7. ARROGANCE

A good Muslim cannot be arrogant. How could you imagine a Muslim is prayer bowing down and prostrating himself before Allah in humiliation, then all of a sudden, after prayer, he turns to be arrogant, putting himself up and putting other people down? Ignorance is another problem. The worst is when arrogance and ignorance are combined in one person. Open any discussion, and this kind of person turns into “a scholar”. As for scholars, they are modest and humble, because they know their limitations. The more they know, the more they realize that there are more things they do not know. The late Arab immigrant poet Ilyā Abū Mād.ī said in the last line of his poem al-T.alāsim (الطَّلاسِم, Mysteries) as follows:
لَا تُجَادِلْ، ذُوْ الِحجَى مَنْ قَالَ لَسْتُ أَدْرِي.
“Do not argue, the man of understanding
is the one who says ‘I do not know.’”
Allah says in the Qur’ān:
وَلَا تَقْفُ مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ إِنَّ السَّمْعَ وَالْبَصَرَ وَالْفُؤَادَ كُلُّ أُولَئِكَ كَانَ عَنْهُ مَسْئُولًا.
وَلَا تَمْشِ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَخْرِقَ الْأَرْضَ وَلَنْ تَبْلُغَ الْجِبَالَ طُولًا
(الإسراء : ٣٦-٣٧).
“And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge
[i.e., avoid idle curiosity]; for surely, the hearing, the sight,
the heart, all of those shall be questioned of. And do not walk
on the earth in insolence. You cannot penetrate the earth
and your height will not reach that of the mountains." 23
He also says:
إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ (الحجرات : ١٣)
“The most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is
(he who is) the most righteous of you” 24
Luqmān the sage advised his son as follows:
وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ
(لقمان : ١٨)
“And swell not thy cheek (for pride) at men.Nor
walk in insolence through the earth.For
Allah loves not any arrogant boaster.” 25
The Prophet said:
لَا يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مَنْ كَانَ فِي قَلْبِهِ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ مِنْ كِبْرٍ
(رواه مسلم وأبو داؤد والترمذي وابن ماجة)
“He who has the weight of a dust particle of
arrogance in his heart will not enter Heaven.” 26

This means that Allah will punish him first before he enters Heaven if he deserves it. Allah alone deserves this haughtiness and calls Himself al-Mutakabbir (literally means “the Haughty”, “the Arrogant, or “the Insolent”) which is one of His ninety-nine names. He said about Himself when he says:
هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ
الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
(الحشر : ٢٣)
“Allah is He, than there is no god other Allah;
the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace
(and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver
of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the
justly Proud: glory to Allah! (High is He) above
the partners they attribute to Him” 27
The Western Orientalist D.B. Macdonald translates the word al-Mutakabbir as “the Haughty”, but the Muslim translators Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, due to their modesty, translate it respectively as “the Supreme” (“the justly Proud” in the revised translation, as above), and “the Superb”.
Allah is the greatest and we say it several times in our prayer when we say Allāhu Akbar. The late Lebanese poet Ilyā Abū Mād.ī said to the arrogant:
يَا أَخِيْ لَا تَمِلْ بِرَأْسِكَ عَنِّيْ * مَا أَنَا فَخْمَةٌ وَلاَ أَنْتَ فَرقَـدًُ
النُّجُوْمَ التِيْ تَرَاهـا أَرَاهـَا * حِيْنَمَا تحْفُو وَ عِنْدَمَا تَتَوَقـَّدُ
“O brother, do not turn your head away
from me (out of arrogance), I am not a lump of
coal and you are not a bright star; the stars you see
I also see, whether they are twinkling (among
clouds) or radiant (in the clear sky)."
As we know, the first creature who disobeyed Allah was Iblīs (devil) who refused to bow in respect to Adam (p.b.u.h.) because of his arrogance. Allah says in the Qur’ān:
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ اسْجُدُوا لِآَدَمَ فَسَجَدُوا إِلَّا إِبْلِيسَ أَبَى وَاسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ الْكَافِرِينَ
(البقرة : ٣٤).
“And behold, We said to the angels:
‘Bow down to Adam’ and they bowed down:
not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: he
was of those who reject Faith.” 28

Footnotes:
23. Qur’ān, al-Isrā’ [17]:37-38
24. Qur’ān al-H...ujurāt [49]:13
25. Qur’ān, Luqmān [31]:18
26. Reported by Muslim, Abū Dā’ūd, Tirmidhī, and Ibn Mājah
27. Qur’ān al- H...ashr [59]:23
28. Qur’ān, al-Baqarah [2]:34