Purifying one’s heart is a critically important matter for all
believers, as the Qur’an and teachings of our Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon
him) emphasize, but for one traveling the path of sacred knowledge it is
an even more crucial endeavor. This is because the state of one’s
heart has a very real effect on how one perceives knowledge and how it
manifests in one’s deeds.
When one’s heart is sound, knowledge can be
absorbed and understood properly and enlighten and illuminate one’s
inner state. It then has a positive and meaningful effect on one’s
intellect and limbs, such that it can bring benefit to oneself and
others. This is perhaps one of the reasons why everything on earth—even
the ants in their hills and the fish in the sea—prays for the religious
scholar, as a prophetic tradition teaches . The benefit of their knowledge has far-reaching effects and touches them all.
On the other hand, when one’s heart is not sound and is plagued by
spiritual ailments, the knowledge one attains can actually bring about
serious harm. It can become an obstacle that blocks and impedes one’s
path to Allah
subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) in various
ways, and can hurt others if that knowledge is misinterpreted,
misapplied or misused. These abuses of knowledge are often done on an
unconscious level, the spiritual causes of which—related to the
heart—are often overlooked.
The spiritual heart has been likened to a mirror. If a mirror has
not been polished and contains certain blemishes and distortions, it
will reflect objects in a faulty and distorted way. The reflection will
be in accordance to the state of the mirror, and not the reality of the
object itself. In the same way, spiritual ailments and contaminants
that plague and darken the heart, disconnecting it from Allah (swt) and
occupying it with negative characteristics, can mar and distort one’s
perceptions of knowledge and one’s ability to distinguish between truth
and falsehood, good and bad, and beauty and ugliness.
It is for this reason that one must couple one’s devotion to the
Islamic sciences with a deep commitment to the spiritual purification
and nourishment of one’s heart. Imam Nawawi advised, “Purify your
hearts (for knowledge) the way land is purified for cultivation.” And
the great scholar and
tabi`i (follower) Uways al-Qarni said succinctly, “Keep watch over your heart.” (“
Alayka bi qalbik.”)
On Arrogance & Pride
One of the most common spiritual ailments of the student of sacred
knowledge is arrogance and blameworthy pride. Such pride does not
necessarily consist of dressing or acting in a dignified manner, but as a
tradition of the Prophet ﷺ teaches, it is “to reject the truth and to
have contempt for people.”
One may wonder how a student of sacred knowledge—who has dedicated
him or herself to understanding and learning the truth—could reject or
disdain that truth. Such a distaste or dislike may come to one’s heart
when the truth contradicts one’s own understanding or one’s deeds. It
is at the moment when we are confronted with our own errors, failings or
missteps that we may feel a hostility or resentment towards truth.
We
may dislike being corrected, or turn a blind eye to the soundness of
another opinion in order to defend our own position or that of the group
to which we ascribe. Confident in our own understanding, beliefs or
actions, we may work to manipulate or alter the truth to suit our own
interests and desires, instead of seeking to submit to and accept it.
If one feels anger or resentment when one is corrected or shown the
truth of another opinion, this is a sign of blameworthy pride. If one
feels an inner resistance to accepting the truth at the expense of one’s
own ego, reputation, or image, this is a sure sign of misplaced
priorities and a prideful heart.
One should remind oneself of the
serious danger of pride—an atom’s weight of which will bar one from
Paradise, as we learn from a prophetic tradition
—and about which Allah (swt) says in a sobering warning in the Qur’an,
“I will turn away from My signs those who are arrogant upon the earth
without right.” (
7:146)
If one is unable to accept criticism or advice from others, or is
overly sensitive to the way one is given advice, this too is a sign of
pride that needs to be remedied. One’s focus should be on one’s own
self and not on the one correcting and advising.
One should actually
feel relief and happiness when shown one’s mistakes and given the
opportunity to rectify them. Imam Al-Ghazali likened a companion who
points out one’s mistakes to
kibreet al-ahmar, a very rare
natural material, while the noble companion `Umar said, “May Allah have
mercy on the one who gives me the gift of showing me my defects and
weaknesses!”
The second element of arrogance the Prophet ﷺ mentioned is having
contempt for others. A student dedicated to the study of the sacred
sciences and who is often immersed in high-level discourse and ideas may
begin to feel a sense of superiority over others, and consider them and
their concerns lowly, unimportant or irrelevant.
One may also feel a
sense of self-righteousness when considering others who are sinful or
evidently heedless of religious practice. The fact that one may be
shown a level of respect and deference due to one’s knowledge may also
feed into this feeling of being better than others.
One of the biggest pitfalls arrogance causes a student of knowledge
to fall into is a feeling of entitlement. One may begin to see their
knowledge or accumulation of good deeds as a result of their own
abilities, and as a guarantee to Paradise, an immediate access to gnosis
of Allah Most High, or a legitimate license for contempt and disdain of
others.
This folly is what a person of wisdom alluded to in their
statement that sometimes “the thickest veils between man and Allah are
the wise man’s wisdom, the worshiper’s worship, and the devotion of the
devout.”
