Arrogance and God-Consciousness

Arrogance and God-Consciousness

A Sermon by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Opening

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Zaytuna Knowledge Resources presents Arrogance and God Consciousness. A sermon by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf.

I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the accursed. In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

Peace and blessings be upon our Master Muhammad, and upon his family and companions. Peace and blessings be upon them. We praise Allah, and we thank Him.

We thank Allah, who guided us to this, and we would not have been guided if it was not for Allah. We praise Allah. I am going to give a talk, and then the khutba will be later. Just so people that come in, everybody gets the khutba.

Understanding Jahiliyyah: Four Dimensions

Allah mentions in the Quran Jahiliyyah, and the time before Islam as all of you know is called the time of Jahiliyyah. Allah in these four mentionings of Jahiliyyah, He gives different aspects of Jahiliyyah itself.

First Dimension: Jahiliyyah of Understanding

Allah says about them that:

They thought about Allah a type of thought or suggestion or belief about God that was not in accordance with the truth about Allah. And it was a Jahili type of opinion about Allah. And so that aspect of Jahiliyyah is the idea that Jahiliyyah is a way of viewing the world. It's an opinion about the world. In Arabic, dhan usually means opinion. In the Quran it can mean opinion, it can also mean certainty. So it's a word that's nuanced. But generally it means opinion. So in the Quran Allah says that they had Jahili opinions about God. In other words their understanding of God was in accordance with Jahiliyyah not with truth.

Second Dimension: Jahiliyyah of Governance

And then Allah also says about Jahiliyyah:

Do they want the ruling of Jahiliyyah? Do they want the ruling of Jahiliyyah? And what is better than the ruling of God? Allah for people who understand this, who have certainty. So that's another type of Jahiliyyah which is you have a Jahili belief system and then you have Jahiliyyah as a way of governing your affairs.

The Prophet ﷺ for instance said that the people of Jahiliyyah were people that if a poor person did something, they punished them. But if a rich person did something, they let them off. So in our culture somebody like Madoff steals $60 billion and they put them under house arrest in a $7 million apartment. And somebody goes to a 7-Eleven and steals $100 and he goes right to jail without passing go and collecting $200 or anything. So that's Jahiliyyah. That is Jahiliyyah, to prefer rich people over other people just because they're rich.

That's the essence of Jahiliyyah in terms of the ruling. But there are other aspects of that. For instance Aisha (radiyAllahu anha) said that in Jahiliyyah people would have relationships and then they would have in order to determine the child, they had somebody who knew Qiyafah which is like looking at people and seeing oh his face is like this and he looks like that. And that's who would determine the lineage of a child. So they would go and they would judge and say you're the father. This is like an early DNA testing. It's a Jahiliyyah DNA testing. It's the same idea. It's a paternity suit.

The men are differing about or the woman claims one of these is the father. So they bring the Jahiliyyah scientist and he looks in the face and he says you're the father. Because of some kind of genetic relationship that he sees based on that science. Because that's a knowledge to see qualities in people's faces. That's a ruling of Jahiliyyah.

Third Dimension: Jahiliyyah of Culture

And then Allah says to the women:

Stay in your houses to the women of the Prophet specifically. In other words don't go out for other than necessities. Because we know that the Prophet's women were allowed to go out for their necessities. But they were not encouraged to go out simply to go out. Because society has its problems. That was more specific to the women of the Prophet ﷺ because of their maqam.

And Sayyidina Umar said to the Prophet:

That good people and bad people come in and I would prefer that your women were not exposed to people. Because some people come in with bad thoughts. And after that the ayat al-hijab came down. Before the ayat al-hijab the women were exposed. Because a lot of the doors of the Arabs did not have even curtains on them. So

the women would be cooking. Somebody could walk by and see the wives of the Prophet ﷺ in the house. After that they were told to go behind the curtain. And this was something that the Prophet implemented.

For other women it's encouraged also that they not go out to the malls just to walk around. To look around. That you go out with intention specific. So this type of Jahiliyyah which is called Tabaruj is the Jahiliyyah of the culture. It's a cultural Jahiliyyah. So you have Jahiliyyah understanding. You have Jahiliyyah rulings. Then you have Jahiliyyah culture. So the culture becomes Jahiliyyah.

