Remedies for Arrogance

🌼🔆🌼Mastering the Study of Arrogance🌼🔆🌼

🌹🔅☘️ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ ☘️🔅🌹

🔅🌹 “Practical Struggle Against Arrogance”  “Cold and Hot Arrogance”  “The Secret of Solitude and Seclusion” “A Commentary on Prayer 20 of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya”  “Session 217” and more … Summary with Supplement       1403.02.06  Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) 110.141(903)  🌹🔅

🔅🌼A Look at the Main Themes🌼🔅

☘️ Treating arrogance through humility

🍀 Arrogance will drag a person down from any height.

🍀 Affliction with arrogance leads one away from worshipping God and toward self-worship.

🍀 The edifice of servitude to God must rest on a firm, solid foundation; arrogance weakens the roots of servitude.

☘️ We should beware of our own cold and hot arrogance. Hot arrogance is like a sword drawn from its sheath, while cold arrogance is a sword still in its sheath. Before Satan was stoned and cursed, his arrogance was still cold.

☘️ We should beware of invisible, hidden arrogance.

☘️ We should beware of compounded arrogance and arrogance that is taking root and growing.

☘️ We should beware of mixed forms of arrogance: when arrogance combines with other vices, its dangers multiply.

☘️ We should beware of blind arrogance, which corrupts both the earth and the times in which we live.

☘️ We should beware of arrogance joining forces with arrogance, and the arrogant joining forces with one another.

☘️ When arrogance combines with technology, its danger is compounded.

☘️ The alliance of arrogance and wealth devastates society. 

☘️ When arrogance is accompanied by knowledge, ignorance comes to dominate the individual and society.

☘️ We must struggle against both the arrogant person and arrogance itself, and ask God to bring arrogance to its end. We must struggle against both Satan and satanic conduct, and against both the ignorant and ignorance itself.

☘️ We must not nurture arrogance in others.

☘️ We should beware of arrogance in the End Times, for then it will reach its utmost limit.

☘️ The arrogance of the End Times is extinguished by the humility of the End Times.

☘️ To take pride in one’s own arrogance is the height of depravity and ignorance.

☘️ Ingratitude for blessings is itself a kind of arrogance.

☘️Let us be careful! Being easily offended may be a sign of arrogance.

☘️ Let us place God between ourselves and our own selves, so that we do not even boast to ourselves about ourselves.

☘️ Blessed is the one who attains solitude.

☘️ Attaining solitude requires ten qualities.

🌼 Attaining knowledge of truth and falsehood

🌼 The secret of finding comfort in poverty

🌼 Choosing hardship and asceticism

🌼 Treasuring one’s moments alone with God

🌼 Considering the consequences of one’s actions

🌼 Despite making every effort, regarding oneself as falling short in worshipping God

☘️ Prayer is among the most beautiful expressions of humility before God.

☘️ We should keep our humility in check.

☘️ The believer is aided in humility. There is no believer without two angels at his side, and the two angels have a rein by which they hold him back. When he raises himself up, they pull the rein so that his ego is brought low.

🔅🌼Cold and Hot Arrogance🌼🔅

🌹Hot arrogance is active and operative; it acts like a bomb, destroying and making unsafe both oneself and everything beyond oneself.

🌹Cold arrogance is arrogance for which the opportunity and conditions to manifest are absent. It is like a sword still in its sheath, or a grenade whose pin has not yet been pulled.

🔅🌼Visible and Invisible Pride 🌼🔅

🌹Pride may be overt and manifest; it may also remain unseen and hidden, never emerging from its lair.

🔅🌼Compound Pride 🌼🔅

🌹Compound pride is pride mixed with other vices, becoming the most dangerous of weapons.

🔅🌼Blind Pride 🌼🔅

🌹Blind pride is pride that manifests in the most ignorant way, giving rise to erratic behaviour.

🔅🌼Escalating Pride 🌼🔅

🌹Pride can intensify. The proud may compete with one another, knowingly or unknowingly holding a contest in associating partners with God. They may also unite and raise pride’s foundations higher. Woe betide the day when snakes, scorpions and tarantulas join forces. And when pride is harnessed to technology, it grows more intense and destructive.

🌹When pride is accompanied by outward virtues and advantages, its poison becomes all the more potent.

🔅🌼Taking Pride’s Measure 🌼🔅

🌹Pride must be assessed in different situations and circumstances; some people may display it only under particular conditions or in specific settings.

