Takabbur is the biggest thing where our nafs is involved and
it is probably one of the biggest diseases of the heart.(We will start with
this disease insha’Allah)
Verse: Allah Knows what they reveal and what they
conceal, and verily Allah does not love the mustakbireen(people who are
arrogant).
So the word in Arabic language is takabbur. In English we
call it arrogance. This is an internal disease of the heart but it also has an
outward manifestation. There are some diseases that are just internal, they
don’t have any outward manifestations. But takabbur is something that is inside
and it also comes outside.
There are many verses about takabbur in Quran and often it
comes that people who have takabbur, they are the ones who don’t believe.
Verse: (Allah Ta’Ala
says)I will Divert My signs from those who act arrogantly. If they see the way
of righteousness, they do not choose it as their way. And if they see a way of
error, they choose it for their way.
So one sign of people who have takabbur is how do they act.
They turn away from the Signs of Allah Ta’Ala without right! And if they see a
sign, they don’t believe it. They see something to be haqq, right but they wont
accept it and they wont act upon it. Instead they would adopt the erroneous
way!
Verse: those who
dispute Allah’s Signs without any authority. And this is greatly hateful in the
Sight of Allah and in the sight of those who believe; thus does Allah Seal the
heart of every arrogant tyrant.
This is also a sign of people of takabbur that they are
argumentative. No one put them in that position or authority but still they
would like to argue. They are argumentative by nature. And the outcome of
takabbur is that Allah Seals their hearts(when they stay consistent in their
arrogance). This then is another major problem because then a person who has it
wont even realize it.
And what is most strange is that people who have takabbur,
they don’t just do takabbur with people, they have takabbur with Allah Ta’Ala.
Famous verse in Quran;
‘Call on Me and I
will answer you’ ie Make dua but right afterwards Allah Ta’Ala says, ‘Verily
those who in arrogance turn away from my worship, they will enter Hell!’
So another sign is mentioned here in this verse that those
who don’t make dua, don’t pray to Allah, this is a sign that they have takabbur
in their hearts. So what would then be their result? They will enter Hell in
disgrace and humiliation.
So those who have arrogance, they don’t just turn away from
other people, they don’t just turn away from the right path, from the signs of
Allah, they also turn away from Allah’s ibadat/worship, from dua! Dua is so
simple, but they have so much takabbur that they don’t even want to beg from
Allah. This is the highest level of takabbur.
Allah Ta’Ala says in Quran, ‘ Allah Ta’Ala does not love the
arrogant people’
So there are two words for this in Urdu as well as in
English. Takabbur which is arrogance and fakhar which means boasting, showing
off. So those who have arrogance they brag, this is also a sign of takabbur.
Ahadith e Mubarakah
about takabbur
It comes in a Hadith e Qudsi;
Allah Ta’Ala says, ‘Takabbur is My Shawl and
Azmat(Greatness) is My Garment and whoever tries to take it from Me, I will put
them in Fire.’
Another very srong hadith;
‘He who has an atom’s amount of takabbur in his heart will
not enter Jannah.’
Even such a minute amount of takabbur will not be accepted!
So we have to purify ourselves. That is why Scholars have said that if you look
at different diseases of heart, takabbur is that one disease that even the
slightest amount is wrong. It is 1000% negative. Atom’s amount indicates this
is an atomic disease of the diseases of heart, an atomic bomb! What does an
atomic bomb does? It wipes out everything, irrespective of good and bad stuff.
So this atomic bomb of takabbur also wipes out all deeds even if they be very
good. And this is one of those disease that person has to work on it throughout
their life. So if you take it out from one place, it will sprout from somewhere
else.
Arrogant People mentioned
in Quran Azeem ul Sha’n
1) Iblees.
Iblees is the first being who did takabbur.
What did he say? Ana kahyrum-min-hu..
‘I am better than him (Hazrat Adam as)’
Then he also presented his reason that ‘I
am better than him because I am made out of fire and he is made out of clay’
And what’s strange is that even his
reasoning was wrong. Because fire is destructive whereas clay is constructive.
And clay by nature has humility in it, and fire is something that goes up, it
has takabbur.
And it is said about iblees that he had a
high level of ilm, he did a lot of worship, but still he fell in this major sin
of takabbur. And this atomic bomb of takabbur ruined his thousands of years of
worship and knowledge.
2) Fira’un.
Fira’un was also from amongst arrogant people.
