Abdul Rahman Chao - 3-11-22

It was one time with the companion Suraq ibn Malik. And Suraq ibn Malik, if you read the seerah, he was a well-known bounty hunter before he became Muslim much later in his life. Suraq ibn Malik was the companion who heard that the Quraysh had put a bounty on the Prophet's head and Abu Bakr's head when they were running and escaping from Mecca to go to Medina.

Suraq was the one who heard that whoever catches Muhammad dead or alive, that they would get 100 camels. And as he was chasing the Prophet, he realized that his horse kept sinking into the sand over and over and over again. And it wasn't until sometime after that he realized that this is a miracle from Allah, that he said to Muhammad, Oh Muhammad, I'm not going to come after you and I will dissuade others from finding you as well.

The Prophet said to Suraq, Oh Suraq, what do you think about one day that you will be given the bracelets of the king of Persia? Suraq ibn Malik, years later, after he had embraced Islam, he was sitting with the Prophet. And the Prophet said to him these words. He said, Oh Suraq, shall I not inform you of the people of Paradise? The description of the people of Paradise. And shall I not inform you of the description of the people of Hell? May Allah protect us.

Suraq said, Indeed, O Messenger of Allah, inform me. So the Prophet he says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The Prophet says, as for the people of Hell, it is every person who is a جَعْظَرِيٍّ جَوَّاظٌ مُسْتَكْبِرٍ And the جَعْظَرِي in Arabic refers to someone who is arrogant about something that they do not possess. In other words, they're just all air.

That's what it is. They puff out their chest, they act like they have something, when in fact they do not possess it. And جَوَّاظ, the ulema also said, this phrase refers to the person who is excessive, not someone who does a little bit more than others, but excessive in food and drinks excessively, and is super arrogant in the way how they walk and in the way how they speak.

And the final characteristic is the word مُسْتَكْبِر, the one who is arrogant. And then the Prophet says, as for the description of the people of paradise, he says they are the ضُعَفَاء and the مَغْلُوبُون. And it means that these are the people who are weak.

It doesn't mean physically weak, or emotionally or spiritually weak. It means they do not have access to a lot of resources. They were not given so many resources in their life.

So they do not have a lot of power to influence. وَالْمَغْلُوبُون And the downtrodden. So here the Prophet is giving us a contrast between the main characteristics of the people of hell, and the characteristics of the people of jannah.

And brothers and sisters, the danger of arrogance is something in which the Prophet has warned us about, in which he says:

(Sahih Muslim)

The person, no person, no individual will be allowed to enter paradise if they have one atom's weight, one grain of arrogance in their heart. فَقَالَ الرَّجُلُ And a man was there sitting with the Prophet, and he said, Messenger of Allah, but there is a person, he likes to dress nicely. ثَوْبُهُ حَسَن And his shoes are nice.

He wants to dress nicely. The Prophet said, this is not arrogance, to want to dress nicely is not arrogance. And he says:

(Sahih Muslim)

Allah is beautiful, and Allah loves beauty and refinement. Arrogance repels the truth, and it is to look down at other people.

Brothers and sisters, arrogance is one of those sins that Allah does not like. Allah tells us in the Qur'an:

Verily, He does not like those who are arrogant.

Allah also tells us in the Qur'an, that as those evil people are driven to the gates of hell, what is it that is said to them? Listen to these words and reflect on:

Enter the gates of hell, eternally in it. And how horrible and how bad is that abode for the arrogant people.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us from arrogance. Why did the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam describe arrogance as something that causes one to reject the truth? It's very simple, brothers and sisters. It's because we do not have, that person who is arrogant does not have the ability to admit that they are wrong, to admit that they are at fault, to admit their vulnerability, to say, yes I was wrong, or yes you know what, I was wrong about that, and I'm sorry about that.

That shame from feeling that people would look down on them for admitting that they were wrong is what will lead someone to arrogance. Brothers and sisters, even this arrogance can lead us to the point of looking down at the good that Islam has taught us. The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam taught us in the hadith:

(Sahih Muslim)

Do not belittle any good deed out there, even if you are to meet your brother with a smiling face.

And how many times in our conversations with other people, let's say someone else did something wrong to you, instead of focusing on that thing that they did wrong on, we start trivializing and making fun of the outward aspects of religiosity, and we start attributing to them arrogance. And what do I mean by that? Say for example you have a disagreement with someone, about something, and the shaitan will come to you and say, look at this person, who does he think he is? Grows a beard, thinks he's so religious, thinks he's better than everyone. The sister who's wearing the hijab, she thinks she's better than all of us here? Look at the projection of arrogance.

We are now projecting that insecurity onto the other person, by saying that their religiosity is meant to spite you. And what do you say to these kind of people? Get over yourself. A man was sitting with the Prophet, and he was eating with his left hand.

And the Prophet said, eat with your right hand. What did he say? He didn't say like he had a physical deformity, he didn't want to do it. And the Prophet said, it was because of arrogance.

He says, لا أستطيع. I can't. I just can't do it.

It's just too hard. It's not because they really cannot, it's because they just don't want to. And so the Prophet said, may you never be able to.

And from then on, that person was not able to lift his right hand anymore. May Allah protect us from arrogance. Arrogance.

Arrogance is not something that just affects the relationship that you have with other people. But it can also affect your relationship with Allah. In an interview with a former president of the United States who shall remain unnamed, this person said, I don't regret not asking God for forgiveness because there's really nothing to apologize for to God. I want you to think about the arrogance. There's really nothing to apologize for to God.

Arrogance is this attempt by the mind to rationalize one's self-insecurity or one's self-worth by pushing down other people. That's why the Prophet says, arrogance rejects the truth and it looks down on other people. You look at Iblis.

Allah asked him to prostrate to Adam. He tried to rationalize his disobedience by saying, I am better than him. You created me from fire and you created him from clay.

Brothers and sisters, a man, a famous general during the Umayyad Caliphate, this famous general, his son was walking in the streets and in a very proud way and a loud, obnoxious and self-absorbed way. And he passed by one of the famous scholars of Islam, Malik bin Dinar. And he advised this young man.

He said, you should not walk like that. You should be a little bit more humble. Don't walk with such conceit.

And what did that young man say? Do you not know who I am? Said every arrogant person. Do you not know who I am? And Malik bin Dinar responded, Yes, yes, we know who you are. Before you were born, in the beginning, you were nothing but a drop of semen.

And at the end of your life, you are a repugnant corpse. And in the middle of your life, you are someone who holds excrement inside your body. And that young man was so shaken by this description.

And he said, you're right, I shouldn't be so arrogant. Brothers and sisters, it's easy to talk about the dangers of arrogance and talk about how sinful it is. But what are some of the ways to help yourself not fall into that sin of arrogance? The ulema have said, when you look at someone who is older than you, think in your head, mashallah, they have come to this earth before me.

Allah has guided them to Islam before me. Allah has guided them to goodness before me. So they are better than me.

And when you look at someone who is younger than you, instead of thinking, I'm your elder, I'm so much better than you. Think, I have preceded them in coming to this earth. I have started sinning before them.

I have started sinning before them. Subhanallah. Brothers and sisters, the Prophet, he says in this beautiful hadith, I want to leave you with.

The Prophet says:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi)

Whoever dies and passes away, and they are free from arrogance, from debt, and from deceiving others and cheating, they will enter paradise.