The Jahiliyyah culture is most embodied in the exploitation of women. And that's why that verse refers to women not coming out with their ornaments. Tabaruj in Arabic, Baraja means to manifest yourself. Which is why the Burj is a tower. Because it's something high people can see it. So Tabaruj is to be like a tower. To put yourself out there so people look at you. So it's to wear your ornaments.

Now they have this culture where women go to great extents to enhance whatever they feel they don't have. In terms of their ornaments. So they'll go and pay a doctor to make them appear different from the way they were created. In order to attract the attention of onlookers or something like that. Whatever they do it. There's people that dress to entice other people. There's nothing wrong with dressing well, with dressing appropriately. But when you dress to seduce people, that's Jahiliyyah. That's Jahiliyyah. When you dress to get the eyes of people to look at you, that's Jahiliyyah. And so Allah warns against that.

Fourth Dimension: Jahiliyyah of Behavior and Attitude

The final verse in which Allah describes Jahiliyyah is the Jahiliyyah of behavior and attitude. So you have Jahiliyyah of understanding. The way of thinking, your views about things can be Jahiliyyah. Your rulings, your governance can be Jahiliyyah. Your culture can be Jahiliyyah. And then your behavior can be Jahiliyyah. So Allah says about the Jahiliyyah people:

When those who disbelieved, they filled their hearts with Hamiyyah. And the Hamiyyah causes a behavior. When your heart's filled with Hamiyyah. And Hamiyyah according to the people of the Arabic language, they say it's Anafah - arrogance. Eba - filled with oneself to the point where they disregard others. Nakhwah - ostentatiousness. This Hamiyyah that Allah talks about is related to arrogance. Is arrogance.

The Nature of Arrogance

Now arrogance is a quality that most people are unaware of in themselves. But they see it in other people. And they don't like it. People do not like arrogance by nature. Even arrogant people do not like other arrogant people. Arrogance is to see yourself better than other people. And this is at the essence of Jahili culture. It's when you believe that you're better than others.

Allah's Criterion: Taqwa Over Lineage

The Prophet ﷺ said that on Yawmul Qiyamah, Allah will place a caller:

You made your lineage and God made His lineage. You made your lineage and God made His lineage. Allah made His lineage:

The most noble of you in God's sight are the people of taqwa. That's the nasab of God. That's the lineage of God. The people of taqwa are the noblest people. But you refuse to accept the lineage of God and continue to say so and so is better than so and so because he's the son of so and so.

So Allah got rid of this idea which is a jahli idea. It's a jahli idea that somebody is better than somebody because of the color of their skin, because of the amount of their wealth, because of the amount of their influence or power, because of their lineage. Whatever reason they think they're better than somebody, Allah made the standard of what makes a person better than other people taqwa of Allah. And Allah on the tongue of his messenger told us through revelation:

Where taqwa is - and he pointed to his heart three times. You can fool people with your outward prayer, whatever you do, you can make people think that you're a person of taqwa, but Allah knows our reality and that reality will be manifest on the day of judgment.

The Day of Reckoning

That's the day when there's no lineage, there's no wealth, there's no parentage, there's no power. All of those things go. The people that wore their Armani suits or their suits that were handmade from silk are stripped naked. They don't have their Rolex watches, they don't have their diamond rings. All the women that filled themselves with all the outward pomp and circumstance of this life, it's all stripped away from them.

When Aisha was told that people would be stripped naked on the day of judgment, she said, won't people be looking at each other, Ya Rasulullah? And he said, it's a much greater matter than that to preoccupy them. It's a much greater matter than that to preoccupy them. Nobody's gonna be looking at anybody else or checking them out on that day. That day is nafs-e-nafs because it's the fire or it's the garden. That's it.

So Allah says, you refuse to follow my standard or my criterion which is taqwa of Allah:

Today, all of lineage is set aside and my lineage stands firm, where are the people of taqwa. That's what Allah says. Where are the people of taqwa?