It comes about him that he said that ‘Ana
rabbukum ul a’ala…..I am your highest lord’
This is also an interesting point in
Fira’un’s narration that he did a lot of bad things, mass murder of Bani
Israiel and their children and so much other evil but Allah Ta’Ala continued
giving him reprieve but when he uttered this sentence, as it comes in Surah
Naaziat, then Allah Swt caught him off guard. So his takabbur lead to his
downfall.
3) Nation of ‘Aad.
The nation of Hazrat Hud(as). About these
it comes that they had a lot of physical powerand that physical power made them
arrogant and they claimed that ‘Who can be more powerful than us?’ So they also
uttered these words of arrogance and then they were destroyed.
So people of takabbur tries to raise and
elevate themselves but Allah Ta’Ala Shows them their worth and disgraces them.
On the contrary, it comes in Hadith that,
‘Who humbles themselves for Allah swt, Allah Swt Elevates them.’
This is something we can also see in our
own Ummah, in Scholars that those who spent their lives in humility, Allah Swt
raised their status and those who thought themselves to be something, Allah Swt
disgraced them.
So like we mentioned before, it is the most
deeply rooted spiritual disease and causes the most destruction. And practitioners
of Tazkiya say that takabbur is the last spiritual disease to leave a person.
It is the hardest to cure. And it is also very tricky because a person tries to
make themselves humble and humble and then they think that ok now I am humble!
Like a famous Scholar, Ibn AtaUllah(ra)
said that;
‘If you are aware of your humility, the you
are an arrogant!’
So feeling that I am humble now actually
means that you are arrogant!
As a Punjabi poem goes
Mit
mit k mit ja faqeera, mit mit k mit ja
Is
mitne nu samajhna mitna, is tu win mit ja faqeera, mit mit k mit ja
Je tu
samjhea mei haan mitiya, aje wi nhi tou mitya
Erase yourself to such an extent that you
even erase the feeling that I am erased! You should not even have that! Now
this is very high level. This is beyond our understanding!
So you shouldn’t even REGARD yourself as humble. Viewing
yourself as a humble person is also a sign of Takabbur. So this is the whole
purpose of tasawwuf, that you erase yourself completely.
Maulana Nadwi asked Maulaana Ashraf Ali Thanwi that what is
the purpose of tassawwuf? And Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (r.h.) replied, that
“it is only one thing, and that is to erase oneself”, to this extent. So this
is something that a person cannot think or be aware of their humility.
Note: But still scholars say, that a person
does not feel like they are humble, they should still act humbly. This is a
major concept in our Deen to mimic, or mirror, another person’s acts. If you
can’t BE humble, ACT humble:mimic the people who are humble. And this is a very
important aspect - the way you act, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way
you dress - everything you do externally has an internal
effect. And you see this. Women are
perfect examples. If you dress nicely, you get ready, you do make up, do your
hair and wear pretty clothes, you know you’re looking nice: you will
feel nice, you will talk nice, you will feel like you are attracting people’s
attention. You will know that you
are looking nice, and you will feel something on the inside.The
day you don’t look nice, it will show, you will feel down about yourself, it
will show on your demeanor; the way you walk and talk and act. Just like that,
if we act like a humble person, maybe Allah Ta’ala uski imitation ki
wajah say hamaray ander who asal daal dain gay. We will feel the feelings of
humility.
So this is a very secret – and this is not hypocrisy!This is
not nifaq.It is a practice, an exercise, that if you want to become a certain
way just act. And you see this in actors, people who study theatre and acting,
they actually teach you, how to put yourself in that role. Sometimes we
can’t become the real versions, but maybe maybe by imitating those who
are truly on the Deen, and are humble, we can also truly become humble,
in sha Allah. So this is very important : to imitate. To imitate people who are
accepted in the Eyes of Allah can and does make a big difference.
What is
the definition of takabbur?
It is very easy: it is to regard yourself as better than
other people, in any attribute. It is not important that it be a worldly
attribute: it can be any characteristic, any attribute, in which one
regards themselves as beter than any other person.
Levels
of Takabbur
There are 3 main levels of Takabbur:
1)
Ujub: conceit, egotistical, being full of
yourself; me me-me, self-centered; the world is just about you. Not necessarily
that you think less of anybody but that you are very self-centered. Everything
is about yourself. And the person can be involved in this if you are in love
with yourself: your personality, your looks, your degree, your skills, it can
be anything; that you are such a good house wife; you are such a good mother.
