بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
8/3/1439
#4 - خفض الجناح و نبذ الخيلاء و الكبرياء
Lower your Wings and put Arrogance and Pride behind you
Adorn yourself with personal etiquette such as abstinence, forebearance, patience, humbleness to the truth, and the tranquility of a bird; i.e. dignity, calmness and lowering the wings (of humility), bearing the humility of learning for the honour of knowledge, and showing humility towards the truth.
Ibn 'Othaimeen رحمه الله said:
و ذالك لأن المقام يقتضي أن يكون عند طالب العلم عفة عما في أيدي الناس و عفة عن النظر المحرم و حلم لا يعجل بالعقوبة إذا أساء إليه إحد و صبر على ما يحصل له من الأذى مما يسمعه إما من عامة الناس و إما من أقرانه و إما من معلمه، فليصبر و ليحتسب.
And that is because the position required from the student of knowledge is abstinence from what is in the hands of people, and abstinence from looking at the unlawful, and forebearance from hastening punishment if one wrongs him, and patience with what he receives of harm from what he hears, whether it is from the general public, his acquaintances, or from his teacher. Let him show patience and hope for the reward from Allah
و التواضع للحق و كذالك للخلق, فالتواضع للحق بمعنى: أنه متى بان له الحق خضع له و لم يبغ سواه بديلا. و كذالك للخلق، فكم من طالب فتح على معلمه أبوابا ليست على بال منه، فلا تحقرن شيئا.
And humbling oneself towards the truth, and similarly to the creation. Humbling oneself to the truth means that whenever the truth is clear, he yields to it and does not seek besides it as a substitute. And likewise to the creation, for how many a student have opened doors for their teacher which he could not perceive, so one should not belittle anything.
The student of knowledge accepts the truth. He does not go to another teacher or seek another Fatwa if the truth that comes from his teacher does not go along with his desire.
If the intention of the student of knowledge is purely for the sake of Allah, Allah will make him a blessed person. His suggestions will be blessed suggestions - they will be of continuous goodness. And this does not happen to anyone, just for the blessed student of knowledge. Everyone ascribes purity to themselves and think that they are that blessed person. But we do not know, Allah knows.
و قوله: سكون الطائر من الوقار و الرزانة و خفض الجناح
The Authors رحمه الله's statement: The tranquility of a bird; i.e. dignity, calmness and lowering of the wings:
هذه آداب، فينبغي لطالب العلم أن يبتعد عن الخفاء سواء أكانت في مشيته أو في تعامله مع الناس و ألا يكثر من القهقهة التي تميت القلب و تذهب الوقار، بل يكون خافضا للجناح متأدبا بالآداب التي تليق بطالب العلم.
This is manners. It is incumbent on the student of knowledge to distance himself from rashness, whether it is in his walk or in his dealings with people. He should not be excessive in laughter which causes the death of the heart and removal of dignity, rather he should have his wings lowered whilst having manners which befit the student of knowledge.
و قوله: متحملا ذُل التعلم لعزة العلم
And his statement: Bearing the humility of learning for the honour of knowledge:
هذا قول جيد، يعني: أنك لو أذللت نفسك بالتعلم فإنما تطلب عزها بالعلم، فيكون تذليلها بالتعلم لأنه ينتج ثمرة طيبة.
This is a good statement. Meaning, if you lower yourself for the sake of learning, you have only sought its honour with knowledge. So you humble yourself with learning because it results in good fruits.
Therefore, beware of the nullifiers of these manners, for along with being a sin, they establish a witness against yourself that there is a defect in your intellect, and it causes deprivation of knowledge and acting upon it. So beware of haughtiness because it is hypocrisy and pride, and the wariness of the Salaf in this regard reached a high extent.
Ibn 'Othaimeen رحمه الله said:
ربما تحصل الخيلاء لطالب العلم و لكثير المال و لسديد الرأي و كذلك في كل نعمة أنعم الله بها على العبد.
Haughtiness may come as a result of seeking knowledge, or having plenty of wealth, or having an opinion that is always correct, and similarly due to every blessing which Allah bestows upon His servant.
When the student of knowledge sees that Allah has opened the gate of knowledge and he knows more than others, it could make him feel conceited.
و الخيلاء هي: الإعجاب بالنفس مع ظهور ذلك على هيئة البدن كما جاء في الحديث: من جر ثوبه خيلاء لم ينظر الله إليه يوم القيامة
And الخيلاء is amazement with oneself along with that being made apparent on ones outer appearance, as mentioned in the Hadeeth: "He who trailed his garment out of pride, Allah would not look toward him on the Day of Resurrection." [Muslim]
إعجاب النفس is amazement with oneself and self-conceit, and it is an action of the heart. When it is made apparent on the body, it becomes الخيلاء (Haughtiness).
