n37 22 The Major Sins Series - PrideBoasting - Abu Usama 1717

The Major Sins Series - Pride and Arrogance (Al-Kibr)

Speaker: Sheikh Abu Usamah at-Thahabi

Session 17 of 17

Opening

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the Trustworthy Prophet, and upon his family and all his companions.

Introduction: Chapter 15 - Pride and Arrogance

As for some, the author says, may Allah have mercy on him, Al-Kabeeratul Khaamisa, ten. The Greatest, the Proud, and the Outstanding. Al-Imam Al-Zahabi, may Allah have mercy on him, begins the next chapter, Ikhwani, chapter number 15.

And he is dealing with one of the greatest Kabair known to mankind. But there was a deception that Iblis has been successful in pulling off upon many of the people. And that is, the Kabira of Al-Kibar, or Arrogance.

Being a person who was Mutakabbir, or Al-Khuyala, which is to be haughty. To be a person who is in the earth, and the person is haughty and arrogant. Whenever we hear about Al-Kibar, most of our minds go to the Hukam.

When we hear about the word Kibar, and the Mutakabbirin, many of our ideas go to that rich relative who thinks that he is better than everyone because he changes his Mercedes every year, every two years. Or he has a big house, and he deals with people in a way in which it will suggest that he thinks he is better than everyone, because of his color, because of his money, because of his position. And those people are Mutakabbirin.

But the reality of the matter is, that the vast majority of people, even from the regular, normal people they have Al-Kibar. Many of us who are sitting here, who consider ourselves to be people of humility, we have Al-Kibar, based upon the definition of Al-Kibar that the Prophet gave صلى الله عليه وسلمand based upon the way we behave.

It will suggest that we have Al-Kibar.

So this particular chapter InshaAllah is a reminder from Al-Imam Al-Zahabi that comes from the Kitab and the Sunnah, and the authentic statements of some of the righteous predecessors reminding us about the importance of discarding all of the characteristics and all of the subal, the means and the ways that lead to a person being from the Mutakabbirin.

Evidence from the Quran

He brings as he always does in all of the Abwab As-Sabiqah, the Ayat of the Quran, like the statement that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:

Quran 40:27 (Surah Ghafir):

When Musa had his discussion with Fir'aun, who was the Imam of the Mutakabbirin from the human beings.

When he was giving Dawah to Fir'aun, and calling him to La ilaha illa Allah, and calling him to be a person who was fair and just, as it relates to his Mu'amala and his treatment to Bani Israel.

And Musa said, Verily, I seek the protection and the assistance of my Lord and your Lord. And I seek protection in Allah and His assistance from every person who is Mutakabbir and he doesn't believe in the Day of Hisab. If the person believed in Yawmul Qiyamah, he will realize that it is not just, nor is it befitting for him to have any Kibr.

So if Fir'aun knew this, or the other people from the Mutakabbirin, if they know that Allah Ta'ala is the only one who is Mutakabbir, from his names as he is Al-Mutakabbir. And that is one of the names and one of the descriptions that it is haram for any human being to compete with Allah in that thing.

A person can have some of the names that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has. He described Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the Quran and Surah At-Tawbah as being Ra'uf, Rahim. The gatekeeper of the Jahannam's name is Malik. The man in the Quran, in the story of Yusuf, he is called the Aziz, Al-Aziz, Imra'atul Aziz.

Those are names that people have been given that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala shares in those names and those attributes. But there are certain names that are exclusively for Allah and it's not permissible for anyone to compete or to share with him in those names. And from those descriptions and those names is the description of Al-Kibr.

Allah Azza wa Jal is the only one who is Mutakabbir and rightly so. The next ayat is the statement of Allah Ta'ala, Verily Allah does not love those people who are arrogant. So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in those two ayats have made it perfectly clear that Al-Kibr is a Kabira from the Kabair.

Those Who Argue About Allah's Signs Without Proof

He also brought the statement of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala in Surah Ghafir in which Allah Ta'ala said, Now this is one of the proofs that go to show that many of the people are Mutakabbirin. Many of the normal people

don't see themselves as being Mutakabbirin because they're from the Fuqara Du'afa, Masakin. He doesn't have any money so he doesn't see himself as being Mutakabbirin.

