The Etiquettes of Seeking Knowledge 10

بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم

The text حلية طالب العلم was done as a replacement for some of the earlier texts written on the same subject, with which scholars used to use when they first started their courses - to give a guideline to students seeking Islamic knowledge as to how they should conduct themselves.

5) Lower your wings and put arrogance and pride behind you

Pride and arrogance are diseases that destroy the benefits that may be accrued from study, as well as sabotages the process of conveying Islamic knowledge to others. 

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"من تواضع لله رفعه الله و من تكبر وضعه الله"

This is a raise in status given by Allah. And if Allah raises a person in status, many people will realize it, but not necessarily all. There may still be people in opposition to it, especially during times where Muslims have strayed from the right teachings and incorrect practices become so deep-rooted, that the scholar may be scorned, looked down up, and considered a heretic.

A classical example of this is Ibn Taymiya, who spent the last part of his life in jail, and passed away there. He played a part of the role of reviving the Deen at his time. The Prophet ﷺ said: 

"إن الله يبعث لهذه الأمّة على رأس كل مائة سنة من يجدّد لها دينها"

Although we cannot call him The Reviver or assume that he's the one Allah's speaking about, he did play a part of that role and was in the same vein. But he was scorned. But Allah raised him and his books are studied until today; huge benefits are being taken from writings he left behind. And his students became leading scholars of their own era and the era that followed them.

Amongst the things that Imam Adh-Dhahabi narrated in the biography of Amr bin AlAswad AlAnsee who died in the Khilaafah of Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan رحمة is "...that when he was leaving the Masjid he took his left hand with his right, so when he was asked about this he replied, 'out of fear they my hand will make a gesture of hypocrisy'

I say (i.e. adh-Dhahabi): He held it out of fear that his hand would swing (in a manner that  indicates pride); for such an action is considered haughtiness.

And this reaction from Al-Ansee happened unconsciously.

When people walk, it's known how hands swing. You could move your hands in a particular way that you can feel or make people feel that you're a person of stature. Amr Ibn AlAswad was so careful that he'd take his left hand in his right to prevent his hands from naturally moving that way, and this was an unconscious movement. This is another level that most of us never even think about. And it goes to show how wary and careful the early scholars were on the issue of haughtiness and pride.

Beware of the disease of the tyrants, for indeed pride, greed, and jealousy, are the first sins that Allah was disobeyed with. So your loftiness above your teacher is from pride, and arrogance towards someone who benefits you from amongst those who are lesser than you (in knowledge) is pride, and your shortcomings in practicing your knowledge is the sludge of pride, and a sign of deprivation (from the blessings of knowledge and prosperity)

Knowledge wars against the lofty youth                Just as the flood attacks the high place

So adhere - May Allah shower His mercy on you - to sticking to the ground, and pitying yourself, and swallowing your pride and controlling it when it leans towards haughtiness or arrogance, or the love of being noticed......and other (evil) qualities associated with knowledge that destroy it, take away its reverential quality, and extinguish it's light. So the more knowledge you gain or the higher you become in status, the stricter your adherence becomes to this, and (by this) you will achieve the greatest happiness, and a platform that people will envy you for.

Ibn Uthaymeen mentions that the disease of tyranny is الكبر (Pride).

And the Prophet ﷺ described it in the most comprehensive, clear, and obvious way, saying:

"الكبر بطر الحق و غمط الناس" (Pride is rejecting the truth and looking down on other people) 

It's to deny the truth when it comes to you and scorn other people and consider them inferior to you. And this statement is part of a larger Hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ said, 

"لا يدخل الجنة من كان في قلبه مثقال ذرة من كبر"

(No one who has pride equal to the weight of a mustard seed in his heart will enter Paradise)

قال رجل "إن الرجل يحب أن يكون ثوبه حسنا و نعله حسنة"

(A person asked, "A person likes or wear beautiful clothes and fine shoes) 

The Prophet ﷺ replied,

"إن الله جميل يحب الجمال

الكبر بطر الحق و غمط الناس"

(Indeed Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride is rejecting the truth and looking down on other people)

We can't weigh our pride, so what's being spoken of in the Hadith is the smallest possible amount of pride. That will prevent a person from entering Paradise. This means that we need to continuously struggle against our pride. We can't say "Well I've only got a couple of mustard seeds of it in my heart" and let it go. We need to eliminate it completely.

And pride manifests itself in different ways.

E.g. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"ليس منّا من دعا إلى عصبية"

And nationalism/tribalism is exactly what drives people today. You feel like just because you belong to a particular tribe or a particular place on earth, your people are superior to everyone else. This is great evil. 

And we can't say this is a product of Western Civilization, but it was definitely built on it. When the Islamic Empire first spread from Arabia to the rest of the world, the people whom it absorbed became Muslims, and thus part of the Empire, and not any different from the existing people. Although they may have looked different, they were indistinguishable from other members of society. This was how Islam was.