و قوله: إنه نفاق و كبرياء: أما كونه كبرياء فواضح و أما كونه نفاقا فلأن الإنسان يظهر بمظهر أكبر من حجمه الحقيقي و هكذا المنافق يظهر بمظهر المخلص الناصح وهو ليس كذالك.
And the Author رحمه الله's saying: It is hypocrisy and pride: As for it being pride, then that is clear. As for it being hypocrisy, it is because a person displays an outward appearance which is greater than his actual size. Similarly, the hypocrite makes an outward show of being a sincere advisor whilst he is not like that.
The Sheikh رحمه الله then mentioned examples from the lives of the Salaf:
And from the details mentioned by Adh-Dhahabi رحمه الله in the biography of 'Amro bin Al-Aswad Al-'Ansy رحمه الله who died in the Caliphate of a Abdul-Malik bin Marwan رحمه الله, that when he used to leave the Mosque, he would hold his left hand with his right. When he was asked about that, he said, "Out of fear that my hand would commit hypocrisy."
Adh-Dhahabi رحمه الله said, "He would hold it out of fear that he would swing his hand while walking, for that is from haughtiness." [As-Siyar]
And this is something that Al-'Ansy did unconsciously.
And beware of the disease of the tyrants: Pride. For verily pride, covetousness, and envy are the first sins by which Allah was disobeyed. So your impudence over your teacher is pride, and your disdain of one who
benefits you whilst he is lower than you in rank is pride, and your shortcoming in acting upon your knowledge is the sludge of pride and a symbol of deprivation.
Ibn 'Othaimeen رحمه الله said:
احذر داء الجبابرة و هو الكبر، و قد فسره النبي بأجمع تفسير و أبينه و أوضحه فقال: "الكبر بطر الحق و غمط الناس."
Beware of the disease of the tyrants, and that is pride. The Prophet ﷺ explained it with the most comprehensive, evident, and clear explanation, saying: "Pride is rejecting the truth and looking down on people." [Muslim]
و قوله: فإن الكبر و الحسد أول ذنب عَصّي الله به يريد فيما نعلم -: أن أول من عصي الله هو الشيطان حين أمره الله تعالى أن يسجد لآدم و لكن منعه الكبرياء فأبى واستكبر و قال {ءأسجد لمن خلقت طينا} [سورة الإسراء ٦١] و قال تعالى {هذا الذي كرمت علي} [سورة الإسراء ٦١] و قال لما أمره ربه أن يسجد {قال أنا خير منه خلقتني من نار و خلقته من طين} [سورة ص ٧٦]
And his saying: For verily pride, covetousness, and envy are the first sins by which Allah was disobeyed - he intends what we know, that the first one to disobey Allah was the Shaytan, when Allah commanded him to prostrate to Adam عليه السلام. What prevented him was pride, so he refused and was arrogant and said: {Shall I prostrate to one whom You created from clay?} and {See? This one whom You have honoured above me} and he said when his Lord commanded him to prostrate: {I am better than he, You created me from fire, and You created him from clay.}
ثم ذكر المؤلف أمثلة فقال: تطاولك على معلمك كبرياء؛ و التطاول يكون باللسان و يكون أيضاً بالانفعال، فقد يمشي مع معلمه و هو يتبختر و يقول: فعلت و فعلت
The Author then mentioned an example: So your impudence over your teacher is pride; and impudence could be with tongue and it could be by actions. One may walk with his teacher and boastfully say, "I did and I did..."
و كذلك أيضاً: واسنكافك عمن يفيدك ممن هو دونك كبرياء؛ و هذا أيضا يقع من بعض الطلبة إذا أخبره أحد بشيء و هو دونه في العلم قد تجده أستنكف و لم يقبل.
Similarly: Your disdain of one who benefits you whilst he is lower than you in rank is pride; and this too happens with some students if one lesser than him in knowledge informs him of something; you find him disdainful and unaccepting.
و منه: تقصيرك من العمل بالعلم حمأة كبر و عنوان حرمان؛ نسأل الله العافية لأن من أنواع الكبر ألا تعمل بالعلم
And from pride: Your shortcoming in acting upon knowledge is the sludge of pride and a symbol of deprivation; we ask Allah for wellbeing, for not acting upon your knowledge is a kind of pride.
So adhere - may Allah have mercy on you - to sticking to the ground, scorning yourself, swallowing your pride and controlling it, when it leans towards pride, pretentiousness, showing off, self-conceit, and the like of which corrupt
knowledge and kill it, remove its dignity, and extinguish its light. So the more knowledge you gain and the higher you increase in status, adhere to this, and (by this) you will achieve the greatest happiness and a platform people will envy you for.