But this ayat shows many of us are Mutakabbirin. Allah Ta'ala said in this ayat: Verily those people who argue about the ayat of Allah without any proofs. They argue about the ayat of Allah and they make Al-Mujadila without any Sultan, without any authority.

They just arguing based upon their desires. He says it's Haram and he doesn't have any proof why he says it's Haram. He says it's Halal, he doesn't have any proof why it is Halal.

He tells you, you have to follow one of the Madhabs. And if you don't follow one of the Madhabs, your Islam is suspect. Okay, that's a claim.

Bring the proof if you're speaking the truth. He can't bring any proof. But he'll remain on that particular point of view.

He'll say whatever his Shaykh is calling to, his peer is calling to, whatever the point happens to be that a person is upon, when you ask him, please just present the evidence. He doesn't present the evidence. So he's arguing about the ayat of Allah without any proof whatsoever.

Verily those people who argue about the ayat of Allah without any authority that has been given to them, verily inside of their hearts there is Kibr. And they will never be able to reach it. So seek the assistance of Allah.

Verily Allah is all-hearing and all-seeing. The reason why this ayat was revealed to Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is because some of the Kufa of Quraysh, they had a problem with the fact that Allah Azawajal chose, debound, He chose Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam to be the Khatam of the Anbiya and the Rasul. To be the Rasul that was sent to Quraysh and to Bani Nas, to Bani Adam.

So they used to ask questions, why would Allah send Muhammad as opposed to sending one of the men from the two great cities? Why would He send him? And they used to argue about that point. Allah Ta'ala chooses to do what He wants to do and it's not for us to ask why this or why that. So it wasn't permissible for them.

So the part of the ayat when Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says:

Verily in their chest, in their breast, there is Kibr, arrogance. And they will not reach it.

What will they not reach? Meaning, the ayat that Allah sent down was, the fact that He chose Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as His Nabi and His Rasul. And the fact that these people are arguing about that ayat. They will never ever, no matter how long they argue, no matter how much they argue, they themselves will never reach the point of being a Nabi or from the Anbiya. They will never reach that point.

So that goes to show, Ikhwani, whether we understand an issue or we don't understand an issue. In the religion of Islam, it is not permissible to reject something in this religion with hatred. You don't necessarily have to practice a thing.

As it relates to us men, the same thing with the riba, for an example. It comes up with all kinds of excuses. Just say, I'm weak and I want to use the riba. That is better than saying, we're living in this country and you can't get away from it, so I'm going to do it. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has allowed interest usury to be taken, because this is the 21st century. And it comes up with a lot of excuses that when you start to deal with them scholastically, they don't stand up to any argument that is intelligent in the religion of Islam.

It's better for a person just to say, I'm weak, I'm going to do it. And not to make the mujadila, and to be one who argues without any sultan, without any delil. And it is not a delil in our religion that Shaykh so and so said it.

And that is the delil. That Shaykh so and so said it. No matter who that Shaykh happened to be. Because he could be mistaken in his points that has caused him to take that particular position.

The Prophetic Definition of Arrogance

Abdullah bin Mas'ud radiyallahu anhu, he said that the Prophet says:

Hadith - Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim)

The man who has a speck of arrogance in his heart will not enter into the paradise. He doesn't need a lot of kibr. The man who has a speck of kibr will not enter into paradise because the jannah has been made haram for anyone to go in there. And he has kibr in his heart.

Thus competing with the lord of the worlds. So the one who has a speck of kibr will not enter into paradise. One of the companions who was sitting amongst the companions, when he heard that statement, he wanted further elaboration, and he said:

يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ إِنَّ الرَّجُلَ يُحِبُّ أَن يَكُونَ ثَوْبُهُ حَسَنًا وَنَعْلُهُ حَسَنًا

The man said, Ya Rasulullah, is that the way we are. One of us who's sitting here, we like to have a nice thobe, nice clothes for the eid, for the waleemah, for the nikah. Or just in my dunya, I just like walking around with nice clothes. And one of us also, he likes to have nice shoes, and nice socks, and nice furniture, and a nice car.

He wants a reliable car that he can afford, a Mercedes Benz, a Rolls Royce. That's what he wants. He lives in a place where people drive those kinds of cars. Is that kibar, ya Rasulullah?

