How Can We Uproot Self-Centeredness and Arrogance?

The roots of arrogance and self-conceit lie in failing to know oneself and in attachment to the world. The better a person knows themselves, the more clearly they see their weakness, flaws and lowliness. Therefore:

- Strive to know yourself: reflect on how your material creation began, on the moment of death and on all that lies between them. Such reflection opens the way to humility and servitude to God.
- Love of the world is a microbe that afflicts a person with arrogance and pride. Purifying the heart of attachment to the world and of worldly, material loves nourishes humility and reverence in the human heart.
- One of the most beautiful ways to overcome arrogance and attain humility is to immerse yourself in the majesty and greatness of the Almighty Lord. Contemplating the works and signs of God, the Greatest, leads us up the ladder of humility to the threshold of nearness to Him.
- Take care in performing the prayer, offering it with love, precision and attentiveness, and with the heart’s cries of «الله اکبر».

Prayers 8 and 20 of *Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādiyya* are recommended.

«الدنیا بمنزله صوره رأسها الکبر و عینها الحرص و أذنها الطمع و لسانها الریاء و یدها الشهوه و رجلها العجب و قلبها الغفله و کونها الفناء و حاصلها الزوال فمن أحبها أورثته الکبر و من استحسنها أورثته الحرص و من طلبها أورثته الطمع و من مدحها ألبسته الریاء و من أرادها مکنته من العجب و من رکن إلیها أولته الغفله و من أعجبه متاعها أفتنته و لا تبقى و من جمعها و بخل بها ردتها إلى مستقرها و هی النار»

*Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿa*, p. 139

Imam al-Ṣādiq (AS) said: “The worldly life is like an image whose head is arrogance, whose eye is greed, whose ear is covetousness, whose tongue is hypocrisy, whose hand is lust, whose foot is vanity and self-conceit, whose heart is heedlessness, whose nature is decay, and whose end and outcome are passing away and nothingness.

“So whoever loves the worldly life will inherit arrogance. Whoever takes pleasure in it and finds it pleasing will inherit greed. Whoever seeks and pursues it will inherit covetousness. Whoever praises and extols it clothes himself in hypocrisy. Whoever desires it will find self-conceit settled in his heart. Whoever relies on it will become ensnared in heedlessness. And whoever delights in its possessions and pleasures will be put to trial and will be unable to benefit from the world. If a person sets about accumulating wealth and acquiring worldly things, the world will ultimately consign them to the Fire.”

*Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿa*, translated by Muṣṭafawī, text, p. 138