Pride: Disease of the Heart (Part 1/3)
By Mufti Menk | 2026-01-11T22:28:59.037971+00:00 | Topic: Iman
Pride: Disease of the Heart (Part 1/3)
Opening Invocation
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.
Quranic Recitation
"The kingdom on that day will belong to the Most Merciful. And it will be a difficult day for the disbelievers. And on the Day when the wrongdoer will bite on his hands, he will say, 'Oh, I wish I had taken a way with the Messenger. Oh, woe to me, I wish I had not taken such a companion. He has led me astray from the remembrance after it came to me, and Satan is to man a betrayer.' And the Messenger will say, 'O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Quran as abandoned.' And thus have We made for every prophet an enemy of the criminals. And sufficient is your Lord as a guide and a helper. And those who disbelieve will say, 'Why has the Quran not been sent down to him in one portion?' Thus it is, that We may strengthen thereby your heart, and We have arranged it in an orderly manner. And they will not give you an example except that We bring you the truth and the best explanation. Those who will be gathered on their faces to Hell, those are the worst in position and the most astray from the path." Allah Almighty has spoken the truth.
Introduction and Greetings
The one whom Allah chose to be the messenger of this particular ummah. May Allah's blessings be upon him and all those whom Allah chose to be his companions. And his followers, may Allah bless us all as well and our offspring, those to come up to the last day.
May Allah keep us steadfast on this particular goodness. And may Allah protect us from every form of evil. Honored ulama and beloved brothers and sisters, we meet once again asking Allah to have mercy upon us.
And asking Allah to grant us a lesson. The idea of my visit to Sri Lanka is to share the goodness of this religion in a way that we become better human beings. We become better people and better Muslims.
Understanding Islam's Comprehensive Nature
And we understand our religion for indeed having studied several religions, maybe not in the depth of those who are following those religions, but to a certain extent, I guarantee you that Islam has much more teachings than any other religion. Just like the examples I've given in the past. And remember these examples we give are only to bring it close to our mind.
Sometimes and most of the time, they do not fit exactly 100%. But they are only to bring them or to bring the point being made closer to our minds. I have given the example of government schools and private schools in my part of the world.
The government schools are good, we are not saying they are bad, but they don't have as many rules and regulations as private schools mostly. And you find with the private schools, they have so many rules and regulations, nobody gets fed up of those rules and regulations. They know the more the rules, the better the school.
I want to say, the more the rules, the better the religion. May Allah grant us that understanding. So let us never ever think to ourselves that Islam has a lot of rules.
Too many rules, too many regulations, it is difficult for us. No, it makes us better people. This evening we are discussing the issue or the topic of arrogance and pride.
The Disease of Pride and Arrogance
And the diseases of the heart. The worst disease that the heart can have is the disease of arrogance and pride. Firstly, we need to know what is the meaning of arrogance.
And what is the meaning of pride. Then we also need to know what does it lead to. Because pride and arrogance, sometimes a person has these qualities in their heart without knowing.
And sometimes we miscalculate and misjudge that others are proud and arrogant, without knowing what the meaning of pride and arrogance is. Then when we do not seek remedy for this habit or quality of the heart, it begins to show in our actions. And it begins to show in our physical life.
And it destroys us completely. So it is important for us to know how serious the crime is. But firstly we need to diagnose.
And we will not be able to diagnose without knowledge of symptoms. And the knowledge of symptoms will not come to us until we do not have a definition of what arrogance is. So let us commence without wasting time.
The Prophet's Definition of Pride
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) once asked his companions, that do you know what is pride? Do you know what is pride? He explained to them, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. He
(Sahih Muslim 91)
"He will not enter paradise in whose heart is even a mustard seed's weight of pride."
He will not enter paradise.
He will need to go to hellfire first in order to burn off all the bad qualities of the heart that he has. And then he will be able to enter paradise only after that. But if someone has a mustard seed weight worth of pride in their heart, they will not enter paradise.
No room for them. So the companions asked the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) O Messenger, may peace be upon him. O Messenger, we love to wear good clothing and to have good conveyance, which means the horses that we ride.
In today's time it would probably mean the vehicles that you have, and the clothing we have, and the material item we have. So Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says, that is not pride. To wear the best clothing is not pride.