Hadith - Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim)

He told him صلى الله عليه وسلمverily, Allah is beautiful, and Allah loves beauty. There's nothing wrong with you purchasing and wearing nice things. It is from the religion, and it's from the shukr that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىdeserves.

As he told us:

Allah loves to see the effects of His favor upon His slave. So if Allah has given you something, He loves to see that he has given you that particular thing, and you've displayed it. So the Prophet of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَىespecially on the occasions, the munasabat in Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى used to go out to the Eid with the nice dress.

He used to tell us, wear your nice clothes for the Salatul Jumu'ah. If a man is going to get married, he can wear nice clothes, his wife can wear nice things, there's nothing wrong with that. Always remembering:

That البذاد is also from الإيمان And البذاد is you wearing the same clothes once or twice or three times, without changing them. Which doesn't mean you don't bathe, and you don't keep up with your hygiene. But not going overboard.

So the point is, Ikhwani, in this issue, it is the middle course that the Muslim is encouraged, and ordered, and commanded to maintain and to hold on to. Allah loves to see the effect of His ni'mah upon the servant. So Allah is beautiful, and He loves beauty.

And then He gave us the prophetic definition. He said: Arrogance is rejecting the truth, and looking down upon people. If you are rejecter of the truth, you are متكبر

And if you look down upon any person from the Muslims, then you are متكبر. This hadith goes to show us, brothers in Al-Islam, we as Muslims, based upon this hadith, we have to recognize that every single kafir is متكبر. Because he has rejected the greatest truth, which is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who is Al-Haqq.

He is the truth. From His names is Al-Haqq. He is the truth.

So anyone who has rejected Him, because his fitrah has been corrupted, he has some kibr inside of him. And that necessitates, that's a need, because of the ta'rif or the definition that Rasulullah gave.

Again, as it relates to the fiqh of Al-Islam, or other than the fiqh of Al-Islam, the issues of this religion for the most part they are clear. So when we look at the madhab in Al-Islam, there is not a single madhab except, that it has what is correct, and it has what is incorrect. And you can't even say that one madhab has more things correct. All of the madhab, the majority of what is in the madhab, more of it is correct.

The Story of the Man Who Ate with His Left Hand

So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's prophet said in the last hadith that al-Imam al-Zahabi brought before the last, last hadith which is not authentic:

Hadith - Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim)

That he's a Muslim because he has certain characteristics. From the characteristics is he's not musbil. The Muslim does not wear anything below his ankle bone. He is a person who is humble and he sees himself as being humble. But if he's musbil Having al-isbal is a part of kibur even if you don't do it with the intent of being mutakabir.

He told Muslim ibn Jameel and Jabir Ibn Muslim:

(Unknown)

Beware of having something below your ankles. Barely anything below your ankle is arrogance.

And he didn't mention like the other hadith مَن جَرَّ ثَوْبَهُ خُيَلَاءَ Whoever drags his clothes and makes them long with arrogance.

Yeah, that means that it's even worse. He's doing it because of arrogance. And it's just not in your thobe and below the ankle bone.

Al-isbal is in your sleeve. Al-isbal is in the imamah. Al-isbal, Ikhwani, is the woman who gets married and she has a long dress and she needs 25 of her nieces to walk behind her with the dress.

That's al-isbal. Not only do our women not dress like that. That's not the way of the nikah in Islam.

But it is an added problem in that it is arrogance. It goes to show that the person is saying Look at me, I have money to waste. What is all of that material for? Just to say I can waste money.

The man he wants to get married and he has to go and he has to rent a long vehicle. A Hummer from the door to this table to drive it through the streets and to beep the horn so the people can say look at the money we have to

waste on this day. That's from our culture now in Birmingham.

And the person can't even afford it. You're wasting money. That's kibber.

The majority of the people have kibber. So al-isbal, Ikhwani, is in all of that. The rich people in the past would have extra clothing to show.

Look, I got money to waste. That's why it's not permissible in al-Islam to put curtains on the wall. To cover the wall completely with a curtain.

It's from al-kibber. Al-Islam didn't allow it. Al-Islam didn't allow us to sit on top of the lion skin.