So this is ujab. And ujab is just an entry level of Takabbur. It’s not Takabbur
but it’s not a good thing either.
2)
Kibr: to view yourself as better, but not
to act upon it. So it’s more internal, and is relative to other people.
So this is like you know to be status conscious, and to think that I am better
than this person or that person but not to act upon it. This is what is
sometimes translated as pride.
3)
Takabbur:is the highest level and has all
of the above mentioned aspects. That you view yourself as better and you treat
other people as worse as well. And a lot of our problems stem from Takabbur:
the unjustness in this world is from Takabbur. The thought that you are better:
racism, discrimination, cutting somebody in line- a very small incident: but it
is because you think you’re better than that person, therefore you deserve to
be served first and to be first in line – the actual reason is Takabbur and why
people do these things. And you see people in this world around you, the
injustice with poor people, lower class and uneducated people.
So Takabbur is the highest forms of arrogance
Signs
of Takabbur
1.
Is when you regard yourself, to view yourself
as good and to only see your good attributes. This is very easy to fall
into, especially when you go and you interact with other people, you may feel
like that the other person is so and so; you might not say it to anybody but in
your heart you get that feeling that the other person does all these bad things
but I don’t, and I have these good characteristics and qualities, etc. So it is regarding yourself as “good” and only
seeing the good attributes within yourself. And this is very dangerous.
Sheikh
Ahmed sir hindi rh says, he has actually written a book on deed-e-kasoor, that
when Allah Ta’ala brings forth for you your negative qualities, it is actually
a great blessing from Allah Ta’ala. Hazrat Umar (radiyAllah hu anhu) would say,
that whosoever brings me a gift of my shortcomings to me, I will make pray for
his forgiveness! A gift of shortcomings! Think: how much humility and humbleness
that Hazrat Umar (r.a.) had! He was thinking that I have so many faults and
that people present his shortcomings to him. We, on the otherhand, have so
much takabbur that if somebody criticizes us: we will defend ourselves, justify
ourselves and find so many excuses. If somebody just says you shouldn’t be
late, you say “no, no,I’m not late;I’m not this;I’m not that; we’ll come up
with ten excuses! You know this is a sign: to not accept your faults. Not to
view any of your things as a negative quality.
2.
A major sign: disliking anyone’s advice or
constructive criticism. If somebody chances to give you advice. Or if
somebody advises you to not do something a certain way, and that you should do
it this way. Then our reaction would probably be to think that who does she
thing she is? Doesn’t she know who I am? I know better. And this is very
hard, sometimes we might think, that they don’t know who I am; they don’t know
I am doing this course. But sometimes all you need to do is to accept it. And
the way to recognize this is to say that sometimes I don’t know everything.
My own
Personal Anecdote:
One time I
was praying somewhere, outside Lahore, and this lady said to me, that your
prayer was invalid, your shalwar (lower garment) was above your ankles. I looked
at her, and I had a pinch inside: that I do salaah workshops, and I don’t know
that my namaz is invalid?! And later on I saw for myself that she was right!
And that what I felt was wrong! And then I realized that that was
takabbur. So you see, that this is the way to diagnose. We can’t always
apologize to somebody by calling them.
So how do
we cancel it out? We act against our feeling. I started thanking her and saying,
jazakallah for letting me know. And that I will repeat my namaz. So when you want
to go against the feeling of takabbur, you have to go against your nafs. Your
nafs will say to not talk to her, to not even look at her, stay angry with her,
don’t give her any attention. But no! You have to go back and say thank you,
smile, and talk nicely and tell them that they said the absolutely correct
thing to say. That will feel sooo nice, that feeling will be so good. And to
say that I am an Aalima, or I’m this or that, will gain you no good whatsoever.
To actually put yourself in a situation where you accept the fault as your own;
and this is something that when you know this: to act against what your heart
is saying.
3.
A person displays vanity. They like listening
to their praise. And if they do not get praise they feel as if that the
other person does not know my stature, my rank, they don’t know who I am. If
this is the feeling we get then we know that this is also a sign of takabbur.
4.
Another major sign, is when you have to do
something small, you feel like this is a burden, and this is something
beneath me, this is not my position, it is under my dignity to do this. These
are signs of takabbur when you feel these things. These are feelings that you
need to diagnose yourself of – something like a self-diagnosis.
Causes of Takabbur(Asbaab-e-Takabbur)
1.
Knowledge: either deeni or worldly. A
person who has knowledge, by nature wants to share their knowledge. That is a
good thing, but some people want to show off their knowledge, and that’s bad.
