Pride: A Lesson from Shayṭaan – Hazrat Moulana Maseehullah رحمه الله

Shayṭaan has left us an exemplary lesson! He has not done anything for himself. Whatever transgression he committed is a different issue.

However, he has left us a very huge lesson, in that he has proclaimed: ‘Oh you group of scholars! Oh you group of worshippers! Just look at me! Was I in any way deficient in knowledge? Why do scholars become overawed with my knowledge? Why are they terrified? Did I lack in knowledge in any way? I had abundant knowledge! Did I lack in any way as far as ʿibādat is concerned? My ʿibādat was unlimited! You cannot possibly make as much ʿibādat! Thousands of years I prostrated with my head in sajdah!’

Yes, he had even performed ʿibādat for thousands of years. So, what was lacking? The answer is: There was no tarbiyat (character reformation)! And the factor that was an obstacle to tarbiyat was takabbur (arrogance)! That is why I am saying that he has left us a lesson and has shown us that it is impossible that merely through teaching and learning, arrogance will go away and that through more and more ʿibādat, arrogance will go away. This just cannot happen. ‘Just look at me!’ is what shayṭān is telling us.

As more and more ẓāhirī (outer) means arise for carrying out good actions, so too does takabbur increase; as there is progress in ʿilm, so too does takabbur increase; as ʿibādat increases, so too does takabbur increase; as the means of worldly progress increase, so too does takabbur increase. As long as the special and specific measures are not adopted to remove the intoxicating effects of the sins of the inner self, this intoxication will not disappear. This nisbat (connection) is weak. This nisbat is a feeble connection.

(Majālis Masīḥul ʿUmmah: For Friends – Vol. 1, page 393)

It is not jā’iz (permissible) to be proud or boastful of any excellence that one may possess. That excellence is not self-generated: it is a gift from Allāh l. If such a gift can be snatched away without a person transgressing, what chances are there that the gift remains if one deliberately does wrong? The fear of a decline in that excellence should be ever present.

(Majālis Masīḥul ʿUmmah: For Friends – Vol. 1, page 194)