The tiger skin. That's what the kings used to do. So he told us, don't sit on top of the lion skin, the tiger skin.

To say look, I'm like a king, I got money. So the point is Ikhwani, as we sit here, we've been conquered in our countries and colonized. And in most instances, they gave us our freedom.

But our minds are still colonized. Because the Muslim finds it, he wants to leave alone the sunnah of Abul Qasim that will set him free. Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.

And follow the sunnah of the colonizers. And if you know the history of colonization, you know that everywhere that the Muslims were colonized, there were individuals from the leaders of the Muslims, and groups that came to help the colonizers. The Qadiyani movement was started by one of those people.

And we still have the same issue today. So the point is, Al-Isbal is from Al-Kibr. And if you ask the Muslim, why are you Muslim? He won't have anything to say.

Other than, it doesn't look right in the realm in which our corporate America, corporate UK, this way that I look is what's acceptable. But as a Muslim Ikhwani, we have to do our best to make Jihad, to establish our Islamic identity.

So in this hadith, look what happened. The man was sitting, Rasulullah told the man, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, hey, the man was eating with his left hand. With that left hand that's used for the dirty things. As we mentioned the other day, now that we have more people, we want to mention this because this athar, should be an athar that you should remember doing these days.

With Salman Al-Farisi. Salman Al-Farisi, the Ajami, from the companions of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The Yahudi, wanted to have istihzaat, he wanted to be sarcastic with Salman Al-Farisi, to make him afraid about his religion and apologetic about his religion.

So the Yahudi said to Salman:

Verily your Prophet, your Nabi, he has taught you people everything. He even taught you how to go to the bathroom.

Making istihzaat. Salman Al-Farisi didn't say, oh I'm sorry, yes he did, I'm sorry. He didn't apologize.

He said:

(Unknown)

That's right, he taught us everything, even how to go to the bathroom of Qur'an Makrumullah. He taught us that we should not face the Qibla when we use the bathroom either way. Face it or turn away from our Qibla.

He also taught us that we should clean ourselves and we shouldn't use our right hands, only with the left hand. He used to use the right hand for what was clean. Shaking hands, giving things, eating, drinking, taking things.

When he gives the khutbah, he would say:

When he made the shahadah, he would put his finger up in the air with his right hand. He would make the dhikr of Allah with his right hand.

He wouldn't do that with his left hand. And he taught us that when we purify ourselves with al-istajmar, we should not use less than three rocks. If you're going to use rocks, then don't use less than three.

Today the Muslim is embarrassed to say that we use rocks for al-istajmar. The environment they used to have was like that and you may find yourself in that type of situation where you can use al-istajmar. Instead of apologizing, be proud.

Proud, not arrogant pride. Be proud that our religion has the shirk where we use toilet tissue. Because if you can use rocks, you can use toilet tissue.

That's the fiqh of al-Islam. Don't be apologetic. And finally, he made it impermissible for us to use bones and to use the dried dung of animals.

He was answering the call of nature. He told one of the companions, go give me some rocks. The man went, the boy went and he brought back some bones and some rocks mixed in.

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم told him, this is the food of our brothers from the jinn. Don't use it. The Muslim is apologetic to say something like that to the people.

The ant spoke to Sulaiman. The Muslim is apologetic because the kuffar said, you really believe ants spoke to a man? Nah, we believe the ant spoke to the man. We believe the bird spoke to the man.

We believe the camel spoke to our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. They really look at that, Ikhwani, as being really strange. So you people are fanatic. This is the problem with religion.

It makes intelligent people bury their intellect. No, that's the problem with intellect. That when it's not bridled and harnessed, it goes beyond the limits that have been ordained by Allah جل جلاله. And it rejects what it has no right to reject.

What Allah didn't reveal to Sultan for it to reject. So the man said, when he told him, eat with your right hand. The man said, I can't.

Nothing prevented him from changing his hands other than kibber. The narrator of the hadith said, after that, he became paralyzed. And he wasn't able to raise his left hand to his mouth again.

Why? Because he had kibber as it relates to the Quran and the Sunnah when it comes to him. No, it's only the Sunnah. It's only what Allah ordered me to do.