It is in fact confirming Allah's gift upon you. And I am diverting to another narration. There was once a man who walked in to the gathering where the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) was present.
Distinction Between Pride and Enjoying Allah's Blessings
And he was wearing tatty clothing. Tatty meaning it had some patches and so on. Now the Messenger, peace be upon him, asked him, that why are you wearing tatty clothing? What do you have? What has Allah blessed you with in terms of wealth? He said, I have lots of livestock.
You know, sheep and goats and so on, livestock. So the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) sent him away and told him, wear something which will show that Allah has given you. Don't be a rich man wearing poor clothing.
(Tirmidhi 2819)
"Let the effect of Allah's blessing upon you be seen."
So that has nothing to do with pride. When you wear the best clothing, you have the best vehicle, mashallah with good mag wheels which will hold the road, and you have few extras which make your car shine, you want to wash it everyday, and move around with a good vehicle, that singularly does not make you proud.
Which means, on its own, that does not constitute pride. You can have the best clothing, you can wear top clothing, good watch, nice pen, very lovely sunglasses, everything can be perfect, lovely shoes, everything good, mashallah. That on its own does not make you proud.
Or arrogant. And you can have the best house with beautiful cutlery and nice facility, air conditioning and all that, that on its own does not make you proud. So what is pride? The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) continues.
The Two Definitions of Pride in Islam
He says, do you know what is pride? It is : (الْكِبْرُ بَطَرْ الْحَقِّ وَغَمْطُ النَّاسِ) "Pride is rejecting the truth and despising people." (Sahih Muslim 91) Remember these two things and don't ever forget them. Pride is two things in Islam. According to sharia, the definition of pride is two things.
To reject the truth and to reject justice, that is the first thing. To reject the truth, that would include justice and to reject everything that is correct, that is pride. Number one.
The second quality is: (غَمْطُ النَّاسِ) "To despise people," to think lowly of people, to treat people in a very cheap way, that is pride. So these are the two things. Now we want to look into our lives.
Do we reject the truth when it comes to us, male and female? The truth is what Allah has revealed. The truth in dispute is what we know the truth is. Many times people know what the truth is, but they deny it.
To deny the truth is called pride. And Allah says, if you have a mustard weight of that in your heart, you do not have a place in paradise yet. You need to go first via and come.
Personal Anecdote About Travel
I heard lately that there are now flights directly from Johannesburg to Colombo. MashaAllah. Next time it will be easier for us to travel.
When you are coming via, believe me it's not a joke. It's long hours and suffering in order to come to a place like this. Some people ask me, where are you going? I said Sri Lanka.
Where is that? Some people think it is in South America. Whilst others are thinking maybe it is near Malaysia, Far East Asia. The truth is, no matter where it is, for the purpose of deen we will go.
And remember one thing as I said, and I want to make this clear. My purpose of being here is solely to make me a better person and you. A better Muslim.
The Importance of Reminders
To try and become better Muslims, it is impossible to be a better Muslim without knowing what your religion teaches you. And without going through it. Sometimes we know some of these points.
"Remind, for indeed, the reminder will benefit the believers." Every day your father tells you, please, don't be late for school.
Please, come back on time. Please, eat properly. They tell you to eat properly even when you are eating properly in order to ensure perfection.
May Allah grant us understanding. Don't be upset when someone corrects you even when you are right. We have an attitude nowadays human beings, if someone says, brother, walk straight.
You say, what? Am I walking crooked? Why do we need to say that? Someone says, brother, make sure you are eating with your right hand. Does it look like I'm eating with my left? That type of attitude, a true mu'min should not have. When our parents are telling us something, when others are telling us something, we should not presume that they are telling us because we are already on the wrong side.
Sometimes they are reminding us to cheer us on, on the good path. May Allah keep us steadfast. So Allah says, keep on reminding.
These reminders are there to make us better people.
The First Crime: Iblis's Pride
Remember, what was the first crime committed? It's a question asked. What was the first crime committed? And who was it committed by? Let me answer the second one before the first.
It was committed by Iblis. Iblis who is the Adam, or should I say the head, the leader, the first of those who are rebellious, shayateen, the father of the shayateen, the head of all the devils, the head of all the satans. He was Iblis.