And sometimes a student will do it by asking a question to show off what they
know. This questioning - a good question is half of knowledge –but within the good
question is an additional intention that it should not be for ostentation (to
show off, riya kaari); it is not to put the teacher down in any way; the intentionbehind
the question should be truly to understand and truly to act upon it.
So
sometimes knowledge can lead a person to Takabbur because they want praise, they
want recognition; they say, I have knowledge; they want people to know their
stature, and they view themselves as better than everyone else because they
have an MA or PHD or because they are doing a Classical Islamic Learning course
or because they’re doing an Alima course.
And
actually Imam Ghazali (rh) says: that
people of knowledge are in greater danger of arrogance than anyone elsePeople
who seek Knowledge, they’re more in danger of falling into arrogance. They fall
into this disease a lot more quickly; and it affects them in a deeper way as
well; which makes it all the more rigorous to remove as well. Often you see
scholars - scholars who have takabbur!andwho do a lot of things against deen, they
have a lot of hasad (envy) and a lot of other problems.
A
famous story:
Faiza and Abu Al Fazl,were the Ulama of the Mughal
Emperor Akbar: they were ULAMA (Scholars)! They knew Quran, they knew Hadith,
they even wrote a tafseer of ahadith! But they were called Uama-e-Soo. Ulama-e-soo
means bad, evil. They only did those things which Akbar told them to do. Akbar
said write a fatwa that to prostrate infront of the King is permissible in
Islam; and they signed it. This is what the Ulama-e-soo do, whatever the
government say, even if it is against the Deen, they do it. So these were two
scholars who did this. This was also the era of Shaykh Ahmed sir-hindi (rh);
and when they said that you have to prostrate in honour in front of the king
Akbar. To force this, they made a small door, and the Shaykh did was that he
came in backwards. And by doing so he was saved by prostrating infront of anyone
other than Allah! But then they put another fatwa (legal ruling) – their hasad(envy)
had increased to such a level because of arrogance – that Shaykh Ahmed sir
Hindi should be put in jail. So you know they did these things all because they
had this ilmi takabbur (Takabbur on Knowledge). They thought they were better
because they had so much knowledge, but their knowledge did not give them the
noor (light) of this ilm. In fact it let them to their destruction.
It comes
in a hadith: That on the Day of Judgment that there will be some people
that will be asked that why did you do this? A scholar will be asked why did
you study this ilm, and the scholar will reply that it was for Your Raza
(Pleasure), oh Allah; to which Allah swt will reply that you only did it so
that people would praise you, And so you will be put in Hell. Right? So a person who has knowledge is not
necessarily safe from this takabbur.
Andthe
deeni takabbur is worse than worldly takabbur. Deeni takabbur: a person who
thinks they are better than somebody, because I’m more pious, or more knowledge
of the Quran, I can read the Quran better, I do so much worship. That is
actually worse because you don’t REGARD it as wrong!
Worldly takabbur:a person who has Takabbur because they have
money or looks: everyone says it is wrong, even the person who has it, will say
it is wrong. But the person who has deeni takabbur will say that no I am
completely in the right, because of the knowledge that I possess.
2.
Second reason of takabbur is worship. You
want people to view you as pious and when you view yourself as pious, you start
to think the rest of the people are not good enough. I am hijabi, jilbabi, and
I cover; yet the rest of these people are still the same. So thinking like
that; judging people: just on the basis of what they wear; or how much they
cover. So this is something that is also very dangerous. And you will come by a
lot of ahadith.
An
incident of Bani Israel:
That there
was a famous worshipper, a friend of Allah (Wali Ullah), and he used to worship
a lot. It was famous about him that whenever he would walk anywhere a cloud
would follow him; it used to be hot and a cloud would always be following him.
So once there was a very faasiq (sinful) man, and he was going to go on a trip,
and it was very hot weather. And he thought to himself that I’m such a bad
person, maybe if I go with this friend of Allah, and he lets me walk with him,
maybe I will take some affect from his company and be able to become good. So
he went to that Wali Ullah, and he told him what he had been thinking and that
he wanted to travel with him, that I want to be with you, I want to walk with
you, to travel with you. The Wali Ullah replied, that no you can’t walk with
me, I fear that your sins might have a bad affect on me, as I see that you have
sinned greatly, and I am a pious person and you are not worthy of my company.
