DANGERS OF ARROGANCE
1. Indeed, no one can escape arrogance. But avoiding
it would be best if we want to save ourselves from it eating us up now and in
the after life.
2. Arrogance is one of the most dangerous inner
diseases of the heart. Those inner diseases reside in the hearts but their
destructive effects are reflected in the behavior and conduct of the sick
person who can be prevented from entering paradise on the Day of Judgment.
3. In the Hadith reported by Imam Muslim and
At-Tirmithi the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) said, "One will not enter
Paradise, if one has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his/her heart."
4. This hadith is evidence that arrogance is one of
the major sins because it prevents the arrogant from entering Paradise on the
Day of Judgment. It is also an evidence that arrogance is from the diseases of
the heart, and that the degree of arrogance varies. The heart can be filled
with arrogance or can have only up to a small atom’s weight of arrogance.
5. To demonstrate its danger, many verses and hadith
have been revealed and I will mention some of them to you now.
6. First, what is arrogance? The prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W.) defined it for us in an hadith reported by Imam Muslim and
At-Tirmithi, "One will not enter Paradise, if one has an atom’s weight of
arrogance in his/her heart."
7. A man then asked, "One may love his clothes
to look good and his shoes to look good?!" The prophet replied,
"Allah is beautiful and loves beauty, arrogance is: rejecting the truth
and looking down on people."
8. The most evil kind of arrogance is rejection of
the truth and not following it. Examples; On the Day of Judgment, it is said to
the arrogant people in surah Ghafar (Verse 76), "Enter the gates of Hell
to abide therein, and (indeed) what an evil abode of the arrogant!"
9. Hell Fire is the abode of the arrogant people.
This is emphasized in the hadith of the prophet (S.A.W.) that is reported by
Imam Muslim, "Paradise and Hell Fire have argued. Hell fire said: Inside
me are the merciless and the arrogant people....and Allah has judged between
them:… You (Hell Fire) are my torture, with you I torture whom I will…."
Allah (S.W.T.) turns the arrogant people away from being guided with his signs.
He (S.W.T.) say sin surah Al-A’raaf (Verse 146), "I shall turn away from
My Ayat (verses of the Qur’an) those who behave arrogantly on the earth, in a
wrongful manner."
10. The most severe arrogance is being arrogant
against Allah (S.W.T.) and rejecting submission and worshipping Him. Allah
(S.W.T.) says in surat Ghafar (Verse 60), "Verily! Those who disdain My
worship (because of arrogance), they will surely enter Hell in
humiliation!"
11. From arrogance is being arrogant against the
messengers and rejecting their message and not following them just because they
are human. In this case it is when many non-believers about whom Allah (S.W.T.)
says in the Qur'an in surah Al-Mu’minun (Verse 47), "They said:
"Shall we believe in two men like ourselves." And in surah Ibrahim
(Verse 10), "They said to their messengers: "You are no more than human
beings like us." And the tribe of Quraish also said, when it rejected and
looked down on the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) because he was an orphan and poor,
as Allah (S.W.T.) told us in surah Az-Zukhruf (Verse 31), "And they say:
"Why is not this Quran sent down to some great man of the two towns (Mekah
and Ta’if)."
12. Allah (S.W.T.) described to us the real
situation of the disbelievers in surat An-Namal (Verse 14), "And they
belied them (those Ayat) wrongfully and arrogantly, though their ownselves were
convinced thereof (i.e. those Ayat are from Allah)."
13. From the examples of arrogance against the
prophet (S.A.W.) reported by Imam Muslim that a man who came and ate in the
presence of the prophet (S.A.W.) with his left hand, so the prophet (S.A.W.)
said to him, "Eat with your right hand." Then, the man said, "I
cannot." The prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) then supplicated to Allah against
this man, "May Allah, make you unable to use your right hand."
"Nothing prevented him from doing so (eating with his right hand) except
his arrogance, so he forever could not lift his right hand to his mouth."
14. Allah (S.W.T.) told us the story of Syaitan
Iblis so that we may learn lessons from it, when he ordered him to prostrate to
Adam and he rejected because of his Arrogance and Envy towards Adam, claiming
that he is better than him. Allah said in surah Al-A’raaf (Verse 12), "…I
am better than him (Adam), you created me from fire, and you created him from
clay."
15. Allah (S.W.T.) also demonstrated to us that
arrogance is an exclusive attribute of Himself. In a hadith reported by Imam
Muslim that Allah (S.W.T.) says, "Dignity is my lower garment, and
arrogance is my covering. If anyone competes with Me in either of these two,
surely I torture him."
16. Allah (S.W.T.) says in surah Luqman (Verse 18),
"And do not turn your face away from men with arrogance, nor walk in
insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah does not like each arrogant
boaster."
17. Allah does not like the one who is conceited and
arrogant. The prophet (S.A.W.) says what was reported by Imam Bukhari and
Muslim, "While a man was showing off in his garment, he looked proudly to
himself, all of a sudden, Allah immediately crumbled the earth underneath him,
and he is still dropping with struggle through it till the Day of
Judgment."
18. Allah (S.W.T.) does not look with mercy, on the
Day of Judgment, at the one whom lengthened his clothes out of arrogance. The
prophet (S.A.W.) says reported by Imam Bukhari, Muslim, and other,
"Whosoever drags his clothes out of arrogance, Allah will not look at him
on the Day of Judgment." Abu Bakar said: "O messenger of Allah: My
garment slips (slightly off his waist) to the ground but I lift it!?" The
prophet replied, "You are not among those who do it out of
arrogance."
19. After we have heard all these verses and hadith
about the dangers of arrogance and how bad the consequences are, we should be
cautioned and get away from it and from its effects and its characteristics. So
we teach ourselves to follow the truth when we know it, and humble ourselves in
front of others. Imam Muslim reported that the prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) said,
"....And no one has humbled himself for the sake of Allah, but Allah has
elevated him."
20. May Allah protect us from the disease of
arrogance in our hearts and purify us with his blessings and mercy.
- Master Freddy
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