Merciful?

(2) Second class-Pride upon the apostles. The reason is that one thinks himself greater than apostles and therefore does not follow them. Out of ignorance he thinks that his words are true. A certain man said to the Prophet of God: Shall we have faith in' peoples like us? They used to say: You are a man like us. Had there come down to them an angel! God says about Pharaoh: He and his soldiers wandered proudly in the earth. He expressed haughtiness over God and over all His apostles. Moses told Pharaoh said: I will consult Haman in this matter. He consulted with Haman who aid: You are our Lord. People worship you. If you bring faith in God, you will be a slave and worship another. Then Pharaoh denied to worship God and to follow Moses.

God gave news of the Quraish who said: Had this Quran been revealed to two great men of the two cities. Qatadha said that the great men were Olid-b-Mugirha and Abu Masud Saqafih? They said: How has God sent an orphan over us? Then God revealed: Do they divide mercy of your Lord. The Quraish said to the Prophet: How can we sit near you when these mean people are sitting round you? They meant by this word the poor Muslims. Then God revealed this verse: Don't drive those who call their Lord morning and evening. God says: Bear patience with those who worship their Lord morning and evening for His pleasure and don't turn your eyes from them to the worldly grandeurs. God says of their punishment in the following verse: They say: Why do we not find out those whom we considered mean? By this word, Hazrat Bilal, Ammer, Sohaib, Meqdad and other companions of the Prophet were meant.

(3) Third class - Pride on the general people. To think oneself greater in comparison with other people and to look upon them with contempt mean a sense of pride over them. Thus he keeps himself away from following the people. It is bad for two reasons. The first reason is that pride and superiority are due only to the Highest Lord. Man, being naturally helpless, is not able to do anything. How can he claim pride under the circumstances? Whenever a man wants to take pride, he wants to 3:256set up partnership with the attribute of God which he cannot do. If any slave wears the crown of a king and sits on the throne, he becomes an object of wrath and hatred of the king. How is he punished for this treason? For this reason, God said: Pride is my garment and glory is my shirt. Whoever quarrels with me about these two matters, I destroy him. In another: He who claims to be vested with an attribute which is solely Mine, is ruined. He who takes pride over the servants of God, commits sin to God. If an officer of the king is humiliated by anybody, he is said to oppose the order of the king. He who wears the crown of the king and sits in his throne, becomes an object of utmost hatred and extreme anger of the king for which he gets the highest punishment for treason.

The second cause is that pride calls one to disobey the injunctions of God, as a proud man declines to hear sermons from anybody, God says: the unbelievers say: "Don't hear the verses of the Quran, but make noise when they are read out, then you will become victorious over the Muslims". It is the habit of the unbelievers and the hypocrites not to accept truth as God says: When they are said: "Fear God", their pride leads them to transgression - 2 : 206Q. Hazrat Omar said that when he had recited this verse - "We are for God and to Him we shall return", a man stood up and began to deliver sermon but he was soon killed. Another man then got up and said: Do you kill those who tell the people to establish justice? He who opposed the proud man was killed by him. The Prophet once said to a man: Take meal with your right hand. He said: I can't do it. The Prophet said: Can't you do it? His pride prevented him to take meal with his right hand. It was reported that after this his right hand became paralysed.

The devil is the best instance of this pride. He was driven out of paradise by God as he took pride and did not prostrate before Adam in obedience to God's command. He said: You have created me of fire and Adam of clay - 7: 12 Q. This finished the devil once for all. The Prophet said: He who rejects truth and back-bites people is a proud man. In another Hadis, he said: He who denies truth and holds the people in contempt is a proud man. The second harm of pride is to reject truth. He who thinks that he is better than another Muslim and holds him in contempt and looks upon him as small, rejects truth knowingly and takes 3:257pride in his treatment with the people. He who does not like to be humble to God, to obey His commands, to follow His Prophet takes pride over God and His Apostle.

SUBJECTS IN WHICH PRIDE IS SHOWN

Pride is' shown in religious and earthly matters. Religious matters are education, divine services and honesty. Earthly matters are pedigree, beauty, power, wealth and lordship. For these matters, there arises pride.

(1) Education: The first cause of pride is education as the learned take pride for their learning. The Prophet said: The danger of education is pride. a learned man easily takes pride owing to his learning. He thinks himself great on account of the excellence of learning and perfectness and holds in contempt other men. He considers others as beasts, illiterate and ignorant. He believes that he is the most respectable man among them. A man, however, can know himself and his Lord by real education and know the dangers at the time of death. Though there are great dangers in education, real education however, increases God-fear, modesty and other qualities. The saint Abu Darda said: The more a man is wise, the more is his responsibility. There are two causes for which learning begets pride. The first cause is that he does not learn real education with which God is recongised and which engages the mind in the next world duties. This grows God-fear and modesty. God says: The learned among the servants of God fear Him most. Except this, other learnings like medicine, mathematics, language, poetry, law etc. are technical education and not real education. Real education gives knowledge of godhood of God and slavehood of man.

