Begin by descending

Humility, a familiar word but the importance of it often goes unrecognised. With Humility and faith we will enter the garden of pure bliss. Without it we are just dust that refuses to be blown away. And how can dust have any pride?
To understand humility we need to understand its enemy; ‘arrogance’. Arrogance is a state in which we are convinced that we have the right to be above others. It is considered to be a disgraceful state. Arrogance and pride is one of the most debilitating and dangerous diseases of the heart. The refusal of Satan due to his deep rooted arrogance is a perfect example. If we are arrogant, we will obtain the anger of Allah (Glorified is He and Exalted). Therefore, arrogance is forbidden in Islam.

All of creation bows down in postration to Allah. The cattle in the meadow bow their humble necks as they sway to the melody of ‘Allah Hu’ in the wind. The hard rocks that break as they fall in fear and humilty towards their Lord. Looking with the eyes is not enough; the heart needs to touch the unseen realm.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stated that even if a person contains a small amount of arrogance in their heart, they will not enter Paradise:

“No-one will enter Paradise who has an atom’s weight of pride in their heart” (Muslim).

Allah says in the holy Quran “I will divert my signs from those who show arrogance without right” (Quran 7:146)

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf states in Purification of the Heart that in this verse:

“God recompenses the arrogant ones by turning them away from understanding His Book, His prophets, and His signs placed in the horizons and in one’s own self. (Yusuf, pg. 125)”

Just as we want Allah’s blessings for worldly riches and status, Humility is a beautiful gift from Allah that is to be sought after and begged for. Man is deprived of a great blessing if he is deprived of humbleness. Our nafs tries its best to implant arrogance in us, which in due course leads to our destruction. The best weapon against our nafs is to remind ourselves of our origins and then one begins to descend to the relative level.

The Holy Quran says that the servants of The Most Merciful should walk with humility upon the earth. Imam Ghazali (may Allah be well pleased with him) wrote on the humility of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that he would lean toward the ground so much that it seemed as if his head almost touched the ground.

However, there is one danger that accompanies humility, and that is the acknowledgment of one’s own humbleness. The great Sufi shaykh, Imam Ibn ‘Ata’Allah al-Iskandari said:

“If you’re aware of your own humility, then you are arrogant". (Yusuf, pg. 127)

We should raise our hands to ask Allah to place humility deep in our hearts and allow it to be reflected in all our actions. We should establish the same in our children because Allah loves humility.

Man needs to rid his heart of pride and arrogance and acquire a humble posture before he faces Allah on the Day of Judgment. May Allah help us all in exercising our nafs so that we become humble and to root out any arrogance from our character.

The kettle only fills the cup when its spout is lowered.
A shaykh can only benefit others when he lowers himself before Allah