The first step to ignorance is to feel satisfied with the knowledge you have. The student of knowledge feels sufficiency with the knowledge he has, he never feels like he does not need to learn anymore - this is arrogance.
Upon the authority of 'Abdullah Ibn Bakr Ibn Abdullah Al-Muzani, "I heard a person narrate that when my father was standing on Mount 'Arafah, he became soft hearted and said, 'If I wasn't among them, I would have said that they have been forgiven.'" [Siyar Al-A'laam An-Nubulaa' by Imam adh-Dhahabi] Then he said, "This is how the slave should scorn himself and swallow his pride."
These statements of the Salaf indicate that they sought to be humble. They knew who Allah is; they did not say these words out of arrogance or bad thinking of Allah. It was only when they noticed they were in a good state that they became afraid and more cautious and thus said these words.
The Name of Allah الملك (Al-Malik)
#4 - Knowing the Name of Allah Al-Malik should make us correct our Tawheed.
Our attachment to Allah should be strong, since He is Al-Malik Al-Mulk, to whom belongs the whole dominion. Those other than Him do not own anything - not even a Qitmir (thin membrane over the date stone) or an atom - so only He deserves to be loved, magnified, and called unto.
To Allah belongs the true kingship and none else. Anyone who possesses anything, then what is in their possession is from Allah. Although there exist kings, their kingship is temporary and has been given to them by Allah, because as mentioned in Surah Aal-Imran [3:26]:
"Say (O Muhammad): "O Allah! Possessor of the kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and You endue with honour whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is the good. Verily, You are Able to do all things."
Allah rebuked the polytheists and denied their worshipping of other than Him of those who are weak, in need, incapable servants who do not own anything like them. In Surah An-Nahl [16:73]:
"And they worship others besides Allah, such as do not and cannot own any provision for them from the heavens or the earth."
What makes people commit Shirk?
If Allah is singled out with perfect great attributes, then He is the One who deserves to be worshipped. This is what our Fitrah (natural disposition) dictates - that we should thank those who do good to us. Our natural disposition and sound intellect does not accept that if someone does good to us, we thank someone else. This is oppression.
Our Fitrah (natural disposition) tells us that if someone does good to us, we thank him. The One who owns, we ask him. The One who is perfect, we love him. Our Fitrah accepts Tawheed and reject Shirk.
So then why do people commit Shirk?
Reason #1 - Because people do not know who Allah is.
The Definition of Shirk: شراكة (Association) - It is for the slave to associate with the Lord in His rights.
People know that there is no partner with Allah, but they make partners with all in His rights. They think that they have given Allah His rights by merely praying and fasting, and can do whatever they want for the rest of the day. This is because of their lack of knowledge of Allah and His great right upon us.
The concept of شراكة (association) is rejected by the intellect. It is not logical to award someone who failed, nor is it logical to thank someone other than the person who has done good to you. If someone's favours are continuous upon you, it does not make sense to direct your thanks to someone else.
E.g. We repeat Ayat Al-Kursi five or six times a day. We are repeating the name of Allah Al-Hayy Al-Qayyoom.
Al-Qayyoom is the One in charge of His creation. He is قائم بنفسه مقيم لغيره - The Self-Subsisting, the One who sustains everything else. Look at the blood which is flowing through your veins and your stomach which is digesting, Allah is the One in charge of it and He gives it the permission to function. He is Qayyoom over every organ in your body, and this is just a small part of the Qayoomiyah of Allah. So then how can we consider our prayer and fasting to be a fulfillment of Allah's rights?
When you eat a meal, then know Allah has fed you. Every blessing you are enjoying is from Allah. Thinking about Allah's Qayoomiyah makes a person realize who he is and who Allah is. Reflecting over the details of Allah's attributes makes a person come to know that only Allah deserves to be worshipped and no one else.
What is the right of Allah? To worship Him alone.
Worship is not limited to praying and fasting; it includes the actions of your heart. There are 6 hours between Fajr prayer and Thuhr - the true Muwwahid (monotheist) engages in worship during this time. Tawheed is to live as one on the earth for the One who is in the heavens. If we really know who Allah is, we would be engaged in acts of worship in the day and night. We would be engaged in hope, fear, love, reliance on Allah, supplication, asking forgiveness, etc. Our worship should be perpetual; this is the purpose behind our creation.
Remain heedful of that fact that you have a Lord who is perfect in His attributes and who has rights.