🔅🌼Resisting Pride and the Proud 🌼🔅

🌹Resist both pride and the proud person at the same time, just as you resist mischief and the mischief-maker.

🌹We should not stir up or encourage pride in others. Excessive deference provokes another person’s pride and debases the one who shows it. Humility toward an arrogant person can whip their pride into a storm; humility toward anyone should never go beyond what is measured and fitting.

🔅🌼Pride in the End Times 🌼🔅

🌹Pride in the End Times will reach its extreme; it will rise to its peak.

🔅🌼Self-Admiration in Pride 🌼🔅

🌹The ugliest and most foul form of self-admiration is taking pride in one’s arrogance and conceit.

🔅🌼Some Signs of Pride 🌼🔅

🌹Ingratitude for blessings is the sibling of pride. Thanklessness is pride laid bare. To break the saltcellar after eating someone’s salt is a vile sign of pride; the worst form is to partake of the salt of knowledge and then break its saltcellar.

🌹Being easily offended, slow to forgive, and unwilling to give generously may be particular signs of pride.

🔅🌼Pride, a Devastating Affliction 🌼🔅

🌹Pride is a devastating affliction: it lays waste to this world and the next. It brings life to complete ruin; it destroys, reducing worship, subtle graces, fine qualities and beauty to ashes.

🌹Let us seek God’s protection from pride again and again, remind ourselves day and night to be humble, and recall the fate of Satan.

🌹Pride takes hold of everyone and shows mercy to no one. Its harm is greatest for the believer.

It brings the mighty low!

🔅🌼Removing Pride from the Heart 🌼🔅

🌹Until we have cut pride out of our hearts, we must not consider ourselves safe from its harm. To uproot it, we must remove from our hearts the things that feed and sustain it. Deprived of food and water, pride will die of hunger and thirst. So long as we keep feeding it, we cannot expect to be free of it.

🌹First, let us dismiss the self; then let us remove everything else from our hearts. Nothing other than God is lawful in the heart. Freeing the heart from all but God is the secret of release from pride and of pure servitude.

🔅🌼Dismiss Pride 🌼🔅

🌹The path of withdrawal is a way to escape pride and conceit.

🌹To dismiss the self, then remove all that is other than God from the heart’s sanctuary, and ultimately dismiss the heart itself: this is the exalted way to “the Greater Meeting with God,” and the key to freedom from both major and minor pride.

🔅🌼The Secret and Blessing of Solitude 🌼🔅

🌷🔆 قَالَ الصَّادِقُ ع‏ صَاحِبُ الْعُزْلَةِ مُتَحَصِّنٌ بِحِصْنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَ مُتَحَرِّسٌ بِحَرَاسَتِهِ فَيَا طُوبَى‏ لِمَنْ‏ تَفَرَّدَ بِهِ سِرّاً وَ عَلَانِيَةً وَ هُوَ يَحْتَاجُ إِلَى عَشَرَةِ خِصَالٍ عِلْمِ الْحَقِّ وَ الْبَاطِلِ وَ تَحَبُّبِ الْفَقْرِ وَ اخْتِيَارِ الشِدَّةِ وَ الزُّهْدِ وَ اغْتِنَامِ الْخَلْوَةِ وَ النَّظَرِ فِي الْعَوَاقِبِ وَ رُؤْيَةِ التَّقْصِيرِ فِي الْعِبَادَةِ مَعَ بَذْلِ الْمَجْهُودِ وَ تَرْكِ الْعُجْبِ وَ كَثْرَةِ الذِّكْرِ بِلَا غَفْلَةٍ فَإِنَّ الْغَفْلَةَ مِصْطَادُ الشَّيْطَانِ وَ رَأْسُ كُلِّ بَلِيَّةٍ وَ سَبَبُ كُلِّ حِجَابٍ وَ خَلْوَةِ الْبَيْتِ عَمَّا لَا يَحْتَاجُ إِلَيْهِ فِي الْوَقْتِ

 قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ ع أَحْرِزْ لِسَانَكَ لِعِمَارَةِ قَلْبِكَ وَ لْيَسَعْكَ بَيْتُكَ وَ احْذَرْ مِنَ الرِّيَاءِ وَ فُضُولِ مَعَاشِكَ وَ اسْتَحِ مِنْ رَبِّكَ وَ ابْكِ عَلَى خَطِيئَتِكَ وَ فِرَّ مِنَ النَّاسِ فِرَارَكَ مِنَ الْأَسَدِ وَ الْأَفْعَى فَإِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا دَوَاءً فَصَارُوا الْيَوْمَ دَاءً ثُمَّ الْقَ اللَّهَ تَعَالَى مَتَى شِئْتَ