But of course, Imperialism, the colonization period of Europe spreading to the rest of the world, was driven by huge attitudes of superiority. Racism was a driving force. The considered the people they conquered inferior and their civilizations nothing, and felt justified to just wipe them out, destroy everything they had, enslave them, and promote themselves as the "Civilized World". They viewed their action of imperialism as an act of bringing civilization to these uncivilized people. If you read the writings of people from those era, this mentality is clear. And it remained this way for many years, the elements of it still remaining to this day.

People might say the Muslim Empire was just as bad. Yes, our people did certain things, but it wasn't the normal characteristic of the Muslim nation as it spread. When the Muslims went to Indonesia from Yemen, they didn't separate themselves as Islam spread into that area. The Indonesians accepted Islam, and they married amongst them. This is natural.

But when these kinds of attitudes sept in, it let to the break up and destruction of the Spanish Islamic State in Andalus. The Arab feelings rise amongst the Arab rulers and they started to look down on others and push non-Arabs to the outskirts, this marked the beginning of their decline. Spain was a Muslim land for 700 years, then Ferdinand and Isabella came back. How? They managed to do it with the help of the non-Arab Muslims who had been put down and scorned. They had been given less fertile areas in Spain and were resentful towards the Arab Caliphate. They joined forces and ended up being part of the army which overthrew Islamic rule in Spain. And of course, when the Spanish Government got full control, they didn't just kick out the Arabs, but all of the Muslims.

So when the Prophet ﷺ stated that a mustard seed worth of pride is enough to prevent a person from entering Paradise, the companions were scared. They wanted to clarify if wearing nice clothes and shoes was considered pride. And the Prophet ﷺ clarified it for them; that no, Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty. 

So the idea of beautifying ourselves and places is from Islam. But there are limits, as with everything. You find that most of the Masaajid nowadays are elaborate, so when you're praying things here and there will catch your eye. The carpet may look beautiful, but if that good carpet distracts us from our prayer, then it's not good anymore.

And he ﷺ clarified what pride actually is: Rejecting the truth and looking down upon others. 

A student of knowledge should be careful of this evil disease which undermines the process of gaining knowledge. And seeking knowledge is an act of worship, so it's undermining our worship. 

"....So your loftiness above your teacher is from pride, and arrogance towards someone who benefits you from amongst those who are lesser than you (in knowledge) is pride...."

A feeling of superiority towards your teacher could be by your tongue or through reactions. Of course, in the modern North American context, students can say anything - and that's why the process of transferring knowledge is difficult and painful. But from the Islamic perspective, the student is supposed to be respectful and humble before the teacher. Religious knowledge is about fear of Allah, so how can one fear Allah while having a disrespectful attitude towards his teacher? 

If you find something displeasing from your teacher, make excuses for him. Maybe his wife gave him a hard time at home. People get affected by things, but don't let it affect you and the way you speak.

And similarly, when you hear something you don't necessarily agree with or like from your teacher, you should be free of all the kinds of expressions we do and make which indicate it our displeasure.

Another aspect of pride in this context can occur when a student walks with his teacher proudly, acting as if he's developed a special friendship with the teacher, and thus better than the other students. This is pride.

Ibn Uthaymeen elaborates this point a little, saying that rejecting beneficial knowledge is a form of pride. So if a new student comes with a piece of information which you didn't know, you'll reject it so you don't drop in status. By doing this, you're depriving yourself of knowledge.

"...and your shortcomings in practicing your knowledge is the sludge of pride, and a sign of deprivation (from the blessings of knowledge and prosperity)...."

This is where a person has correct knowledge of what is right and wrong but doesn't act accordingly  to it, while presenting themselves as knowledgeable. This is a great, evil form of pride.

If we look back at Iblis refusing to bow down to Adam عليه السلام, we see that he knew that Allah had commanded him to, and knew he was disobeying Allah. 

So obedience is a very important part of knowledge. When you disobey and don't act upon the knowledge, you create a false argument to justify your lack of obedience. And this is exactly what Shaytan did. His false argument was based on his false analogy; Qiyas.

He said fire is better than clay. But is fire really better than clay? From some perspectives you could say yes. Fire turns clay into ceramic. But clay can put out fire. Fire can't destroy clay - it may change its form, but it can't destroy it. And fire is dependent on something else to exist, in this case clay. So really it's a false argument.

So the person who is driven by pride will use all kinds of falsehood and distort the truth in order to defend their feelings of pride.

"Knowledge wars against the lofty youth     

Just as the flood attacks the high place"

These are two lines of poetry which mean that the boastful youth cannot attain true knowledge because knowledge is at war against him. He is hindered by pride. So he won't achieve the real levels of knowledge, just as the flood attacks high places. The flood water is sent right to the left, but won't submerge or encompass the high place. So water, which is the symbol of real knowledge, won't be gained.

Harm primarily comes to the individual who had pride, because it blocks him from gaining the knowledge he set out for. It's a form of self oppression. So the knowledge becomes a source of harm for him, instead of a source of benefit. And those who have taken knowledge in this way will abuse it and misuse it in corrupt ways. You have people who have knowledge but don't use it for the benefit of the Ummah; it just becomes a means of making money. 

It is essential that the one who is seeking knowledge must do so with a consciousness and awareness that it is truly for the sake of Allah. And Allah hates pride and those who are proud.