In Surah Al-Isra'a [17:56-57]:
"Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Call unto those besides Him whom you pretend [to be gods like angels, Iesa (Jesus), 'Uzair (Ezra), etc.]. They have neither the power to remove the adversity from you nor even to shift it from you to another person."
Allah informs us of a fact: "فلا يملكون كشف الضر عنكم و لا تحويلا" - Those whom you call besides Allah do not own the power to remove adversity from you, nor shift it to another person.
Then, in Verse 57, Allah informs us of another fact:
"Those whom they call upon [like 'Iesa (Jesus) - son of Maryam (Mary), 'Uzair (Ezra), angel, etc.] desire (for themselves) means of access to their Lord (Allah), as to which of them should be the nearest and they ['Iesa (Jesus), 'Uzair (Ezra), angels, etc.] hope for His Mercy and fear His Torment. Verily, the Torment of your Lord is something to be afraid of!"
These people whom they are calling are engaged in the worship of Allah themselves. They:
1) "يبتغون إلى ربهم الرسيلة"
They seek every means and perform every deed seeking the nearness of Allah.
2) "يرجون رحمته"
They themselves hope for the mercy of Allah.
3) "و يخافون عذابه"
They are afraid of his torment.
If this is their state, it indicates they are in need. They are in need of the mercy of Allah, they are in need of Allah to protect them from His punishment, etc. Allah therefore rebuked those who call the righteous people, whilst they themselves are calling Allah. Allah says their neither have the power to remove harm from them nor shift it to someone else.
From this verse, the three attributes of the monotheist are:
1) Seeking nearness to Allah
2) Hoping for the mercy of Allah
3) Fearing Allah
Q. From this verse, how do you refute the claim of those who call unto righteous people, saying that they call them they have a high special status with Allah?
A. We do not deny that the righteous people attained a great status with Allah. However, the people of Shirk believe that their status with Allah enables them to control and manage the affairs of the universe. They believe that Allah has given them some of His attributes. These are unfounded claims. However, we have evidence which refuted them. Allah says, "لا يملكون كشف الضر عنهم و لا تحويلا" - They have neither the power to remove the adversity from you nor even to shift it from you to another person.
And He said that they themselves do good deeds to please Allah, hope for his mercy, and fear Him.
Allah never has given His managing of the affairs to anyone. He is Al-Malik Al-Mulk; He is the One who disposes the affairs of His dominion and no one else.
This does not mean we deny كرامات (miracles). Allah honours some of the righteous with miracles, however these miracles do not entail that we worship them. The miracle is particular to him, not for the people to take him as a partner with Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ was given many miracles, such as the splitting of the moon. This does not mean that we worship him, rather it indicates his truthfulness - that he is a Prophet of Allah. A person may be given a miracle, but he will not be given an attribute of Allah.
If you come to someone and tell him what he is doing is Shirk, he usually becomes angry and does not accept. Why?
Reason #2 - When Allah created Adam عليه السلام, He particularized him with علم الأسماء (The knowledge of all the names of things). In Surah Al-Baqarah [2:31]:
And He taught Adam all the names (of everything) , then He showed them to the angels and said, "Tell Me the names of these if you are truthful."
Your thoughts are corrected when you give everything its correct name. Your thoughts become unclear and incorrect when you give things their wrong names.
In Surah Al-A'raf [7:71]:
"(Hud) said: "Torment and wrath have already fallen on you from your Lord. Dispute you with me over names which you have named - you and your fathers, with no authority from Allah? Then wait, I am with you among those who wait."
Shirk is names. The polytheists didn't call the idols idols; they gave them names which Allah did not send down. The people allocated these names for them and thus worshipped them.
In Surah An-Najm [53:23]:
"They are but names which you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. They follow but a guess and that which they themselves desire, whereas there has surely come to them the Guidance from their Lord!"
People played with the names. They gave wrong things good names and thus confused the people. Worshipping idols is Shirk, but they don't call it Shirk. They gave it names which made people direct their worship to these idols. And this is not limited to Shirk - nowadays this is a war. They call the Hijab oppression, the share of the inheritance of the woman oppression. So people hear the word oppression, and our natural instinct does not like oppression, so that is why people have aversion against the symbols of Allah. They call Riba interest, which is an attractive name.
Allah mentioned this in the Qur'an, because it is an important knowledge.
The Prophet ﷺ called his people to Tawheed which our natural disposition accepts. His uncle would be behind him calling him a mad man, a magician, a poet, etc. The names they gave to the Prophet ﷺ made many Arab tribes not accept the Da'wah of the Prophet ﷺ, although he is calling to the truth. Do not think that names do not have an effect on the heart; they have a great effect. We should thus use the right names for the right things.
jazakiAllahu khairan kaseera!!
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