… فَفِي الْعُزْلَةِ صِيَانَةُ الْجَوَارِحِ وَ فَرَاغُ الْقَلْبِ وَ سَلَامَةُ الْعَيْشِ وَ كَسْرُ سِلَاحِ الشَّيْطَانِ وَ مُجَانَبَةٌ مِنْ كُلِّ سُوءٍ وَ رَاحَةُ الْقَلْبِ وَ مَا مِنْ نَبِيٍّ وَ لَا وَصِيٍّ إِلَّا وَ اخْتَارَ الْعُزْلَةَ فِي زَمَانِهِ إِمَّا فِي ابْتِدَائِهِ وَ إِمَّا فِي انْتِهَائِه‏[1]

🌷🔆 Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said: “One who withdraws from society has taken refuge in the stronghold of the Almighty Lord and is sheltered and protected by God’s care, guardianship and attention. Blessed, then, is the one who seeks solitude—who makes himself singular for his Lord, alone and apart for the One he worships, becoming wholly and purely devoted to Him. Withdrawal requires ten qualities:

1. Knowledge of right and wrong, so that one does not mistake wrong for right or right for wrong, but seeks the right and shuns the wrong. The path of truth leads to the pure solitude of the Almighty Lord.

2. Embracing poverty—not by failing to strive against it, but by accepting it as one of God’s tests and a lesson in servitude to Him. If poverty comes upon a person against their will, they should manage it well, making patience their shield and contentment the sweetness of the trial. At a certain level, they should even welcome the chance to take part in this divine test.

3 and 4. Choosing hardship and asceticism—as an athlete chooses the most demanding sport to strengthen their abilities, one welcomes hardship and asceticism in pursuit of excellence in servitude to God.

5. Making the most of solitude: yearning to be alone with the Beloved, the One they worship.

6. Being mindful of the consequences of one’s actions.

7. Despite one’s efforts, considering oneself wanting in worship.

8. Giving up self-admiration.

9. Keeping constantly engaged in remembrance, without allowing heedlessness to intrude. Heedlessness is Satan’s hunting ground, the summit of every affliction and the cause of every obstacle.

10. At the appointed time, clearing one’s home of anything unnecessary. (The time in question may be the time set aside for solitude with the One one worships: nothing should occupy the heart. Once the heart has found solitude, one can turn to making one’s surroundings solitary as well.)

…

🌹Withdrawal means abstention, retreat, seclusion, detachment, solitude and keeping apart. A believer’s pursuit of withdrawal is an effort to attain complete solitude, a striving for absolute aloneness—a wholehearted endeavor to behold the most solitary, incomparable One in all existence.

🌹Asceticism means piety, devotion, sanctity, God-consciousness and scrupulousness. Put simply, it means indifference to everything besides God. The ascetic cares only for the will of the One they worship; their love and affection for others are solely for God’s sake.

🌹To become singular for God means to be wholly and purely devoted to Him, alone and apart for His sake, so that nothing stirs in the soul but remembrance of and love for God. A person offers themselves in sacrifice to their Lord.

🌹Embracing poverty means welcoming and accepting the trial of poverty, without complaint or grievance about its hardships.

🌹The study of poverty is among the advanced lessons in the school of servanthood. Whoever plays the part of the poor to perfection is the champion of the poverty contest?!

🌹Choosing, accepting and welcoming the trials, competitions and demanding studies of servanthood is an effort to become a champion in servanthood. Those who welcome hardship and asceticism attain the highest ranks.

🔅🌼 Worthy and elevated humility 🌼🔅

🌹Let us seek help from the healing prescriptions of the Two Weighty Things to prevent and treat arrogance.

🌹Anyone who considers themselves free of arrogance may be sure that Satan has gained mastery over them. Whatever our state or rank, let us beware of both open and hidden arrogance.

🌹Anyone who accuses another of arrogance while considering themselves free of it is worse than the person afflicted by arrogance.

