Fifteenth Ramadan Lecture Presented by Al-Sayyid Abdul Malik Badruddin Al-Houthi, 1444 A.H.
Arrogance (2)
the root cause of human misery and the fatal blow to faith
I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, the outcast.
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
Praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds. I believe that there is no god but Allah, the Sovereign and the Manifest Truth, and that Muhammad, our master, is His servant, Messenger, and Last Prophet.
O Allah, confer Your salat and blessings upon Muhammad and the Family of Muhammad as You conferred Your salat and blessings upon Ibrahim and the Family of Ibrahim. You are Owner of Praise, Owner of Glory! And be pleased with Muhammad's good companions and all Your righteous servants and mujahidin.
O Allah, guide us and grant us acceptance, for You are All-Hearing, All-Knowing; accept our repentance, for You are the Relenting and the Merciful.
Brothers and sisters, peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Continuing our discussion from yesterday about the danger, heinousness, and evil consequences of the sin of arrogance, today we shed light on this topic and elaborate on some important points, owing to the great importance of this issue and the gravity of this sin, which many people tend to take lightly.
One of the aspects that demonstrates the seriousness of this sin and reveals its severe consequences and negative effects is that, as we mentioned yesterday, it is the sin of Iblis. It was the reason for his downfall and his tremendous loss, despite being in an atmosphere of worshipping Allah, in a highly influential spiritual state, accompanied by the angels in the heavens. He spent thousands of years in worship, in remembrance of Allah, in seeking closeness to Allah (the Almighty), and in the company of the chosen creation of Allah (the angels), who devoted themselves solely to worshiping Allah. Their every moment was dedicated to worshiping Him. However, despite this elevated position, when a state of deviation emerged within Iblis, instead of exalting Allah within himself, he began to exalt himself and became filled with arrogance. He fell into an extremely dangerous state. When the test came in practical reality, his true nature was exposed. So arrogance can take hold of a person who even lives in a religious environment where he is surrounded by a religious atmosphere and is engaged in faith-related efforts in his life. It can destroy everything. It shatters one's faith, causes him to lose his direction and worship, and deeply affects his soul. Iblis lost his worship, his status, and everything. He lost his future with Allah. Moreover, his soul became more and more corrupted.
Some sins are extremely serious. If committed by a human, they strike a fatal blow to his faith spirituality and severely corrupt his psyche, changing him in a profoundly serious way, so he undergoes a complete transformation, from a faithful reality to a different reality. Arrogance is one of those sins that has this extremely negative effect on a person's psyche. Therefore, Allah (Glory be to Him) says in the story of Iblis, {'So the angels prostrated all together, except Iblees. He acted arrogantly and became among the disbelievers'}.
If disbelief in its entirety—it is one of the most serious states of disobedience and one of the worst things a human can disobey Allah with, for when one disobeys Allah (the Almighty) with disbelief, he has reached the ultimate degrees of disobedience—stems from arrogance, as a branch of arrogance, then this makes it clear how serious the sin of arrogance is!
It became clear to us that it is one of the main causes and negative factors that have collectively driven many nations, peoples, factions, entities, and symbols of tyrants and prominent figures in history, in their respective roles and capacities, to deny the message of Allah, fight against His messengers, show animosity towards His allies, and hinder others from following His path. These are among the greatest crimes, the most heinous sins, and the worst transgressions, stemming from arrogance. There are many nations and tyrants throughout history who have had a very negative position in fighting against the Divine Message, the messengers, and the prophets. The reason behind this is stated in Allah's saying, {'The arrogant chiefs of his people said to the lowly'}. Allah also says about them: {'Behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil, but evil plotting only backfires on those who plot. Are they awaiting anything but the practice with those before? You will find no change in the way of Allah, nor will you find it diverted'}.
Among the major evils stemming from arrogance
Arrogance also leads to terrifying evils, such as hindering people from the path of Allah and doing injustice to His servants. Injustice is one of the prominent outcomes of arrogance. The oppressive tyrants are arrogant, and the heinousness of their practices of oppression and crimes against Allah's servants results from the level of their arrogance. So the more arrogant they are, the more oppressive they become towards Allah's servants.