So you go your own way and do not travel with me. So the sinning personwho
wanted to go with him; he felt sad, his heart was in pain, he was thinking that
I am SUCH a sinning serveant that this friend of Allah did not want to walk
with me, sit with me, or be with me, and spend time with me. And so he thought
he should go his own way, and as he did so, as he walked away, that cloud
followed him! We know from this incident that when a person has Takabbur – the
Wali said that he was more pious than the other person, and that I don’t want
to spend my time with him because he doesn’t have the same piety as me – this
shows that Allah Ta’ala then changes the situation. And this is what we see: a
person who is humble, even though they are sinning, Allah Ta’ala is more
Merciful towards such people. And a person who has takabbur, even though they
are very Muttaqeen (God fearing, pious) outwardly, Allah Ta’ala does not accept
their good deeds! So this is something that we have to realize that when we
view other people: to not to EVER view ANYONE as beneathe us!
And this
is a VERY difficult task: because this happens naturally! Especially, when a
person starts coming closer to the Deen, they start to naturally think that the
other people are not as good as they are, or not as advanced as they are. So we
may have that this one girl saying this that when you go to a party, and you
see a girl who is wearing sleeveless, and you think “oooh you know I’m better
than her, atleast im wearing hijab, right?”
Sooo,
what should you think? Well, you should still view her as better
than you! How do you do that? Because you should think, that if she was given
the same opportunities I was given then she would definitely be better than me.
And scholars have written that REAL humbleness; the real way to get rid of
takabbur, is to think that just on the pure possibility, if this person was
given the same opportunities, the knowledge, the background I received, if they
were put in my situation, they would be ten times, a hundred times, better than
me. Right? Then, that’s not going to be takabbur. You should view everyone with
the full possibility that they are better than you.
Even the
kaafir (non-muslim): Now how can a non-muslim be better than a Muslim? How to
understand this? Well, to understand, that IF this person was a Muslim, they
would be better than me. To think to such an extent! And THAT is the way a
person can get rid of takabbur in their heart. To always view other people
that they can be better than me. They have the potential to be better than me. I
don’t know why Allah ta’ala is extremely Merciful on me to put me in such a
favorable situation, it is all Allah and it has nothing to do with me, and to
be grateful on that.
3.
Another cause of takabbur which often happens is
lineage. Nasb. To be Sayyad, to be of a prestigious family background,
to have pride and to be boastful on it, is to have Takabbur about ones lineage.
And it is very important, and this is very prevalent in our culture/ society. But
you have to think that who was ashraf ul makhluqat? The Prophet sallalaahu
‘alaihi wasallim, he told his daughter, that DON’T think you are the
daughter of the Prophet (s.a.w.); don’t think that you are the daughter of the
Prophet sallalaahu alaihi wasallim and on the Day of Judgement I will be able
to help you. And he said to Hazrat Fatima (r.a.) that whoever’s actions hold
them back their lineage will not be able to take them onwards. So to think that
a person’s nasb is something to have pride or takabbur about, theProphet (s.a.w.)
totally denounced that.
And there
is a famous hadith that the most Akram, the most highest of you, the most noble
of you are the people who have taqwa. It’s not dunya (worldly status or
possessions), it’s not nasb or lineage that makes a person better, it is
actually taqwa that makes a person better in the eyes of the Prophet (s.a.w.)
Prophet
Nooh (a.s.): He was a Prophet, his own son didn’t accept islam!so this is
something that even a Prophetic lineage won’t be enough. So, if a person thinks
that I’m this Cast or I’m this family, then that is really nothing. In front of
Allah Ta’ala, that is nothing. Lineage is only to recognize different people;
not so that people take pride in it.
4.
Next reason people have takabbur is beauty.
. Beauty is something that commonly for women it happens to be more
prevalent.The way they’re dressed, how they look, whether they’re fair, or what
physique they have, that leads a person to have takabbur as well. And we see
this a lot too.
I’m sure many of you have seen these
situations: where a girl can have everything. She can be beautiful, she can
have intelligence, but she also has takabbur and that leads to her downfall -
that often she is the one who comes home divorced. And the rest of her sisters
who may be average looking, are happily married in their homes. So often you
have these situation and stories. Where a girl who says something in a way of
Takabbur, I read in a book, that these boys, what are they? All I have to do is
give them a signal and they can lick the dirt of my shoes. Saying these things
about boys – that’s takabbur right? So this beauty is not in any way related to
Acceptance in the Court of Allah. If Allah Ta’ala so Wills to accept it, He
can, and if He Will to reject it, so He can. So why should we have takabbur
about our beauty?