🌷🔆 يَا أَبَا ذَرٍّ، طُوبَى‏ لِمَنْ‏ تَوَاضَعَ‏ لِلَّهِ‏ (عَزَّ وَ جَلَّ) فِي غَيْرِ مَنْقَصَةٍ، وَ أَذَلَّ نَفْسَهُ فِي غَيْرِ مَسْكَنَةٍ، وَ أَنْفَقَ مَالًا جَمَعَهُ فِي غَيْرِ مَعْصِيَةٍ، وَ رَحِمَ أَهْلَ الذُّلِّ وَ الْمَسْكَنَةِ، وَ خَالَطَ أَهْلَ الْفَقْرِ وَ الْحِكْمَةِ، طُوبَى لِمَنْ صَلَحَتْ سَرِيرَتُهُ، وَ حَسُنَتْ عَلَانِيَتُهُ، وَ عَزَلَ عَنِ النَّاسِ شَرَّهُ، طُوبَى لِمَنْ عَمِلَ بِعِلْمِهِ، وَ أَنْفَقَ الْفَضْلَ مِنْ مَالِهِ، وَ أَمْسَكَ الْفَضْلَ مِنْ قَوْلِهِ.[2]

🌷🔆 The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: “O Abu Dharr! Blessed is the one who humbles himself before Almighty God without being deficient or lacking, and makes himself lowly without being humiliated or destitute;

who gives away wealth he has acquired without disobeying God, shows compassion to the helpless and needy, and keeps company with people of understanding and wisdom. Blessed is the one whose inner self is sound and whose outward appearance is good, who keeps his evil and wrongdoing from people; and blessed is the one who acts upon his knowledge, gives away his surplus wealth, and refrains from idle speech.”

🌹How beautiful it is for a person to perform their deeds well and perfectly, yet remain humble before Allah, Glorious and Exalted. Without being helpless, they make themselves submissive; despite their strength and ability, they are gentle.

🔅🌼 The prayer of the Noble Recorders for the humble 🌼🔅

🌹A wave that sinks down will rise again with a leap many times higher.

🌷🔆 وَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ص‏ مَا مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا وَ مَعَهُ مَلَكَانِ وَ عَلَيْهِ حِكْمَةٌ  يُمْسِكَانِهِ بِهَا فَإِنْ هُوَ رَفَعَ نَفْسَهُ جَذَبَاهَا ثُمَّ قَالا اللَّهُمَّ ضَعْهُ وَ إِنْ وَضَعَ نَفْسَهُ قَالا اللَّهُمَّ ارْفَعْهُ‏[3]

🌷🔆 The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: “There is no one without two angels accompanying him and guarding him by means of a rein attached to him. Whenever he raises his head, the two angels suddenly pull it down, then say: ‘O God, humble him.’ But if he humbles himself, they say: ‘O God, raise his rank!’”

🔅🌼 Tame your tastes 🌼🔅

🌹Humility is an honour, a form of commerce, a sign of love for God.

🌹Every so often, dismount and walk. Acquaint your body with hardship and teach it to bear it. Leave your soft bed and experience the hard, rough ground; give up delicious food and eat as the poor do; set aside fine clothes and dress simply; spend plenty of time with ordinary people; …

🌷🔆 وَ عَنْ أَبِي سَلَمَةَ الْمَدَنِيِّ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ قَالَ‏ كَانَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ عِنْدَنَا بِقُبَا وَ كَانَ صَائِماً فَأَتَيْنَاهُ عِنْدَ إِفْطَارِهِ بِقَدَحٍ مِنْ لَبَنٍ وَ جَعَلْنَا فِيهِ شَيْئاً مِنْ عَسَلٍ فَلَمَّا رَفَعَهُ وَ ذَاقَهُ وَجَدَ حَلَاوَةَ الْعَسَلِ فَقَالَ مَا هَذَا قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ جَعَلْنَا فِيهِ شَيْئاً مِنْ عَسَلٍ فَوَضَعَهُ وَ قَالَ أَمَا إِنِّي لَا أُحَرِّمُهُ وَ مَنْ تَوَاضَعَ لِلَّهِ رَفَعَهُ وَ مَنْ تَكَبَّرَ وَضَعَهُ وَ مَنِ اقْتَصَدَ أَغْنَاهُ اللَّهُ وَ مَنْ بَذَّرَ أَفْقَرَهُ اللَّهُ وَ مَنْ أَكْثَرَ ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ أَحَبَّهُ اللَّهُ‏[4]

🔆 Abu Salama al-Madani relates from his father that the Messenger of God (PBUH) was fasting with us in Quba. At the time of breaking the fast, we brought a bowl of milk and mixed some honey into it. When the Prophet (PBUH) lifted the bowl and tasted it, he noticed the honey and asked, “What is this?” We replied, “O Messenger of God (PBUH), we mixed some honey into it.” The Prophet (PBUH) set the bowl down and said, “Know that I do not consider it forbidden. But whoever humbles himself for God’s sake, God will raise him; whoever is arrogant, He will abase him; whoever lives moderately, God will make him self-sufficient; whoever is extravagant, God will make him poor; and whoever remembers God often, God will love him.”