It is also one of the factors of tyranny and malice: Those who are arrogant may even go as far as killing a prophet of Allah, fighting against His messengers, opposing His righteous servants, and having no problem to commit gross injustices against others. This is because they despise others, do not care about them, and live with a complex of arrogance (May Allah be our refuge). That is why Allah (Glory be to Him) says about the Children of Israel, {'Why is it that every time a messenger comes to you with something you do not like, you become arrogant, rejecting some and killing others?'}. Those were messengers sent by Allah to guide, save, reform, and lead people towards Him, goodness in this world and the Hereafter, and deliverance from His punishment. They possessed the virtues of goodness, moral and faith perfection, mercy, humanity, and attractiveness in their behaviour and actions, and they exhibited astonishing human perfection. In other words, there was nothing in them that makes them repulsive or justifies resentment, or opposition, neither in themselves nor in their message that they bring from Allah, which is good for people and a means of their salvation. But what happened?
{'Why is it that every time a messenger comes to you with something you do not like, you become arrogant.'} They became arrogant because the messengers brought what did not align with their ambitions and desires. At that point, they became arrogant, and as a result of their arrogance, what happened? They were {'rejecting some and killing others'}. That was how those crimes emerged and branched out from the sin of arrogance, including:
- denying the message of Allah,
- denying the signs of Allah,
- opposing the truth,
- turning others away from the path of Allah,
- and killing even the messengers and prophets of Allah.
Throughout history, entities, groups, and nations have formed and collectively inclined towards arrogance and haughtiness. Arrogance and haughtiness are among the sins that can manifest collectively, with groups, entities, states, leaderships, and their followers all involved. They can also manifest in individuals, as mentioned in the Quran regarding certain individuals who reached a severe level of arrogance and haughtiness. Examples include Firaawn, Haman, and Qarun, who had others around them who were also arrogant.
In addition, the great and very serious sin of arrogance extends to the reality of the weak who associate themselves with the arrogant. There are those who are indeed weak with regard to capabilities, leverage, influence, and reality, but they hold arrogance in their feelings and therefore associate themselves with the arrogant, incline towards them, feel attracted to them, and respond to them. In some cases, it might be their weakness that affected them to the point that they moved to support the arrogant, even while having the feeling of weakness.
Also, some of the poor, some ordinary people, may hold arrogance even if they do not have the capability, authority, or certain considerations that drive them to be arrogant. If such persons had the capabilities or a certain position, they would be of the worst arrogant people and tyrants, and they would certainly become horrible tyrants. However, they are really restricted and cannot move to display arrogance, but that state is clear as they deny the signs of Allah, hinder others from the guidance of Allah, and take a position against what is right and become obstinate against it. Such a position and obstinacy reveal how they are disdainful and arrogant of accepting the truth, of believing in the signs of Allah (Glory be to Him), and of accepting the guidance of Allah, the Almighty.
Arrogance as the prominent aspect in the positions of criminal tyrants
When the Holy Quran speaks about Firaawn, Haman, the people of Firaawn, and those nations and groups before them, it presents arrogance as the most prominent thing behind their position: {'As for 'Ad, they showed arrogance in the land with no right, and said, "Who is stronger than us in might"'}; {'And Qarun and Firaawn and Haman—and indeed Musa already came to them with the supreme evidence, yet they waxed proud in the land, and in no way were they forerunners'}. The same is mentioned about the other peoples, for He says, {'The arrogant chiefs of his people said …'}. Indeed, the state of arrogance is clear in their positions.