The second cause is that vain arguments are made by education which pollutes the mind, changes the motives and breeds bad conduct. The sage Wahab cited an illustration of this learning. he said: Education is like rain which comes down pure from the sky. Trees, plants and leaves drink that water through their roots. That water then assumes different natures according to the different kinds of trees and leaves. Water increases bitterness in a plant which is bitter and sweetness in a plant which is sweet. Similar is the condition of education. People acquire education and change it according to their conduct and desires, for which pride in the minds of the proud and humility in the mind of the humble are generated. The man whose object of learning is to boast increases his boast by education. The man whose object is to increase God-fear increases his God-fear by his education. He knows that there is no necessity of proof as it is established well for him. For this God said to His Prophet: Make your wing modest for one among the believers who follows you - 26: 26 Q. God says: Had you been unkind and harsh, they would have gone away from your side - 3 : 149Q. God describes His friends thus - they are modest to the believers but harsh to the unbelievers.

The Prophet said: Such people will come soon who will read the Quran but it will not cross their throats. They will say: We have read the Quran. Who is better in Quran reading than us? Than he said to his companions: 0 my followers, these people will come out from amongst you. They are fuels of Hell. For this reason, Hazrat Omar said: Don't be included within the proud learned men. Your education will not be able to remove your ignorance in that circumstance. For this reason, he did not give permission to Tamimdari when he sought his permission to deliver lectures. Rather he said that it was equal to murder. Once Hazrat Hazaifa led prayer of the people. He said after prayer: Pray behind another Imam as a thought occurred in my mind that there is nobody among my people better than myself. When a reputed companion like Hazrat Huzaifah is not safe from this, what will be our condition? Those who had perfect education passed away in the first and second centuries of Heijra. The Prophet said: Soon there will come such a condition over the people in which a man doing one-tenth of divine services of yours will get salvation. But for this good news, people of this age would have been ruined.

SECOND CAUSE OF PRIDE IN RELIGIOUS SERVICES

The religious men are not free from pride. The form of pride of a man regarding worldly matters is that he thinks that the people should come to him and not to others, that they should stand up for him to show respect and that they should broadcast his piety among the general public. The form of pride of a man in religious matters is that he thinks that he has only got salvation and the people are ruined. The Prophet said: When you hear a man say "Men are ruined," know then that he is ruined among Pride and self-praise 3:258Pride and self-praise 3:2603:259them. otalso salitassufficient mean* Itfis reported that at man called his brother Muslim M l. He o was ne da was great sinner el giousomgan uponiwhose headla piece of one day passing by Y cud was giving shade. Khaliy thought while passing by him that God would show mercy on him if e would diokeep p his companionship. When he went to him, th man thought: am h religious said to him: Go away from me. God How an he sit with revealed f the I have e forgiven the great sinner and spoiled the service afresh. g virtues of the religious man. In another narration, the piece of cloud drifted away ad of above sinner. head fromg h ssthat God went above the h ous man er becomes modest frhGheart d momost fear, hehbecomenobedient to modest God with all his heart.

Once a man struck a hermit on his neck with his foot and then fell at once in prostration. . Godhermit sent lrevelation to your e prophet o Go f God will not forgive you. you that age: Tell the hermit that he is a proud man and God will not forgive his sins.

Once a man was praised before the Prophet. When he came to the Prophet, they said: 0 Apostle of God, we praised this man. from The mouth said: am came, salthe smell of the uted the Prophet and stoodtby mof this y The Prophet s no bhim: I ask etter man than you in your tribe? He you think that there said: Ye. I think so. The Prophet saw the impurity of his mind by the light of prophethood and that reflected on his face.

(3) The third cause oHpride: ho is honourable inppedigree and pedigree and ancestry ancestry, holds another in contempt though the latter is superior to him in divine service and duanothe rma ~n presence of the an alteration between Prophet. I said to him: 0 son of a Negro. At once, the Prophet d:). Abu Zano one superiority of the son of pretty woman equal). over equal). There is p that ofablack woman. Abu slap on facemNow look ho said to the man: Rise up p Prophet brought him to his senses. He thought himself superior as he was beautiful. Once two men began to boast of their ancestry. One man said to another: I am the descendant of so and so. Who are you? You have got no mother. The Prophet said: Two men quarrelled thus before Moses. One man said: I am the son of so and so. He showed his ancestors up to the ninth degree. God then revealed to Moses: 0 Moses, tell that proud man: your ancestors upto the ninth degree have gone to Hell. You are the tenth person among them. The Prophet said: Some men take boast of their ancestors, but they are reduced to ashes in Hell or worse than worms of cow-dung near God.

(4) Fourth cause-pride of beauty: Such a pride is found mostly in women. Hazrat Ayesha said: Once a woman came to the Prophet and I showed by my hand that she is such (short-statured). The Prophet then said: You have back-bited her.

(5) Fifth reason-pride of wealth and riches, of the kings and rulers, of merchandise among merchants, of lands among peasants, of dresses and conveyances among the luxurious persons. As a result, they hold the poor in contempt.

(6) Sixth reason-pride of strength. If there is strength in body, it generates pride. A strong man take pride before a weak man.

(7) Seventh reason-pride of man and power. If there are many disciples, helpers, students, or relatives, pride crops up in mind. Similarly the rulers and kings take pride for their number of soldiers, arms and ammunitions.