🔅🌼 Humility toward God’s creation must not become excessive 🌼🔅

🌹Anything that goes beyond its proper bounds becomes unbeautiful. Humility toward God’s creation should be practised only for God’s sake and within due measure; otherwise, it leads to worshipping others.

🌹Humility toward God’s creation must not lead to venerating God’s creation.

🌷🔆 وَ أَوْحَى اللَّهُ تَعَالَى إِلَى مُوسَى ع إِنَّمَا أَقْبَلُ صَلَاةَ مَنْ تَوَاضَعَ لِعَظَمَتِي وَ لَمْ‏ يَتَعَظَّمْ عَلَى خَلْقِي وَ أَلْزَمَ عَلَى قَلْبِهِ خَوْفِي وَ قَطَعَ النَّهَارَ بِذِكْرِي وَ كَفَّ نَفْسَهُ عَنِ الشَّهَوَاتِ مِنْ أَجْلِي‏[5]

🌷🔆 God Most High revealed to Moses (AS): “I accept the prayer of one who humbles himself before My greatness and does not regard My servants as great, whose heart is filled with awe of Me, who spends the day remembering Me, and who restrains himself from his carnal desires for My sake.”

🌹Showing off in prayer is a clear example of arrogant and degrading prayer: on the one hand, it is self-display, and on the other, through this display, it amounts to worshipping others.

🔅🌼 The Prophetic Humility 🌼🔅

وَ رُوِيَ‏ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ص كَانَ يَطْعَمُ فَجَاءَ رَجُلٌ أَسْوَدُ بِهِ جُدَرِيٌ‏ قَدْ تَقَشَّرَ فَجَعَلَ لَا يَجْلِسُ إِلَى أَحَدٍ إِلَّا قَامَ مِنْ جَنْبِهِ فَأَجْلَسَهُ النَّبِيُّ ص إِلَى جَنْبِهِ‏[6]

It is related that while the Messenger of God (PBUH) was hosting a gathering, a dark-skinned man with a pockmarked face and peeling skin arrived. He would not sit beside anyone without that person moving away. The Prophet (PBUH) seated him beside himself.

🔅🌼 Humility is a treasure 🌼🔅

وَ قَالَ ص‏ إِنَّهُ لَيُعْجِبُنِي أَنْ يَحْمِلَ الرَّجُلُ الشَّيْ‏ءَ فِي يَدِهِ يَكُونُ مُهَنِّئاً لِأَهْلِهِ يَدْفَعُ بِهِ الْكِبْرَ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ‏[7]

The Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him and his family: “I am amazed by someone who carries something in his own hands that will be wholesome and agreeable for his family, thereby casting arrogance aside.”

🌼Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat), 110.141 (903)🌼

[1] Misbah al-Shari‘a; p. 99  Attributed to Ja‘far ibn Muhammad (AS), A‘lami, Beirut, first edition, 1400 AH.

[2] Al-Amali (al-Tusi); text; p. 539 Al-Tusi, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, Dar al-Thaqafa, Qom, first edition, 1414 AH.

[3] Majmu‘at Waram; vol. 1; p. 200    Waram ibn Abi Firas, Mas‘ud ibn ‘Isa, Maktabat Faqih, Qom, first edition, 1410 AH.

[4] Majmu‘at Waram; vol. 1;  200 Waram ibn Abi Firas, Mas‘ud ibn ‘Isa, Maktabat Faqih, Qom, first edition, 1410 AH.

[5] Majmu‘at Waram; vol. 1;  200 Waram ibn Abi Firas, Mas‘ud ibn ‘Isa, Maktabat Faqih, Qom, first edition, 1410 AH.

[6] *Majmūʿat Warrām*; vol. 1; p. 201. Warrām ibn Abī Firās, Masʿūd ibn ʿĪsā, Faqīh Library—Qom, first edition, 1410 AH.

[7] *Majmūʿat Warrām*; vol. 1; p. 201. Warrām ibn Abī Firās, Masʿūd ibn ʿĪsā, Faqīh Library—Qom, first edition, 1410 AH.