This aspect also emerges in the context of their punishment in the Hereafter, to the extent that it becomes a prominent feature in their classification and in discussing their punishment and their condition therein. Allah (Glory be to Him) describes the Day of Resurrection as a day that {'It will debase and elevate '}. One of the most important things that occur in the Resurrection Day and the changes that take place in it is that some will be debased. But who will be debased? It is the arrogant ones, who were arrogant in this worldly life, who deviated from the path of Allah, who displayed arrogance towards the signs of Allah, who did not respond to Allah (the Almighty), and who hindered others from the path of Allah. On the Day of Resurrection, those tremendous changes will bring them low, devoid of weight, value, and significance. They will be gathered while in a state of weakness, helplessness, surrender, humiliation, disgrace, regret, and remorse, putting an end to the condition they were in during their worldly life.
Allah says, describing their state in the Gathering Ground of the Resurrection, {'They will all appear before Allah, and the lowly will appeal to the arrogant , "We were your followers, so will you protect us from Allah's torment in any way?"'}. What is clear here is the title of arrogance and the state of those who were greatly attracted to the arrogant in the worldly life. They associated themselves with them, joined their ranks, and aligned themselves with them, and as a result, they will be in a state of ultimate loss on the Day of Resurrection.
Referring to their state while being punished in the Fire (May Allah be our refuge), Allah says, {' when they will dispute in the Fire, and the lowly will appeal to the arrogant , "We were your followers, will you then shield us from a portion of the Fire?" The arrogant will say, "We are all in it! Allah has already passed judgment over servants."'}. This theme stands out prominently in the condition of the people of the Fire, where there is a contrast between the arrogant and those who were weak but associated themselves with the arrogant ones.
He also mentions about the Day of Resurrection, {'So Today you will be rewarded with the torment of disgrace for your arrogance throughout the land with no right, and for your rebelliousness'}. Indeed, the state of humiliation on the Day of Resurrection is a terrifying state for them compared to their state in the worldly life, characterized by arrogance and tyranny. It is an immensely dreadful state.
Hence, we see how this theme is present at the level of the past and that it is very prominent at the level of the present. The entities of Taghout, injustice, aggression, and criminality that hinder people from the path of Allah, fight the message of Allah, and seek to deviate people from the divine principles and values are arrogant entities in our present time. The role taken by the Americans, the Israelis, and the forces of disbelief and Taghout is an arrogant role, for they are arrogant. They represent an arrogant front that seeks to control the oppressed and to oppress human society, to dominate it, to exploit it, to enslave it, and to get it into a state of deviation from the path of Allah (Glory be to Him).
Arrogant entities are the root cause of human misery.
If we reflect on our era, our reality and our time, who does primarily take on the task of diverting people away from the message of Allah, from following the messengers and prophets of Allah, and from the principles of truth, the values of goodness, the noble ethical standards, and the elevated human innate values that distinguish humans from other animals? They are those arrogant entities. Who perpetrates injustice against human societies, commits murder against human communities, loots the wealth of nations, and assaults people? It is those arrogant and oppressive entities. Who seeks to even undermine the state of modesty within societies, destabilize their social structures, and dismantle them, by spreading unprecedented levels of moral corruption? It is those arrogant entities that spread obscenity, promote vice, and propagate corruption. They even introduced 'homosexuality' to spread corruption on an unprecedented scale worldwide, providing protection and support in various forms and attempting to normalize deviant behaviour within societies. Who is responsible for the misery of the majority of humanity, the suffering of countless communities on different continents, whether be it hunger, poverty, or extreme hardships? It is the arrogant ones who steal the wealth of nations and the resources of human society and seek to seize and monopolize them. The greatest evils, the gravest injustices, the practice of tyranny, the most significant crimes, and the most severe deviations are all committed by these arrogant entities in our era.
And the same was true in the past throughout history. Arrogant entities, tyrants, oppressors, and criminals emerged, playing their negative roles in the lives of people and driven by their arrogance and their efforts to hinder the message of Allah, its values, its principles, and its divine law and system, which enables human society to transcend in humanity and attain justice and goodness.
Vanity and arrogance: the fatal blow to the state of faith!
At the level of the arena of faith, one must beware of arrogance. A person who grows up in an environment of faith and lives in a community that belongs to faith must beware of arrogance. That is because when arrogance shows up in one's soul, reality, and behaviour, it will deal a fatal blow to his faith, like what we mentioned about Iblis, who was in an environment of faith, among the angels, and in a reality of faith, where he practiced certain acts of worship.