5.
Next cause is also very common:wealth and
this is notorious. It is a common belief that whoever is wealthy has more
Takabbur. And this is often the case, but many a times this may not be the case
as well. There’s a saying in Arabic: that one of the most Noble things in the
World is a rich man who is humble.
Easy way for a remedy is: Easy Come, Easy
Go. Money is such a thing that it sometimes come and sometimes leaves. It is a
Blessing of Allah. It is fruitless to have Takabbur for money.
6.
Next thing is Power and Strength. When a
person is young and strong, they have more takabbur. When they are weak and
hungry they have no takabbur. A wise man once said: that if firoun had ever
experienced hunger, he would never hane said, ana Rabbukum ul a’ala (I am
your lord most high) Ma’az Allah.
When a person has hunger or is in a weak
position then the characteristics of Takabbur within them get weakened or
lessen.
7.
The last sabab of takabbur, is having a lot
of anything. Whether its popularity or connections. You can boast that I
have all these connections, in places, I have the most students, or I am very
popular. This is something that can also be a means of takabbur, but to always
remember that firoun was very popular. He was popular in the sense that
everybody would listen to him, but he was rejected. And he has no acceptance in
the Eyes of Allah Ta’ala.
So having takabbur about these
things, no one has the right in having takabbur. We should have this Hadith
written on our walls. Especially in the work of DEEN, when we start thinking
that I am doing so much for Deen, to remember the Hadith that Allah Ta’ala
sometimes takes His work for Deen from a sinner. So it doesn’t mean that if Allah
Ta’ala has put you in a situation of serving His Deen, you are automatically
accepted, that doesn’t mean that Allah Ta’ala is necessarily happy with you or
you are accepted in the eyes of Allah Ta’ala. The key then, is to always have
this fear and a fear of takabbur in your heart.
REMEDIES:
Two types:
1. Ilmi
(how to think, what your attitude needs to be like)
2. Amali
(practical implementation, the baby steps)
ILMI is actually again,
thinking.
i.
Is to KNOW yourself. To remember your
reality. To KNOW the hidden sins. The dirt, the sins that you hide from the
rest of the world, to really know it in your heart. Before going to
sleep at night, to look in your heart and see the dirt that fills your heart.
And this is when you know this, then you will never have takabbur.
ii.
And to keep an eye on your own short comings.
To always look at your own weaknesses and shortcomings.
iii.
Remembering your origins, that where were
we born from? It comes in the Quran as well, again and again, that the human
being sees the material from which they were created? A weak drop, a weak
water. So to see, where have I come from? What have I been made up of? Once you
ponder over this, can you have Takabbur over your weak beginnings? A wise man
once said, that a person who was born from a place of najaasa (impurity), how
can he ever think high of himself?
Remember where you came from? How you were created?
iv.
Another is to remember your end. That
when we die, we are going to end up in the sand. That same dirt, sand, ground
in which we walk proudly upon, after I die, I will be under it. So to be humble
like the earth. Why? Because you are going to go into the earth. We are all
going to go into the earth. There is a whole separate talk in owning and
developing the characteristics of the earth within us. To be humble, to be low,
that if somebody is to walk over you, to still remain humble, to always stay
low, to take the humbler route. By remembering your end, and so to develop
these characteristics of the Earth inside of yourself.
v.
Another, is studying the life of the Prophet
(saw) and the Companions (ra) and other muslim personalities, the more you
study –that is the benefit for people who are doing ilm, who study ahadith,
Quran and come to bayanaat -the more and more you hear these stories, the more
you realize your own rank, your own shortcomings, your own lax. So studying the
lives of these people and always having some type of connection with the life
of Prophet (sallalaahu alaihi wassallim). And actually looking at the life of the
Prophet (saw) there are so many ahadith out there, that we get surprised! There
would be rural people who would come to the Prophet (s.a.w.); Imagine if
somebody from the village comes to us, and talks to us rudely, and mistreats
us, how would we react to that? The way we treat them, the way we look down
upon them. This happened to the Prophet (sallaahu alaihi wasallim) all the
time, thereare people are tugging at his shawl, treading on him, poking him,
asking him, and still answering in a very nice way. Talking with love and
kindness. So he showed this aspect to the HIGhEST degree!