Qualities of the People of Taqwa

The people of taqwa have qualities. Among the qualities is humility. Allah says:

He's in no need of any of us. If you turn away from this religion, He will bring other people. God loves them and they love God. مَحَبَّةً - That's the essence of their relationship. Not fear. Not fear. That's not the essence of their relationship.

They're not worshiping Allah because they're afraid of getting burnt in the fire. They're worshiping Allah because they love Allah. That's the essence of their relationship with Allah. It is love. The fear that a child has for the father is a fear of love. It's not a fear of hatred. It's a fear of disappointing the father because the child loves the father so much. That's the fear. That's the fear of a believer towards Allah.

It's that God is worthy of Taqwa:

He is worthy of Taqwa, of piety, of dutiful obedience, of being aware of what He's asking of people and then attempting to fulfill that. So on that day, Allah sets aside all of the criteria and standards of dunya and sets a new criteria: Taqwa.

At the essence of that is love and humility:

They are humble before other believers. They have humility before the believers and they have عِزَّةٌ which is dignity in the presence of disbelievers. They don't lower their standards for disbelievers.

Understanding Kufr in the Quran

Now, kufr is a problematic word in the Quran, because it's a nuanced word in the Quran. Kufr, and there's a difference of opinion amongst our theologians. Is kufr a state in any given moment? That's the Maturidi opinion. Is it a state in any given moment? Or is it something that continues on throughout the life of a person irrespective of whatever they claim to be at any given time? That's a debate amongst scholars.

Some say that iman, that you are a mu'min with Allah, whether or not you're in a state of kufr at any specific time in your life. In other words, Umar was always a mu'min with Allah, because he was going to believe even when he was opposing the Prophet. So those are the two opinions, which is why they debated about whether you can say, I'm a mu'min in sha Allah.

You see,

because the Maturidi said, you can't say that. You have to believe that you are a mu'min at the moment that somebody asks you, are you a believer? Whereas the Ash'ari people said, no, somebody doesn't know what their end is. So they're hoping that their end will be with Allah as a believer. And that's why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sahih Muslim 974)

In sha Allah. Everybody knows they're gonna die, but we don't know if we're gonna be in the abode of believers. So that hadith indicates the strength of the position of the second opinion.

Dealing with Others

So kufr is a nuanced word in the Quran. Many people out there that you see, they are in an outward state of kufr, but their inward reality, we don't know. And that's why Allah says, to show ghilbah to the people that oppose you, the people that fight you. Whereas the people that don't oppose you, you treat them well. You smile in their face. You encourage them. You invite them. Because that's the way you entice people to listen to the truth.

The Prophet was always with good cheer with people, even when he was calling non-Muslims to Islam, he did it with good cheer. He wasn't angry:

If you were angry and harsh and cruel by your nature, nobody would have ever come around you. صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم - humility.

Arrogance Blocks Divine Guidance

Now the worst aspect of arrogance, the very worst quality that is in arrogance, is that those who display arrogance are completely deprived of the signs of Allah. Allah says in the Quran that He will:

I will divert my signs from those who are arrogant without any right to be arrogant. And then if they see all my signs, they won't believe in it:

وَإِن يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الرُّشْدِ لَا يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًا

If they see the clear path, if they see guidance, they won't take that path:

وَإِن يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الْغَيِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًا

And if they see the path of untruth that takes people away, they will take it as a path. Why?

ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ

That is because they denied our signs. They denied our signs out of arrogance. They denied our signs and they were heedless - غَفْلَةٌ.

Imam Al-Junaid's Teaching on Arrogance

And this is why Imam Al-Junaid, the great, they call him Imam Al-Ta'ifatain because he was a great faqih but he was also a great spiritual master, Imam Al-Junaid said before learning about God, you have to empty your heart of arrogance. In traditional, when you study traditional science, they say:

أَهَمُّهَا عَقَائِدٌ ثُمَّ فُرُوعٌ

The most important thing is learning aqeedah and then you learn fiqh. I learned:

أَنْ يَعْرِفَ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ بِالصِّفَاتِ مِمَّا نُصِبَ عَلَيْهِ الْآيَاتُ وَاجِبًا أَوْ ذَنِ

To know Allah and His Messenger. This is what they teach. If you go any traditional madrasa training, first thing you learn, aqeedah because that's وَاجِبًا أَوَّلًا - obligatory first.

