06
(Essay)
Walk Humbly
Pride, humility, and the sentence that cost Iblis his place: I am better than him.
By Mike Rashid King • Allah's Humble Servant
I am better than him
Pride shows up dressed as a reason.
He will not take the correction, because the man who gave it knows less. He will not apologize to his wife, because she started it. He will not greet the new brother at the masjid (the mosque), because he does not know him. He will not ask for help, because a man in his position should not need it. Every one of those sounds like good judgment. Under every one of them sits the same sentence: I am better than him.
That sentence has a history. It is the answer Iblis (Satan) gave when Allah asked him why he refused to bow. It is also the sentence that got him put out.
I wrote Say Less about the tongue, Sit Down about the temper and Keep Your Word about the promise. This one is about what I believe sits under all three. A man who counts himself above the people around him talks over them, burns when they push back, and treats his word to them as optional.
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What Allah says about pride
Allah tells the story of pride from the beginning.
قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُكَ ۖ قَالَ أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِى مِن نَّارٍۢ وَخَلَقْتَهُۥ مِن طِينٍۢ
Qala ma mana'aka alla tasjuda idh amartuk, qala ana khayrun minhu, khalaqtani min narin wa khalaqtahu min tin
Allah said: What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you? Satan said: I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay. (Surah Al-A'raf 7:12)
Look at what Iblis did with that sentence. He took a fact about material, fire and clay, and turned it into a ranking of worth. Then he used the ranking to excuse refusing a direct command. Allah answered in the next ayah (verse): descend from Paradise, for it is not for you to be arrogant therein; so get out, you are of the debased (7:13). The word for debased is as-saghirin. The Quranic Arabic Corpus files it under the same root as saghir, small. Pride made him small.
Allah gives that ranking its answer elsewhere: the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you (49:13). Iblis ranked by what a thing is made of. Allah ranks by taqwa (the guarding of oneself before Him).
Quran 7:11-13 · Quran 49:13 · Quranic Arabic Corpus on the root s-gh-r
Then He gives the cure in a father's voice. Luqman, the wise man whose counsel to his son the Quran records, told him: do not turn your cheek in contempt toward people, and do not walk through the earth exultantly; Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful. Be moderate in your pace and lower your voice (31:18 to 19).
Luqman named three places pride lives in a man: the face he turns away, the way he walks, and the volume of his voice. A father can see all three from across the room.
Then Allah shows you pride holding money. Qarun was from the people of Musa, ʿalayhi as-salām (peace be upon him), and Allah gave him treasures whose keys would burden a band of strong men. His own people told him: do not exult; Allah does not like the exultant (28:76). His answer: I was only given it because of knowledge I have (28:78). He came out before his people in his adornment (28:79). Then Allah says: We caused the earth to swallow him and his home (28:81).
He said he had earned it. The ground took him and his house.
Allah measures the proud walk against His creation: do not walk upon the earth exultantly; you will never tear the earth apart, and you will never reach the mountains in height (17:37).
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What the Prophet ﷺ said and did
He drew the line on pride so precisely that a man can check himself against it.
He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise. A man in the gathering asked about something he loved: a person loves that his dress should be fine and his shoes should be fine. The Prophet ﷺ answered: Allah is Graceful and He loves grace. Pride is disdaining the truth and contempt for the people.
The Arabic is two phrases. Batar al-haqq is disdaining the truth, pushing it away when it comes to you. Ghamt an-nas is looking down on people. Kibr (pride) is those two acts. The good clothes passed the test.
He told you whose garment pride is. Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, said: Glory is His lower garment and Majesty is His cloak, and he who contends with Me in regard to them, I shall torment him. A proud man is reaching for a garment that belongs to Allah.
He told you where each kind of man ends up. Shall I inform you about the people of Paradise? They comprise every obscure, unimportant, humble person. Shall I inform you about the people of the Fire? They comprise every cruel, violent, proud and conceited person.
Then he lived it. Al-Aswad asked Aisha what the Prophet ﷺ used to do in his house. She said: he used to keep himself busy serving his family, and when it was the time for prayer he would go for it.
He sat among his companions so plainly that a stranger walking in could not tell which man was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ until he asked. His companions asked him to let them build a small terrace of earth for him to sit on, so visitors could find him. Al-Albani graded it sahih (authentic).
Sahih al-Bukhari 676 · Sunan Abi Dawud 4698, sahih per Al-Albani
And he told you what humility pays. No one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status.