AMALI: we will end with some of these practical
remedies. And all of these have to do with mukhalifat of the nafs: Going
against our nafs. Takabbur is such a thing and I often explain to people, that
if you have something that is crooked to one side, like an iron rod, what would
you do to straighten it? You pull it to the other side. When you pull it to the
other side, then what happens? It straightens!
Therefore in tasawwuf and tazkiya,
this is what you have to do. Some people say this is extreme. Well, we are
already living our life on an extreme, on one extreme. When we walk on the
other extreme for some time, not your whole life, in order to battle the other
extreme, Allah Ta’ala will put you in the middle. Right? So we have to do these
things when we feel that we have takabbur in ourselves.
And we’ll talk about some
anecdote along the way to exhibit how this can occur:
1.
Is to do acts of humility openly. To show
humbleness or acts of humility, openly. In front of people, so that it goes in
you. The way you eat: eating in alow position, opening the door for somebody
else, letting them go first, not just for manners, but to get rid of that
takabbur in yourself. Somebody who you think is younger than you, beneath you
in any way. It’s very easy to open doors for your mother in law or your
teachers. You’ll get bonus marks for that, right? But open the door for a
student, open the door for a child, open the door for somebody you feel as if
they should do work for you. So that Takabbur leaves you from the inside! So
doing such acts for those whom you think are lower than you! So doing
acts of humility openly.
Infact our scholars, and mashaikh, who
were, they took this to a higher level, beginner lessons of purification was
always this: to get rid of takabbur; to erase oneself, rigorously, completely. Once
oneself has been erased, only then can a building be built upon it.
There is a famous story Muhammad Tayyab,
he was a student at Dar ul Uloom, Deoband. And he at a very young age, had a
lot of knowledge, he got a very high position in administration of the Dar ul
Uloom Deoband. He was known to be very good looking. So he wrote to his Shaykh
one time who was Maulana Ashraf Ali thanwi (rh), and he wrote to him that I
find within myself some vanity (that I feel as if I have begun to like myself).
He didn’t use the word takabbur, but that I feel like that I have a “me”
feeling inside of myself. An“Ana”.An “Ego”.I think a little bit about the fact
that I am so young and I am on this position and everyone is praising me, and
this is what he said, that I am feeling this. Maulaana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (rh),replied
that you need to come to my spiritual retreat IMMEDIATELY, this is a MAJOR
problem.
So Muhammad Tayyab, he came to his Shaykh’s
khanaqah, his spiritual retreat, and over there you can imagine, that people
are going and coming, there are all these major gatherings, there are these
high level talks going on - spiritual discourses, and you would be awe struck -
what type of gatherings would they be? That his Shaykh is calling him to, to
come immediately; So when he comes to Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi, who says to
him that you will, for three days work for me here. There is a lot of people
who come to visit here, Wise people come, Seekers come, people come for their
tazkiyah and their purification, so your work will be to arrange the shoes of
the people who come to visit. That is it. And you are not allowed to attend the
gatherings! Someone must be thinking, that I came all the way from home, and
you are not allowed to attend the gatherings, who ever comes, when ever they
come, your job is to arrange their shoes! For three days, this is your only
job. You do that, and what happens? He did that for 3 days and he went back,
that he writes himself, that in my whole life, I never again did experience
that feeling of vanity ever again!
If this disease gets cleansed in a very
rigorous manner, even if it seems extreme, it can have a lasting effect. but this
is something that happens with our own Mashaikh. Our own Shaykh, he tells about
himself, that in the beginning, his Shaykh told him that your job isto clean
the bathrooms. This was in the beginning when he was in his early 20s and your
job is to clean the bathrooms of the madrassah. He used to do that. And my own
husband was given this job a long time ago when we got married in NYC, we were
part of this masjid, which had a Hifz madrassah. So over there to you don’t
have servants like over here. Over there we had to do everything, most things,
ourselves, even the people who were involved in the administration. So we were involved
in the school. We were in schooling. Technically we were like the principal and
the assistant principal. So our Shaykh
gave my husband the job to clean the bathrooms but do it when no one is around.
So that you don’t get that thought in your head that everybody is watching. So
his job was to clean the washrooms.
So this is the Shaan of Allah Ta’ala:
Hadith e Paak: Who ever attains humility for the sake of
Allah Ta’ala, Allah Ta’ala will grant him a high rank.
Therefore to do this practically: to show
humility, to do acts of humility, to do these low level things. This is
something that we can do ourselves. We go and we clean our bathrooms. We
haveservants, but every now and then I am going to clean my own bathroom. I am
going to clean the toilet,I’m going to fix the shoes. So this is something that
will erase my takabbur if I do these types of acts.