Imam Al-Junaid said, the first thing that you should teach somebody is what the signs of arrogance are and teach them how to fight those signs in themselves because if they're not doing that actively, it's a waste of time to teach them anything else because even if they learn the information, they won't have the knowledge. They won't have the knowledge. Arrogance is a disease.

The Prohibition of Arrogance

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said once, he said:

(Sahih Muslim 91)

No one will enter Paradise if they have an atom, an atom's weight of arrogance in their heart. One atom's weight will prevent you from entering into Paradise. One atom's weight.

One of the Sahaba said:

قَالَ الرَّجُلُ : يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ ، الرَّجُلُ يُحِبُّ أَنْ يَكُونَ ثَوْبُهُ حَسَنًا وَنَعْلُهُ حَسَنَةً، أَمِنَ الْكِبْرِ؟

He said, Ya Rasulullah, O Messenger of God, one of us, a man loves to have nice clothes. He likes to have nice sandals. Is that arrogance? He said:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ جَمِيلٌ يُحِبُّ الْجَمَالَ الْكِبْرُ بَطَرُ الْحَقِّ وَغَمْطُ النَّاسِ

Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Arrogance is to reject the truth when it's presented to you and it is to have contempt for your fellow human beings. غَمْطُ النَّاسِ - the people. Not غَمْطُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ - having arrogance for your fellow human beings because everybody on this planet was brought here by the same Lord, given the same intellect, the same two eyes, the same tongue.

The Problem of Contemporary Muslim Attitudes

There's a lot of Muslims that talk about Kufar as if everybody's just kafir and Muslim and that's the way you're created because:

This religion's been with the Muslims for too long. Their hearts have become hard. They forget that the Sahaba were all converts. The Sahaba were all converts. They converted to Islam. They weren't born in Islam. They were born in Jahiliyyah. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had the patience, the love, the care, the concern and the forbearance to put up with all their arrogance, with all their Jahiliyyah for 23 years until the entire Arabian Peninsula was in a state of Islam.

You have in the Messenger of Allah the best example. People won't put up for a person out here for 5 minutes talking about Islam. The Prophet put up with Abu Sufyan for almost 20 years fighting him but still calling him to Islam until he finally became Muslim. And when he entered into Mecca even though Abu Sufyan had fought him all those years he honored Abu Sufyan:

مَنْ دَخَلَ بَيْتَ أَبِي سُفْيَانَ فَهُوَ آمِنٌ

Whoever enters into the house of Abu Sufyan is in a state of security. Subhanallah. Because the Prophet didn't have this arrogance in his heart - حَشَاهُ

The Prophet's Warning Against Arrogance

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

(Sunan Abi Dawud 5116)

There are people that will boast and have arrogance about their ancestors. We're Muslims or my parents were so-and-so, my grandfather so-and-so, I'm so-and-so, I'm such-and-such. And he was talking about the jahili Arabs but also by extent anybody that's arrogant about their parents.

And then he said about the jahili Arabs. He said:

وَإِنَّهُمْ فَحْمٌ مِنْ فَحْمِ جَهَنَّمَ

This is coal for the fire. And then he said:

أَوْ لَيَكُونَنَّ أَهْوَنَ عَلَى اللهِ مِنَ الْجُعْلِ الَّذِي يُدَهْدِهُ الْخَرَاءَ بِأَنْفِهِ

Or they're less significant than the dung beetle that is rolling the piece of crap with his nose. God has removed from you this arrogance of jahiliyya - أَذْهَبَ عَنْكُمْ. But that has to be on your understanding, on your rulings, on

your culture and on your behavior. He has removed this jahiliyya from you.

And then he said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3955)

Human beings are either believers of piety or disbelievers that are profligate, arrogant, wretched. All of you are from Adam. And Adam was created from dust.

Conclusion

So arrogance is a major problem.

أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ

I say this and I seek forgiveness from Allah for me and for you.

إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ سَأَقُومُ بِخُطْبَةٍ. جَزَاكُمُ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ

If Allah wills, I will deliver the khutbah. May Allah reward you with goodness. Peace be upon you.

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