Medicines for Arrogance

If your arrogance is due to pride in your lineage, reflect on the story of Adam (as) and Satan, and how Satan was permanently ejected from paradise for this reason. Do you want to suffer the same fate as Satan? He thought that he was better than Adam (as) because he was made from fire, while Adam (as) was made from clay. Realize that you are just like Satan when you think that you are better than someone else just because you have a slightly different melanin level or DNA sequence.

Read from the Qur’an every day, and reflect especially on the following verse:

{O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.} (Qur’an 49:13)

Reflect on these hadiths:

<<The Prophet (bpuh) said [during his farewell sermon]: O people, Remember that your Lord is One. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab; also a black person has no superiority over a white person, nor a white person over a black person, except by one’s consciousness, awareness, respect, love, and fear of Allah (st). Indeed, the best among you is the one with the most consciousness, awareness, respect, love and fear of Allah. Listen to me. Did I convey this to you properly? People responded: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! The Prophet (bpuh) then said: Then each one of you who is here must convey this to everyone who is not present.>> (a sound hadith recorded by Bayhaqi)

The Prophet (bpuh) said: <<Let people stop boasting about their ancestors. One is only a pious believer or a miserable sinner. All men are sons of Adam (as), and Adam (as) came from dust.>> (a sound hadith recorded by Abu Dâwood and at-Tirmidhi)

Reflect on the behaviour of the Prophet (bpuh) and his Companion Abu Dharr (ra) in the following story. Narrated al-Ma’rur: <<At ar-Rabadha, I met Abu Dharr, who was wearing a cloak, and his slave was wearing a similar one. I asked why, and he replied: I abused a person by calling his mother with bad names. The Prophet said to me: O Abu Dharr! Did you abuse him by calling his mother with bad names? You still have some characteristics of ignorance. Your slaves are your brothers, and Allah has put them under your command. So whoever has a brother under his command should feed him with what he eats and dress him with what he wears. Do not ask them (slaves) to do things beyond their capacity (power), and if you do so, then help them. >> (Bukhari)

As far as actions are concerned, when you host an event or a meal, you should invite people from various races, ethnicities, and economic backgrounds. Honour those towards whom you feel arrogance, and make yourself humble by giving them places higher than your own place.

Begin doing things for yourself more, and have people serve you less. Become a servant of others, as our Prophet )sa) was a servant of others. He (bpuh) used to sew his own clothes, patch his own sandals and help his wives at home.

Devote yourself to finding the truth, regardless of where it comes from. Accept the truth whether it comes from a Muslim or a non-Muslim, a friend or an enemy, your religious scripture or a scientist, a Westerner or an Easterner, a man or a woman. Put your emotions aside and use reason. Study the principles of logical thinking, then apply them to your life.

At the time of the Prophet (bpuh), many Arabs were prejudiced against black Africans, as was evident in the story of Abu Dharr (ra), which was mentioned above. The Prophet (bpuh) tried to combat this type of racism by marrying Arab women to black men, some of whom were of African descent. Notable examples are the marriage of Zaynab bint Jahsh to Zayd ibn al-Hârithah, Fâtimah bint Qays to ‘Usâmah ibn Zayd, the daughter of ‘Amr ibn al-Wahhâb to Sa‘d al-Aswad (the last name is descriptive, meaning ‘the black man’), and a woman of the Ansâr (the inhabitants of Madinah who had accepted Islam and assisted the Prophet (bpuh) and other emigrants upon their arrival there) to Julaybeeb.^{^[1]} Follow the example of the Prophet (bpuh) and marry your daughters to men of the group towards which you feel arrogant (as long as they are pious, they have an equivalent income to you, and your daughters agree).^{^[2]}

When you find yourself making assumptions about people or stereotyping them, assume the opposite. Seek out people from that group who are the opposite of that stereotype and keep their company, until this idea is extinguished from your mind. For example, if you think that all people of a certain group are uneducated, then find people from that group who are highly educated, and take them as companions.

Greet Muslims of all ethnic groups with the Islamic greeting as-salâmu ‘alaykum (peace be upon you).

In fact, this is one of the prophetic cures for racism in Islam, and the Prophet (bpuh) taught us in the authentic hadiths that it spreads love among the believers.

Abu Hurayrah (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) observed: << By Him in Whose Hand is my life! You will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I inform you of something by which, if you do it, you will love one another? Promote greetings amongst yourselves (by saying as-salâmu ‘alaykum).>> (Muslim)

I did not really understand how such a simple act could have such a great effect until I witnessed it myself. When I was in my early twenties, I knew a sister who demonstrated to me the effects of greeting with as-salâmu ‘alaykum and not greeting with it. When sisters would greet her that way, she would love them and would be willing to do all types of charitable acts for them. When sisters of certain ethnic groups refused to greet her or to return her greeting, her heart would become filled with anger, resentment, hatred, and prejudice towards those sisters and their ethnic groups.

The more of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (bpuh) you put into practice, the more you will witness these types of things. Those acts which we Muslims may deem small and insignificant can actually have huge effects. Simple acts such as greeting with as-salâmu ‘alaykum, putting your foot next to the other person’s foot when you stand in line for prayer, and not decorating copies of the Qur’an^{^[3]} can actually avert disasters like Palestine and Kosovo. I know that sounds crazy, but when you start learning and practicing the Sunnah, you witness it and you know that it is true, even though it does not seem logical at first.

– How to Make It in Today’s World: A Modern Muslim’s Survival Guide by Michael Tofte, Jr.

[1] Imam Zaid Shakir, Scattered Pictures: Reflections of an American Muslim (Hayward, CA: Zaytuna Institute, 2005), 74-75. Shakir cites the following classical sources for these instances: at-Tabari, Jâmi‘ al-Bayân fee Ta’weel al-Qur’ân, vol. 10, p. 301; Ibn al-Atheer, Al-Kâmil fit-Târeekh [A Complete History], vol. 21, pp. 336-337; and Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalâni, Fath@ al-Bâri, vol. 9, pp. 505-506.

[2] It is not advisable to marry your daughter to someone of a lower economic class, and this attitude is not arrogance. The reason it is not advisable is because she is used to a certain standard provided for by her father, so if her husband is not capable of providing the same standard for her, it could lead to a lot of marital problems. However, if the woman desires to marry a religiously suitable man, and her guardian agrees that he is religiously suitable, then there is nothing wrong with that, and they are fulfilling the Sunnah.

[3] The Qur’an is meant to be read beautifully, but it should be in simple binding with simple pages. According to the authentic Sunnah, it should not be embellished with gold, ornamented, or decorated. The Prophet (sa) warned us that doing so would lead to all types of problems in the Muslim world.