The great 18
th century scholar Uthman dan Fodio stated
that self-recognition is one of the most important keys to curing
arrogance. One should contemplate on the fact that one came into being
from non-existence—a state of complete insignificance, ‘a thing
unremembered’—and was then created from something base and lowly (earth)
and then a thing unclean (a drop of sperm).
This is our origin, until
Allah (swt) granted us faculties and senses, and brought us from a state
of death to life, incapacity to capacity, and from ignorance into
awareness and knowledge. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an,
“And Allah has extracted you from the wombs of your
mothers not knowing a thing, and He made for you hearing and vision and
intellect, that perhaps you would be grateful.” (
16:78)
One must remember that any good deed one has been able to perform,
any knowledge one has been able to attain, is from the grace and
tawfeeq
(facilitation) of Allah (swt) alone and not from our own selves. Deep
consideration of our humble origins and the reality of the Source of our
knowledge can help us overcome our arrogance.
In this spirit of self-realization, one should also call to mind
one’s sins and realize that one holds an honorable position among people
only because Allah (swt), from His compassion, has concealed one’s sins
and misdeeds. Being able to deliver a heart-moving lecture,
masterfully quote prophetic narrations or recite Qur’an in a beautiful
voice may inspire the admiration of people, but it is Allah (swt) who
knows whether one’s own heart has actually been moved, whether one
abides by those narrations in solitude and if those sacred words have
gone ‘past the throat’ and have had a meaningful effect on one’s limbs.
There is no place for arrogance or pretences when one considers their
true state before Allah (swt), and contemplates deeply on the bare and
exposed state one will find themselves in on the Day of Judgment.
One must further realize that it is not knowledge in and of itself
that grants a person a high rank with Allah (swt), but deeds that are
pleasing to Him both in their outward form and their inner reality.
Namely, it is the sincerity and mindfulness with which an act is done
that can make ‘a small deed great and a great deed small.’ We should
therefore be wary of underestimating the deeds of others and
exaggerating our own self-worth.
In addition, we do not know people’s
ends, and it may very well be that one who is now a sinner will develop a
deep sense of remorse and impoverishment before Allah (swt), and die in
a state of sincere repentance, while one seemingly headed for Paradise
will misstep and end up far distant from Him.
Hassan al-Basri used to say, “I will not leave a room until I feel
I’m the worst person in it.” We too should make this our attitude and
mindset when we deal with others, and remember often our true state.
Finally, an important way of counterbalancing pride in one’s heart is
to lower oneself to the very people one feels arrogance over, and to
seek out tasks which help break one’s ego and increase one in humbleness
and humility.
Some examples of such deeds could be:
- Initiating the greeting of salaam (peace), especially when one feels that they should be greeted first.
- Giving gifts and supplicating for those who point out one’s defects and faults.
- Being generous with one’s knowledge and teaching others, even in
subjects that seem simplistic or below one’s level. Once, a scholar of
great learning passed away and was seen in a dream by one of his
students radiant and happy, wearing the garments of Paradise. The
student asked him, “What deed raised your rank in Paradise? Was it your
mastery of a particular science or understanding of a certain
high-level principle?” He responded, “I used to go to the village and
sit with some elderly illiterate women and teach them al-Fatiha. It was this deed that raised my rank in God’s sight.”
- Physically serving others, especially the elderly and the poor, in
tasks that are humbling to one’s ego. Some examples could be bending
down to give someone their shoes, cleaning a public or shared area for
which one is not usually responsible, cooking and serving a meal to
another, helping an elderly person wash or change their clothing, or any
other deed to which the ego may feel an aversion.
- One notable shaykh (scholar), who would often sit
with many powerful and influential people, was absent from his class one
day and his students found him cleaning the bathrooms of the masjid. He told them, “This is so that my ego remembers who it is.”
- Seeking to be in a state of Allah’s remembrance constantly, and
supplicating frequently for His refuge and protection from arrogance and
other spiritual ailments.
- Spending time in honest introspection and contemplation on one’s
inner state, thoughts, and deeds, and consciously renewing one’s
intentions. Imam al-Jurjani said, “Intentions are a spring the well of
which is sidq (a state of truthfulness and candor between
oneself and Allah, free of artifice and self-delusion) and only from it
does sincerity emerge.”
Conclusion
The great scholar and jurist Imam Shafi’i said, “None of you will
seek this knowledge with a domineering attitude and exaggerated self
worth and succeed. However, one who seeks this knowledge, struggles with
his/her soul, [enduring] strained provision and [struggles in the]
service to the scholars is successful.”
We ask Allah (swt), the Controller of hearts, to help us be in His
constant remembrance and to uproot arrogance, pride, and other spiritual
ailments from our hearts. O Allah, do not let us be of those who are
turned away from Your signs due to our arrogance. O Allah, make any
increase in knowledge we attain a means for us to draw closer to You and
refine our character and our hearts.
O Allah, let us be of those who
come to You on the Day of Judgment—the Day when neither wealth nor
children will avail us—with sound, pure and enlivened hearts.
Ameen.
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