The state of arrogance may show up in a person's reality even if he is in an environment of faith, Jihad, and righteousness when vanity creeps into his feelings, soul, and conscience and spreads its harmful seeds at the bottom of his heart to grow therein. Then his soul gets gradually magnified; whenever he does a good deed or achieves something by Allah's grace, he magnifies himself—instead of drawing closer to Allah, his soul gets more magnified—until he creates an idol inside himself. All his attention, acts of worship, and deeds become self-centered and reflect an exaggerated sense of self-worth. And this kind of feeling increases whenever he does more things or makes more achievements. This is an absolutely serious state that causes him to deviate : Even if he continues working for a long period of time or has done things of great importance, he may fall into a state of total deviation.
The state of arrogance also represents an extremely grave barrier to accepting guidance. That is, if the state of vanity and self-admiration grows inside the person, he will no longer accept advice or reminding; he will find that no one is good enough to remind him. He may develop an attitude towards the one who reminds him, look down upon him, or immediately take a negative point of view on him that he does not realize how important or great he is, that he underestimates him, etc. He may go as far as not to let others remind him; he may reach the extent that he does not accept them to remind him at all, forming a barrier between him and being reminded of or guided by Allah's signs or benefiting from them.
And for this reason, Allah (Glory be to Him) said about those who truly believe in His signs, {'The only people who believe in Our signs are those who, when they are reminded of them, fall down prostrating'}—they are those who possess feelings of complete submission to Allah, surrender completely and fully to His command, and do not show any arrogance towards any of Allah's commands and instructions. They have complete obedience and compliance to Allah, and there is nothing that can affect them and lead to feelings of arrogance and pride.
{'Those who… highly exalt their Lord with praise, and they are not arrogant'}. They will never be arrogant towards any work or task that is pleasing to Allah (Glory be to Him). Their work orientation is not governed by personal criteria, goals, or standards that satisfy their pride or arrogance. Rather, they completely submit to the command of Allah and seriously strive to please Him.
Arrogance and its impact on the brotherly bonds of faith
When the state of arrogance arises in a person who belongs to the realm of faith, it affects his spiritual brotherhood with others. As soon as the feeling of self-admiration and vanity emerges, barriers form between him and others instantly. This is why Imam Ali (PBUH) said about self-admiration, 'There is no loneliness more miserable than self-admiration.' The person begins to sense these barriers between himself and others, and his focus shifts towards himself, which becomes increasingly inflated. He revolves around himself, and the more he revolves around himself, the more those barriers form between him and others.
Then the criterion in his relationship with others becomes based on how much others satisfy his self-admiration, how well they interact with his state of arrogance and superiority, how much they respect and magnify him, and how they treat him based on the premise of magnifying his own self. This becomes the most important matter to him. He is no longer melt in his relationship with Allah and directed towards righteous deeds that please Allah. He no longer cares about the faith of others, their orientation towards Allah, their righteousness, and their steadfastness on the path of Allah. All he cares about as a primary matter is how others treat him, instead of how they are in relation to Allah, their devotion to Allah, and their spiritual direction. This is an extremely dangerous state.
It also deals a blow to your sincerity to Allah and your spirit of faith, and it changes your perspective towards deeds. There may be highly important deeds that lack fame or reputation and do not satisfy your state of vanity and arrogance, and consequently, you do not give them any importance or value. You only seek those deeds that bring about recognition, fame, and notoriety and are believed to hold importance, because your state of vanity, self-admiration, and arrogance and your personal goals have dominated your attention and psyche.
You become bold in mistreating others in your interactions with them. Your state of arrogance becomes evident in your behaviour towards others. Allah describes believers as {'humble with the believers'}. The term 'humble' signifies a great level of humility. The state of a believing individual towards his fellow believers and the oppressed is one of complete humility. However, when a person falls into a state of arrogance, his mentality and behaviour change. He harbours feelings of contempt and disdain towards people and exhibits his superiority in his behaviour, communication, and treatment. This is an extremely dangerous state, and it affects the person's reality.
