Humility

BRANCHES OF FAITH: HUMILITY (Part 3)

Arrogance & pride (Kibr) is the opposite of humility & modesty. It is a spiritual illness that makes the afflicted one consider himself superior to others due to his knowledge, social or economic status, appearance or any other blessing bestowed upon him by his Creator.

When describing this dispraised trait, our Prophet (ﷺ) said:

الْكِبْرُ بَطَرُ الْحَقِّ، وَغَمْطُ النَّاسِ

Arrogance means ridiculing and rejecting the Truth and belittling people.”

WHY IS IT SO DISLIKED?
Pride prevents one from acquiring the qualities of the believers, thus he cannot like for the believers that which he likes for himself, nor can he be humble, or avoid envy, or restrain his anger, or even accept good advice.

BRANCHES OF FAITH: HUMILITY (Part 2)

Humility before Allah implies having faith in Him and submitting to all His commandments and prohibitions. Prostrating and placing the forehead (essence of our ego) on the ground during prayer, is an acknowledgment of our lowliness and humility before the Lord of the Worlds.

One of the scholars said that humility before people is that you consider those older than you as superior to you and say ”they have preceeded me to Islam and righteous actions”. Likewise you belittle yourself before the young and say ”I have indeed preceded them to many sins and evil actions”.

Our Prophet ﷺ said:

‎{ مَا نَقَصَتْ صَدَقَةٌ مِنْ مَالٍ، وَمَا زَادَ اَللَّهُ عَبْدًا بِعَفْوٍ إِلَّا عِزًّا، وَمَا تَوَاضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلَّا رَفَعَهُ }

“Charity does not decrease wealth, and Allah increases the honor of him who forgives, and no one humbles himself for Allah’s sake except that Allah raises him in status/dignity” [Muslim].

BRANCHES OF FAITH: HUMILITY (Part 1)

In Arabic, the word التَّوَاضُع (Humility) is derived from الضَّعَة which literally means to be submissive and insignificant. In practice, it means that a believer should display his weakness & inability in relation to the greatness and power of Allah.

In English, the word “humility” comes from the Latin root word which means “ground.” Thus, being humble means to you lower yourself to the ground, not elevate yourself above others. Humility is to not see yourself as superior to others due to social status, education, ethnicity, or colour.

There are two types of humility in Islam: humility before our Creator, and humility towards His creation.
This humility comes from knowing Allah and recognising his greatness, while knowing oneself, faults and weaknesses.

The prophet (ﷺ) said:

‎”‏إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَوْحَى إِلَىَّ أَنْ تَوَاضَعُوا حَتَّى لاَ يَفْخَرَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أَحَدٍ وَلَا يَبْغِيَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أَحَدٍ.”

“Allah has revealed to me that you should humble yourselves to one another so that no person will boast over another nor commit injustice against another” [Muslim].