He committed the crime. And what was the crime? It was al-kibru. Kibru meaning pride, haughtiness, the feeling that I am better.
That is part of despising people. When you think cheap of people, you will reject them. If for example, every day we look at someone and spit in his direction, may Allah protect us.
One day, when he has developed some scientific discovery that he has found and developed an apparatus that is very very grand. We might say, no, not him, must be someone else. Automatically, why? Because we are used to despising him every day.
We are used to thinking very low of him. This is why Allah says, we are equal. Listen to the hadith: (النَّاسُ سَوَاسِيَةٌ كَأَسْنَانِ الْمِشْطِ) "People are equal like the teeth of a comb." (Musnad Ahmad 22978)
People are equal like the teeth of a comb. You cannot comb your hair with one tooth this way, one that way, one tall, one short, one big, one small. What will happen to your hair? You won't be able to comb it.
So people are equal like the teeth of a comb. Here you have Allah warning us.
Allah's Account of Iblis's Arrogance
"When we instructed the angels to prostrate to Adam, they all prostrated besides Iblis. He refused, and he was proud and arrogant. And as a result, he became one of the disbelievers."
He chose to be haughty, arrogant. And as a result, he became one of the kuffar. Kuffar meaning he disbelieved in Allah. He disbelieved. Because when Allah instructs you, and you reject the instruction, there are two things that happened here with Iblis.
Both the qualities we mentioned of pride are present in what we spoke about Iblis. Firstly, he refused to listen to the haq, to the truth from Allah, knowing that Allah is the creator. When Allah was the creator and the instruction came, it was his duty to surrender to it.
But he chose not to do that. Secondly, he despised Adam. And he said, who is this? Why must I prostrate to him? For what? He is worse than me.
Look what he says in another verse in the Quran, in Surah Al-A'raf. He says:
"I am better than him. You created me from fire, and him from clay."
I burn above. He settles on the ground at the bottom. If you take fire, you light it, and you put soil or dust on the other side, dust remains on the ground.
But what will happen to the fire? It begins to blow up. And the flame actually goes in the upward direction. So this was used by Iblis to justify I am better.
The Danger of Despising Others
He had both of these bad qualities in him. So Allah mentions this. And this is why we say, the person who has the quality of despising others, and thinking cheap of others, either because they are darker in complexion, or because they are not that good looking, or because they are not that wealthy, or because they don't have that much knowledge, or because their education is not that much.
If we think lowly of them, we have in us a quality of the devil and Satan himself. If we do not check the quality, and do not remove it, and it requires a great effort to remove the quality, there may be a day that will come when we will regret. May Allah not do that to us.
So even if people are working for you, we treat them as equals. We might have to be above them to issue instructions, but with respect. When there are people working underneath you, or should I say under your authority, it is important for you to instruct them what to do, because you are the boss.
There is no harm for you to be the boss, but instruct them with respect. Don't treat them in a cheap manner. You also need to call them sir, how they call you sir, excuse me sir, yes sir, no problem.
Treat them with good words. My brother in Islam, if he is a Muslim, my brother, today we need to achieve this, please. It is a deadline, we must achieve it.
If you will not be able to achieve it today, there may be a penalization here. Look at how hard the words are, but they are polite in the sense that, firm but polite. We are firm because we have a deadline to meet for our company, but we are polite because we are speaking to a human being.
If Allah wanted, the tables could have been the other way around. Maybe your children might be working for his children, the other way around. It can happen.
Or later on, we need to understand, let us commence or start this trend of respecting one another, and understanding that if Allah wanted, we could have been in the other's shoes, and inshaAllah we will be assisted in solving the matter. So Allah says, when we choose people to be the highest, we ensure that they don't have in them quality of pride and haughtiness. No quality of pride.
They will never reject the truth. They will not be too proud to accept what is right. They will not want to be higher than where Allah has put them. They will not seek to degrade others. No.
The Example of the Best of People
So who are the best of people? If I were to ask you, who is the best person to have existed in this dunya? What is the one single name we can say? We can say, Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).
And after that, we have the messengers of Allah. We have five of them, five of the highest. They are known as ulul azmi min ar-rusul.