Faith-based honour as the aspiration of the righteous!
When enjoying a proper faith upbringing, the believer is raised on submitting to Allah (Glory be to Him) and always strives to have a status with Allah, the Almighty. So his aspirations are primarily directed towards obtaining the pleasure of Allah, the divine honour that holds the utmost importance and reflects the true honour and dignity. Therefore, the Quran emphasizes this point extensively when Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {'And the pioneers, the pioneers: Those are the ones brought near '}. The meaning of their nearness is that they enjoy a wide-scale honour. This honour is evident in many aspects, such as what Allah grants them on the Day of Resurrection, the blessings and provisions bestowed upon them, the preparations made for them, and what they are given. On the Day of Resurrection, manifestations of this honour appear in the treatment of the angels with them: {'And the angels will enter upon them from every gate, saying, "Peace be upon you for what you patiently endured. And excellent is the final home"'}. {'On the Day We will gather the righteous to the Merciful as a delegation'}. The manifestatIons of honour bestowed upon them by Allah are extremely significant, great, magnificent, and highly noble!
In contrast, the state of arrogance is extremely negative and defective; what happened to Iblis is well known. He turned to one of those who are disgraced—{'one of the disgraced'}—reproached, expelled, and became evil and wicked. He is respected by no one, including angels, jinn, and humans.
Usually, people have so negative impressions of the arrogant: They despise their behaviours and manners. This reflects negatively on the arrogant. However, the believing person, in his faith-based upbringing, seeks divine honour and the high position with Allah. This is why Allah (the Almighty) says, {'Surely those who believe, do good, and humble themselves before their Lord will be the residents of Jannah. They will be there forever'}. {'And humble themselves before their Lord'}: Their inclination towards Allah is based on understanding the meaning of servitude to Allah, absolute submission to Him, and complete humility to His servants. Their march of life is free from arrogance and from manifestations of arrogance, vanity, and tyranny, and their way of dealing with Allah's servants is based on mercy, humanity, and respecting people because they do not have feelings of disdain or contempt for people. This is a tremendously significant matter.
Allah (the Almighty) also has opened the door for His oppressed servants—as an alternative to arrogance—to grant them the honour of faith, which is a very great blessing because it is not based on a state of arrogance, tyranny, or criminal practices. The honour of faith is not built upon an imaginary illusion that a person harbours within himself and then relies on it in the bad way he sticks to in interacting with others, the bad way that is filled with injustice, stubbornness, rejection of truth, and obstinacy and haughtiness towards Allah's servants. The honour of faith is the foundation for the kind of behaviour that is free from the impurities of tyranny, crime, injustice, and bad actions.
The believing ones are as Allah described them, {'firm towards the disbelievers'}: Their honour, pride, and strength are manifested in their steadfastness on the truth, their confrontation of tyranny, and their liberation from the dominance of the arrogant. Their pride, status, and honour are evident in their adherence to the path of Allah (the Almighty), their noble and authentic values, their respect for the humanity of people, their honouring of others, their concern for the affairs of people, and their care for the oppressed. They are {'firm towards the disbelievers'}, but they are {'compassionate with one another'}. In their interactions, they uphold truth and justice, and they are distinguished by this noble characteristic due to the honour of faith, which is far from domination, tyranny, injustice, corruption, abuse, and despicable practices of vanity and crime.
That is why Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {'But all honour and power belongs to Allah, His Messenger, and the believers'}. The honour of faith will never lead you to stubbornly resist and reject the truth, practice injustice, or display behaviour that is tyrannical. It will never make you arrogant. There is a very huge difference between the honour of faith and arrogance.