2.
Way is to Look at the way you speak. In
the olden times this was an art that was taught to students, to never use the
word “me” or “I” or “mine, but to use words like “this nobody” or this “low
one” etc when referring to one self.
It comes in a hadith, that the Prophet (sallalaahu
alaihi wasallim) said that when you address people, when you advise them, use
the word “us”, don’t say “you people”, say“we are”. Put yourself as part of the
community. The way we speak also illustrates, it reveals our state of takabbur:
we have it, or we don’t have it, how much humility do we have. So looking at
the way we speak.
An incident about Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra),
Saahib e Rasool, a Close Companion of the Prophet (s.a.w.) was a big muhaddith,
a big scholar. It comes about him that once people were sitting, and they moved
their feet away from his direction out of mannerism. And so he asked them, why
are you doing this, and they replied that because you are such a great Sahaaba
of the Prophet (s.a.w.). To which he told them, to not do so, and that he
viewed himself as the worst of the people sitting in the gathering.
Hazrat Umar’s (r.a.) incident about his
victory ofBayt ul Muqaddis, Jerusalem,after twelve years, the first Qible, they
have been trying to gain victory over it for so long, he went as a Victor, and
it comes about him that at the time he had 12 patches on his clothes. So these
are the ways that they lived their lives!
3.
And to treat people you view as inferior,
servants, younger people, who work for us, treat them with respect and view
them as better than you. And this is very important because we don’t know that
according to Allah Ta’ala what is the stature of a person, who is better or
worse?
A hadith that one time the Prophet (s.a.w)
was sitting with a Sahaaba, and he asked him about a person who passed by, that
what do you think about this person? And the Sahaaba replied, that this person
is such a person that if he were to say something the people would listen, if
he were to send for his proposal, it would be accepted, and that this person
has a high rank in our society. The Prophet (s.a.w) was quiet. Then another man
passed by, and then the Prophet (saw) asked that what do you think of this man?
So the Sahaaba replied that this is such a person that if he were to speak
nobody would listen, if he were to propose to somebody, I would be rejected,
and that this person has a low rank within our society. The Prophet (saw)
answered that according to Allah Ta’ala, if the whole world was to be filled
with the like of the first person, even then it would not equal the greatness
of the second person!
In our eyes, we don’t know people, we
don’t know the reality of the people, that’s why we can’t judge, we can’t judge
anyonethat in Allah Ta’ala’s eyes who is more accepted. Potentially or
is.
4.
Be the First to say Salaam to every one you
meet.
Hadith: Who ever takes the initiative to say salaam will be
free from kibr (pride).
So that is something that even if the other person is
older, or younger, more respectable, or not, to say salaam first.
5.
The Last thing is to make duaa, that
Allah Ta’ala rids us of the Takabbur that we have. Humility leads to
gratefulness. With Takabbur we gain ungratefulness. And having gratitude: it
makes a person more positive. When a person is humble: there are a lot of
benefits! In becoming the humble one, nothing bothers you, nothing affects you,
you are not going to have negative thoughts about people, you will be fine if
somebody says something against you. And you wont even realize if somebody says
something that shouldn’t have been said! People might think you are naïve. This
is also in a hadith, that the momin is naïve, and simple. People think of him
so. So actually when a person has humility; life is much more positive, it is
easier; you never feel anything bad from people, becauase you don’t have
takabbur in you! You only get hurt by people if you have takabbur. You only
argue with people when you have takabbur. So this is something that we have to
revive in ourselves.
One last point to make is that there is
something called Tawaazo and therez something called Zull. Tawazo (Humility) is
what we’re trying to get, it means humility in front of Allah Ta’ala, but it’s
different than abasing yourself to the extent that you get humiliated.Zull,
excessive abasement, excessive humility, is not in our Deen. Infact it comes in
a hadith that a believer never humiliates himself. Never, ever, does a momin
humiliate oneself. In islam one’s dignity is given a lot of significance. A person can have humility without abasing
themselves or humiliating themselves. Even in the English Language the two
words are close to one another:One is humility, and the other is humiliation. Humility
is a good thing, a person who practices humility will never be humiliated, but
a person who doesn’t practice humility they will be humiliated, both in this
world and the aakhirah.
May Allah Ta’ala grant every one
the ability to work on ridding themselves of this disease.. And insha Allah we
will end with a duaa.