But I don't have to do it. I'm not going to do it. So that is a sign for us, Ikhwani, as it relates to being arrogant and opposing and repelling the Sunnah of Rasul Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم

The last hadith that he brought is not authentic, so we're not going to mention it.

The Worst Type of Arrogance: Pride from Knowledge

We'll end with the last statement of Al-Imam Al-Dahabi for the students of knowledge in our masjid. Anyone who considers himself to be a student of knowledge, or he wants to tread the path of the ulama and the tulab al-'ilm, Al-Imam Al-Dahabi said:

He said, And the worst type of arrogance is the arrogance that the people have as a result of the knowledge that they were given. Allah Ta'ala blessed the person with knowledge so he becomes puffed up with pride and he sees himself as having some virtues over the other people.

He said verily, this individual he never received any benefit from the knowledge that he acquired. So whoever goes out to seek knowledge for the hereafter, the knowledge in itself will make him humble and lower him. And his heart will become fearful.

And he will see his nafs as being low. Because the more knowledge that he has, the more he becomes humble.

He said, The individual who goes out to get the knowledge in order to get benefit in the hereafter, he is the one who is always having to make hisaab and he's reckoning his own self.

As for the one who becomes incognizant of this reality, then he has deviated from the correct way and he has been destroyed by the knowledge. Whoever goes after the knowledge in order to become a leader and in front of the people or in order to brag and to boast with pride and in order to look down upon the Muslims and to make

them seem as if they're ignorant, they're stupid, they're idiots. This is the individual who has fallen into one of the greatest forms and manifestations of al-kibr.

And the one who has one speck of kibr in his heart, he will not enter into the jannah and there's no power and there's no might except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Ikhwani, there are some people with knowledge that we have met, we've met them. We've met them in the Muslim world and other than that. That if you just want to because you have a good opinion about his particular mansah, you want to just give him salams and he treats the people as if they're dirt. He doesn't want to look at you, he doesn't even want to acknowledge your presence.

We're not talking about the one who he has a position like he's the imam of the haram of Mecca and he has to get in and out of the haram everyday to make salah and everyone wants to stop him and touch him and greet him with sincerity because they want to meet the imam of the haram of Mecca.

But he can't stop to greet every individual and because he keeps going we say he's arrogant. No that's not fair, that's not fair. He can't stop to greet every single human being.

But we're talking about those individuals who they don't have those type of demands on their time and they don't have that type of mansah. When you meet them, they look down at you. You have to stand up when they come into the room.

If he comes into the room, you have to stand up. But if another regular person from the Muslim comes into the room the people don't stand up for him. So it's social hypocrisy.

If he dies, we'll pray salatul janazah for him. But the regular normal Muslim, we're not going to pray for him. Social hypocrisy.

We recognize people's different positions but:

The Muslims, their blood is equal. No one's blood is more important than the next man's blood. So the worst type of kibar is the kibar that comes as a result of a person having been endowed with knowledge.

Quran 35:28 (Surah Fatir):

Those people who fear Allah from His servants are the ones who have knowledge العلماء. The more knowledge he has the more he becomes humble because the more knowledge he has the more he realizes he doesn't know much. The less amount of knowledge he has the more he thinks he knows he memorizes 40 hadith and جَزَعَمَةٌ

Now he's a mufti giving fatawa about the blood and the privates and the monies of people. And that's a problem that we're dealing with today. From our youth are those people who read a book or two or three.

They've been guided to the right way. And as a result of that, they have (الْكِبْر - al-kibr). They don't know how to treat people and they don't know how to rectify the affairs.

Knowledge should increase an individual in humility. As the Tabi al-Hasan al-Basri used to say, when he used to tell his students to look at the ayat of Allah he said concerning the land the earth, when it rains, the water is caught in the lowest parts of the earth. The earth when it has the holes in it, the parts that catch the water.

It's not the mountain, the high part of the earth. It's the place where there are holes and there are the earth has sunken in. So the lesson he was trying to teach them is the one who has knowledge, the water the one who has knowledge is the individual who is one who is humble.

He's approachable. You can talk to him. He can spend time with you, but we have to be balanced as we mentioned before.

That doesn't mean that every scholar has to sit with you in your personal affair every day all day. It doesn't mean that.

Closing

So we're going to stop here inshallah.

"[English translation here]"

End of Lecture