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Why pride makes a man smaller
Pride feels like height. It works like a blindfold.
Systems Thinking looks at the feedback a man lives on. A system corrects itself through what comes back to it: a number that comes back wrong, a man who tells you no, a wife who tells you the truth. Pride cuts that line. The proud man cannot take correction, so his mistakes stay. He cannot ask for help, so his problems grow. He cannot apologize, so his house carries every old injury. That is an inference about how a man works, and I will stand on it.
The Prophet ﷺ put that first in his definition. Before contempt for people comes disdaining the truth. Pride is a man refusing the information that would save him.
Allah names the root: indeed, man transgresses because he sees himself self-sufficient (96:6 to 7). Pride starts the day a man decides he needs nobody, Allah included.
Dialectical Thinking demands the objection. A man needs confidence. He has to believe in himself to lead his house, run a business and stand in front of people. Is that pride?
The Prophet ﷺ was asked nearly that. A handsome man came to him and said: I am a man who likes beauty, and I do not like anyone to outdo me in it, even in the strap of my sandal. Is it pride? He said: No, pride is disdaining what is true and despising people. Al-Albani graded its chain sahih.
So the line sits in two places, and your clothes, your skill and your success all sit on the right side of it. Confidence knows what it can do. Pride decides who is beneath it. A confident man can hear he is wrong and stay standing. A proud man has to win the point.
The Quran gives you the test in two rich men. Qarun looked at his treasure and said: I was only given it because of knowledge I have (28:78). Sulayman, ʿalayhi as-salām, saw a queen's throne set before him in the blink of an eye and said: this is from the favor of my Lord to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful (27:40). The difference between them was the sentence each man said about what he had.
Sunan Abi Dawud 4092, sahih chain per Al-Albani · Quran 27:38-40 · Quran 28:78
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The practice
The rules come from the Quran and the Sunnah (the example of the Prophet ﷺ). The order is mine.
- Take the correction. Pride starts with disdaining the truth (Sahih Muslim 91a). When the truth comes from someone below you, take it faster. Say: you are right, I was wrong. Out loud. Then fix it.
- Serve your house. The Prophet ﷺ kept himself busy serving his family (Sahih al-Bukhari 676). Find the thankless work in your house and do it without announcing it.
- Greet first. Greet those you know and those you do not know (Sahih al-Bukhari 12). The new brother at the masjid. The man at the register. The one you think is beneath you, first.
- Lower your voice. Luqman told his son to lower his voice (31:19). In an argument, get quieter. Let the facts carry the weight.
- Take the ordinary seat. He sat so that a stranger could not tell him apart from his companions (Sunan Abi Dawud 4698). Sit where you can be overlooked. Let the room find out who you are some other way.
- Say where it came from. When someone praises what you have, answer the way Sulayman did: this is from the favor of my Lord (27:40). Then mean it.
- Visit the graves. The Prophet ﷺ said: visit the graves, for that makes you mindful of death (Sahih Muslim 976). Iblis bragged about fire. Allah created man from an extract of clay (23:12), and into the earth He will return you (20:55).
Sahih Muslim 91a · Sahih al-Bukhari 676 · Sahih al-Bukhari 12 · Quran 31:19 · Sunan Abi Dawud 4698 · Quran 27:40 · Sahih Muslim 976 · Quran 23:12 · Quran 20:55
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The quiet work
وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ هَوْنًۭا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلْجَٰهِلُونَ قَالُوا۟ سَلَٰمًۭا
Wa 'ibadu ar-Rahmani alladhina yamshuna 'ala al-ardi hawnan, wa idha khatabahumu al-jahiluna qalu salama
And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them harshly, they say words of peace. (Surah Al-Furqan 25:63)
The word for how they walk is hawnan. Al-Fayyumi's classical dictionary, al-Misbah al-Munir, glosses it as gentleness and quietness. Allah describes His servants by their walk before He says a word about their night prayer (25:64).
Pride wants to be seen. Humility does its work and lets Allah decide who notices.
Walk into your house tonight like a servant. Take the correction. Do the thankless work. Greet the man who gets overlooked. Let your son watch his father lower his voice.
Allah raises the rest.
Quran 25:63-64 · al-Misbah al-Munir on hawn · Sahih Muslim 2588
No one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status.
By Mike Rashid King • Allah's Humble Servant