Ulul azm are the five who are higher than the rest of them. Right at the top we have Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Thereafter we have, listen to the verse::
"And We took from the prophets their covenant and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary." Those are the other four.
So we have Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and we have Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa and Isa. May peace be upon all of them. So those were the highest of the lot.
All the messengers were high, but these were higher than the others according to what we have learnt in the Quran. But Allah says, they were not proud, they were not arrogant. Look at Muhammad, may peace be upon him.
He was an orphan child, so he knows what it is like to be without a mother and a father. Then he was looked after by his grandfather. Then he was looked after by his uncle.
And Allah blessed him with prophethood, (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Allah blessed him with prophethood. And this is hope for those who are young and who might be orphans.
And those who are downtrodden, don't worry, it is those type of people whom Allah chooses to go far beyond the others. When Allah chooses someone, it does not necessarily mean He gives them the dunya. Sometimes He gives them deen, He gives them religion.
Not necessarily the worldly material life.
The Humility of Jesus and the Angels
So Allah says here, regarding Isa, or Jesus may peace be upon him, in Surah An-Nisa:
"Jesus will not be too proud to accept the fact that he was a mere slave of Allah. He was a worshipper of Allah. And even the angels, they are not too arrogant and proud to deny the fact that they are messengers of Allah, and they are slaves of Allah."
So to use the word slave is not easy. But we are all slaves of Allah. We must not be too proud to confirm and admit that we are the slaves of Allah. Our hands and our feet and our necks are in total control of Allah.
If He wants, He can paralyze us. If He wants, He can grant us good life. May Allah bless us all.
So if these people who were very high were not arrogant, they did not deny the fact that they too were the slaves of Allah, who are we? May Allah open our doors.
Signs of Arrogance in Daily Life
Then Allah speaks about some of the qualities that a person with pride will have. You will pick it up in yourself if you have pride with these qualities.
And you may pick up from others if you need to be careful and warned because we need good company. We must not be in the company of those who are haughty and those who have pride because when the punishment comes, it may overtake all of us. We need to be simple down to earth people.
People who are, alhamdulillah, satisfied with whatever Allah has given them. Look at what Allah says in surah al-A'raf:
"Those people who belied our signs and they were too arrogant to accept them. They are the companions of the Fire."
What that means is when the signs of Allah, when the verses of Allah are read to us, we must not be too arrogant to surrender to the verse of Allah. Sometimes you have verses that are read to you or the laws of Islam are made clear to you. And sometimes you find a person saying, no, I disagree with that.
How can you disagree with what your creator is telling you? You cannot disagree with that. You might want to say, that look I am weak, maybe I am not yet able to adopt this, but I admit that it is the truth. That is still a weakness, but it is easier to deal with that than to deal with a person who is in denial.
Examples of Rejecting Divine Guidance
We take for example, there are many rulings, I don't know there is one that has just come to my mind now. Let us say the issue of polygamy for example. Sometimes you have women folk who say, that no, this is not the law of Allah.
You know we disagree with it. If that is the case, they are throwing one verse of the Quran away. If we throw one verse of the Quran away, what will happen to us? What is going to be our condition? That is pride.
That is arrogance. That is rejection of the truth. This is what we are talking about.
Even if you are wearing the simplest of clothing, but you have denied a verse of Allah, that is pride. This is a quality of Iblis. Rather, if a person is weak, and they say, that look, I am weak, I might not be able to live in this situation, but I do admit it is the law of Allah.
They have a problem and a weakness, which is easier to deal with than one who denies the verse in totality. I hope we are following here. So, let us understand.
Let me give you another example. There are several places in the Quran where Allah has prohibited music. And I'm going to say this loud and clear, though I know there is a growing number of people who are trying to debate it, but that is also a prophecy of the Prophet peace be upon him, where he says:
"A time will come when people will consider permissible some things that are prohibited, such as adultery... and musical instruments." (Sahih Bukhari 5590)
It is a long hadith where the Prophet says there will come a time when people will consider permissible some things that are prohibited, such as adultery. They will use different names, they will call it mut'a, they will call it something else, temporary marriage and what have you. They will name it with different names and consider it permissible. And al-harira means they will consider the wearing of feminine clothing for males permissible, and male clothing for females permissible.