Furthermore, Allah (Glory be to Him) grants His oppressed servants—when they do not associate themselves with the arrogant or are inclined towards them—His immense care and protection: He (Glory be to Him) says, {'But it was Our Will to favour those who were oppressed in the land, making them models as well as successors, and to establish them in the land'}. Allah grants them power, enables them, and rescues them from the arrogance of the arrogant, the injustice of the arrogant, and the tyranny of the arrogant. He grants them the honour of faith and empowers them to establish justice and embody divine values: Allah (Glory be to Him) says, {'And We made the oppressed people successors of the eastern and western lands, which We had showered with blessings'}.
Rather, it was on the shoulders of the oppressed that the Divine Message was established throughout history. When they moved on the basis of faith and did not associate themselves with the arrogant, nor did they incline towards arrogance, the alternative was that great achievements were attained by them: Allah's message was established on the earth; they were granted success to strive so as to raise the word of Allah on the earth and accomplish significant achievements of moral and humanitarian worth in the reality of human society, and they set societies free from the dominance and injustice of the arrogant. Then, while their weakness was at its highest, divine providence came to alter their reality and transform the reality around them to a great extent.
This was what happened at the beginning of Islam when the Prophet (PBUH&F) moved with a few of the oppressed, and the rest of the arrogant moved to confront him, including empires, major countries, and the arrogant ones in the Arabian Peninsula. Even the arrogant ones from his own people confronted and fought him and the Divine Message, but he and the few oppressed ones who moved with him defeated them. The reality gradually changed until they became the lords of the world and the most prominent power in the universal arena; after a few years and certain stages, their reality changed entirely as well as their surroundings. This was why Allah says, {'Remember when you had been vastly outnumbered and oppressed in the land, constantly in fear of attacks by your enemy, then He sheltered you, strengthened you with His help, and provided you with good things so perhaps you would be thankful'}.
This is the right direction to attain honour and elevation.
Therefore, the correct approach is servitude to Allah and melting in obedience to Him. By doing so, you honour, cherish, and dignify yourself; Allah grants you His love in the hearts of His servants: {'As for those who believe and do good, the Most Compassionate will bless them with love'}. Allah grants you the honour of faith instead of getting entangled in the knot of arrogance and in practices that reflect arrogance. The more you immerse yourself in the worship of Allah, the more Allah honours you, raises your status, increases your respect, grants you love in the hearts of His servants, and bestows upon you the honour of faith.
However, when a person resorts to practices of arrogance, displays of arrogance, arrogant behaviour, and acts of arrogance to seek dominance, a certain influence, or importance in people's minds, this makes others detest him and get upset with him. He diminishes in their eyes, and they despise him. The situation is completely different.
Also, the negative effects that destroy man's faith and his relationship with Allah (Glory be to Him) and therefore bring Allah's wrath. When Shaytan displayed arrogance, Allah cursed him, banished him from His mercy, and became angry with him. So when any human commits the sin of arrogance, Allah may curse, abhor, and banish him from His mercy, even if he had a long lifetime of worship or doing good deeds. Shaytan spent thousands of years in worship, but arrogance is of the most serious and worst sins.
One should be aware not to act like Iblis. If he embarks on the path of faith, he must be cautious of falling into a state of arrogance, guarding himself against feelings of pride and admiring himself, as this can lead to arrogance. He should constantly sense his own shortcomings towards Allah (Glory be to Him) and fully acknowledge his shortcomings. He should always strive to melt himself in his journey of faith towards Allah and increasingly benefit from the Quran, particularly its warnings against arrogance and its reinforcement of values that shield against arrogance, vanity, and self-admiration. (May Allah be our refuge from all of that.)
Those who are in a position, authority, prestige, have a specific role or responsibility, or hold a status among people should be extremely cautious, for they are more susceptible to arrogance. They should be careful not to become arrogant, conceited, or self-admiring (May Allah forbid).
We ask Allah (Glory be to Him) to grant us success in seeking what pleases Him. O Allah (Glory be to You), have mercy on our virtuous martyrs, heal the wounded among us, set free our captives, and grant us victory. You are All-Hearing!
O Allah, accept our fasting, nights of worship, and good deeds. You are All-Hearing!
We also ask Him to purify our souls and help us to keep our souls free and clean from impurities, for He is All-Hearing.
Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings