Assalamualaikum wbt.
1. It is reported in an authentic
hadith by Imam Muslim and At-Tirmidzi that our beloved Prophet SAW once said, “One
will not enter Paradise, if one has an atom’s
weight of arrogance in his/her heart.”
2. May 3rd, 2011: Within
limited space I have for this column, I will try to address this subject in a
broad manner yet very specific in examples before I close it with a number of
important lessons we should grasp and put into daily practice.
3. Needless to explain further, the
word egotism is understandably equivalent to the word arrogance, and trust me,
there are many instances whereby the severity of this heart disease is strongly
emphasized in Islam. Therefore I will now elaborate on that through the following
stories namely the Libyan War, story of Prophet Adam AS, the arrogance of the
Jews and not to forget, Abu Jahal’s genuine attraction towards Al-Quran.
4. The whole world is still waiting
now. It is not easy to expect where the Libyan War will lead to. But one thing
for sure, Gaddafi has taken over the country of Libya since 1969 and after 41
years, he should know better that the people don’t want him anymore. Thousands
of innocent people were reported to be dead as victims of war now and still
counting. Yet Gaddafi won’t let go and entertain his arrogance for too long at
the expense of his own people’s lives.
5. Isn’t it disturbing to know that
though Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, two-thirds of its 6.5
million populations live on less than $2 a day? Truly Gaddafi may have gone too
far to deny his leadership failure. And perhaps it is this self-inflicting
arrogance of him (which perpetrates mass murders) that justifies a profound fatwa issued by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi
when he said, “I rule that whoever can
fire a bullet, and relieve us, as well as Libya and its great people, of this
man’s evil and danger, should do so.”
In Surah Al-Ghafir, (40:76) Allah
declares, “Enter you the gates of Hell, to dwell therein: and evil is (this)
abode of the arrogant!”
6. Next, the story of our father of
mankind, Adam AS is not at all less unique. It is another quintessential
instance of how arrogance and sense of ego would lead one astray from the
truth. But it was not Adam AS who was arrogant;
it was Iblees (the devil) instead.
7. When Allah ordered Iblees to
prostrate to Adam, he rejected in arrogance and in envy towards Adam AS,
claiming that he was better. Allah recorded this story in the Quran in Surah
Al-A’raf, (7:12) whereby Iblees said, “I am better than he: You did create me from
fire, and him from clay.”
In addition to that, before Adam
was created, Iblees was one of the most knowledgeable and active worshippers of
Allah SWT, and this was another reason why he felt so arrogant that he refused
to follow Allah’s order.
8. The consequence is clear. Iblees,
satans and all of their followers from mankind will be punished in the Hellfire
forever (May Allah have Mercy on us and protect us from Jahannam).
9. The following is one of my
favorites- the story of the Jew’s arrogance. But this story needs a longer
introduction. Do you remember the story of Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim AS)? He had
a wife, Sarah but no son. Hence, Sarah allowed Abraham to marry her servant,
Hajar and by Allah’s Mercy, Abraham AS was granted his first son, Prophet Ishmael
(Ismail) AS through Hajar. When Abraham and Sarah were old however, Allah
granted them with a miracle for their good deeds and strong faith in Allah,
although they almost lost hope for any son at that age. Sarah eventually gave
birth to another prophet, Isaac (Ishaaq) AS.
10. So now Abraham had 2 sons, the
first being Prophet Ishmael AS and the second, Prophet Isaac AS. The descendants
of Isaac were Prophet Jacob (Yaa’qub) AS, Prophet Joseph (Yusuf) AS, Prophet
Moses (Musa) AS and also Prophet Jesus (Isa) AS. Take note that Prophet Jacob
had another name, Israel, and therefore the descendants of Abraham through
Isaac are called the Jews (Bani Israel).
11. Meanwhile, the descendant of Abraham
through Ishmael AS was no other but our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW, the seal
of all prophets. And this is how the story began. Abraham AS had received the divine
order to leave his wife, Hajar and son, Ishmael in the middle of desert, which
is now known as Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
12. To cut this short, the divine
order from Allah to do so was actually His great plan to test the Jews. Had
Allah not ordered such, our last prophet SAW would have been born among the
Jews in Palestine as well. But he was not, because he was the descendant of
Ishmael and Ishmael lived in Mecca instead.
13. So when the Jews heard about the
news that a prophet will be sent to them, they eagerly waited for it. However,
when it was told that Jesus AS was the promised prophet, they rejected him.
After Jesus AS was ascended by Allah to heaven, they still waited for the
promised prophet until finally a revelation came that a final prophet was sent
and he was not from the Jewish nation, but he was Muhammad SAW, the last
Messenger of Allah and he was from the Arabs instead.
14.The Jews refused to accept him as
a prophet just because Muhammad SAW was not a Jew. This, is the arrogance that
I am talking about- they arrogantly believed that only Jewish people
deserve to be a prophet. All of this leads to the most interesting story ever-
about Dajjal the Anti-Christ. Allah created Dajjal to impersonate Jesus AS,
because the Jews are still waiting for the promised prophet, although we
Muslims believe, that the promised prophet to the Jews was Jesus AS, and he was
already sent by Allah about 2000 year ago.
15. Again, the consequence is that,
when one day Dajjal is released and he declares that he is the Messiah (the
promised prophet), those whom are deceived by this claim (including the
arrogant Jews) will follow him and end up with severe punishment from Allah
SWT- na’uzubillahiminzalik.
16. This is the last part of the
article. Do you know that Abu Jahal, the most evil enemy of beloved Prophet
Muhammad SAW, was enchanted by the beauty of Quran? In fact, he admitted that
Quran spoke the truth. However, he argued that if he submitted to what Muhammad
SAW brought, he will lose his pride because he was not from the same tribe with
Muhammad SAW, Bani Hashim. This means that even the most stiff-necked person in
history was awed by the miraculous Al-Quran. However, he rejected faith only
because of his arrogance, and for that, he never became a Muslim and will never
taste Paradise!
17. In Surah An-Naml, (27:14) Allah
speaks of those who were convinced by the truth but rejected it in arrogance. “And
they rejected those Signs in iniquity and arrogance,
though their souls were convinced thereof: so see what was the end of
those who acted corruptly!”
18. If none of the above has any impact to our hearts, then let us ask ourselves whether we too are arrogant, towards Allah SWT and people around us. We must remember, that everything that we have in this world does not belong to us, and for that, we have no reason to feel proud about it and look down upon people around us.
19. As for what to do, we have to
always nurture a sense of humility and gratitude in our heart, to oppose the
ugly nature of arrogance that may haunt us. As a start, let us thank all people
around us who have been helpful to us all this while, and apologize for our wrong
deeds, because that, is a sign of being free from arrogance insya Allah. Mind
you, this is what our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW, our best teacher, teaches
us. May Allah bless us all and may He place us in the same place with people He
grants Jannatul Firdaus, the Paradise. Ameen. Wallahua’lam and Happy Teacher's Day.
“And swell not your cheek (for pride) at men,
nor walk in insolence through the earth; for Allah
loves not any arrogant boaster.” Surah Luqman, (31:18)
P/S: This article is prepared for As-Shifa' Magazine, May 2011. Do visit this page again for the electronic copy of the magazine very soon. Jazakallahukhair ;-)
With love,
Ibnu Hanaffi
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