And they will say there is nothing wrong with this. (وَالْمَعَازِفَ - meaning musical instruments). They will consider them permissible.
Now, that is a narration of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم), but there are verses in the Quran which prove that music is haram. If you have a person who says, look, I listen to music but I know it's haram, make dua for me that I leave it. That is bad, but it is not as bad as a person who says, no, nothing wrong with music.
Are you looking at the difference here? We ask Allah to open our understanding. And sometimes we have a verse that is clearly read to us. We know we understand it according to the Arabic language of the
Arabs.
And we understand it according to how the companions have understood it. But still we find ourselves denying to say, no, that is not what it means. This is what it means.
It has a different meaning. Where we come across the globe 1400 years down the line thinking we are the first people to discover the meaning of this verse. How dare, may Allah forgive us.
So Allah warns us in this regard to say, those people who deny the truth, our verses, and they are arrogant because of that, they will enter hell fire. May Allah not do that to us.
The Need to Listen to Others
Then Allah says, there are certain people who are arrogant and haughty. What is the habit of theirs? They want to control everything. Everything must happen according to you. This quality comes in us, in our own circle sometimes.
Sometimes in the house we have a habit, everything must happen according to what I want. So we say, no, do this. Someone says, but please, do this. But you know, no, don't say but. Why? What type of attitude is this? That is arrogance. Or it is the beginning of arrogance.
Why do you want everything your way? You must listen to other people. One of the signs of arrogance is when people don't want to listen to what others have to say. Sometimes you might have an opinion and others have a better opinion.
The Prophet's Example of Listening to Others
Look at Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam), our masterpiece. The one whom we follow. When it came to the battle of Badr, one of the companions asked him, O messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam), have we decided to camp in this place because it is revelation from the heaven that was instructing you for us to camp here, or is it your own opinion? So he said, no, it is my own opinion.
So the sahabi said, if it is your own opinion, I have a suggestion. Nabi (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, what is your suggestion? Look at how down to earth he was. He was the leader, he was the best of creation.
He was assisted by Jibreel. He was given revelation by Allah. And still he said, what is your opinion? And then he was told, if it is your own view, then I think let us stop on this ground which is rocky.
Because here we have stopped in the sandy land and if it rains it will become all muddy and our horses will get stuck. When we stop at the rocky land and it rains, our horses will still begin to move and here there is water, so we will be able to block the water from the enemy. What did Nabi (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam) say? He instructed the army to move into that place.
Amazing! He changed his whole opinion because of the saying of one companion. It was easy for Allah to tell him from the beginning to go there. But Allah wanted us to learn a lesson, that look, the one who knew he was the best, he still listened to other people's opinions and where they were correct, he still gave it up and he went there.
How many of us are ready to listen to the opinions of others whom we know are below us? We are not talking of someone senior, someone below us.
Look at Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - sallallahu alayhi wasallam). When the enemy came to attack in Medina, he asked his companions of a plan. Many of them suggested many things. What did he do? He listened to all the opinions. Then he came up with the opinion of Salman al-Farisi (رضي الله عنه - radiyallahu anhu) and he dug a trench round parts of Medina Munawwara.
Hence it is known as the battle of the trench. Whose opinion was that? It was one of the companions. How did he get it? By listening.
So, one of the qualities that show the beginning of arrogance in a person and sometimes it can lead to full blown arrogance is when we are not prepared to listen to the views of others. And Allah warns us in this regard. And Allah says, there are certain people who want to control absolutely everything.
The Story of Prophet Salih and His People
"The arrogant ones among his people said to those who were oppressed - to those who believed among them, 'Do you [actually] know that Salih is sent from his Lord?'"
This is a very deep conversation that Allah has in surah al-A'raf where he is making mention of the people of Salih (عليه السلام - alayhi as-salam). And how there were people who followed him and there were others who were very arrogant and very haughty.
They told those who followed Salih may peace be upon him that, do you know that this is the messenger? We are denying this message. Why are you not also denying the message by following us? There were some who followed them, some who didn't. Those who believed in the message of Salih may peace be upon him, they were saved.
They didn't follow those who were instructing them. Normally people think that money spoils you. When you have lots of wealth it makes you bad. That is not true. In Islam you can have lots of wealth but still you can be down to earth.