01-27-2005, 06:54 AM
A Matter of Pride
<i>Shariffa Carlo</i>
A group of ladies walk into a mosque. They are all beautiful physical examples of Muslim women. They are fully covered, some even in face veils with gloves with Jilbabs, Khymars and even abiyas over. They are the perfect picture of Islam. They make beautiful salat, and even more beautiful recitation. As they are about to leave, one of them looks to a sister who is praying in the masjid and thinks, "So and so should not call herself Muslim, for she does not even wear hijab, except when she comes to masjid."
This woman has harmed herself. Islam is certainly the physical - outward appearance. It is a very valid and significant part of the deen, but it is also the heart and the behavior and the soul. This woman may not have backbitten the woman who was not a muhajibah, because she did not actually say anything, but she has done something much more dangerous, much worse.
Arrogance and pride have affected her. She has allowed the practices that she does, for Allah's sake, to make her feel she is superior or even safe. No one has a guarantee. We do our best to please Allah, but we all have to rely on Allah's Mercy. Also, we can not judge who is going to be saved from the fire. We do not know what Allah will do, so to look down on one who does not practice as we do is arrogance, and we must avoid it.
Our Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) observed:
He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.
<b>A person (amongst his hearers) said: Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine. He (the Prophet) remarked: Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people. </b>
[sahih Muslim; 1: #164].
Some of our beloved Prophet's companions (radiAllahu anhum) used to fear so much that they were not doing enough that they would sometimes faint from fear of Allah, while they were spending the nights praying and the days fasting and devoting their lives to Allah. Who are we to think we have a guarantee?
In the previous hadith, Rasul-Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) is clearly warning us that we have no right to look down on one another. No matter what. Even if the person is a sinner, we have no right. Look to the example of the adulterous man being punished. The man had confessed and been stoned to death.
"...Then the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) heard one of his companions saying to another: Look at this man whose fault was concealed by Allah but who would not leave the matter alone, so that he was stoned like a dog. He said nothing to them but walked on for a time till he came to the corpse of an ass with its legs in the air.
He asked: <b>Where are so and so? They said: Here we are, Apostle of Allah (salAllahu alayhi wasalam)! He said: Go down and eat some of this ass's corpse. They replied: Apostle of Allah! Who can eat any of this? He said: </b>
The dishonor you have just shown to your brother is more serious than eating some of it. By Him in Whose hand my soul is, he is now among the rivers of Paradise and plunging into them. Sunan Abu Dawud; 38; # 4414].
Look to this example. The man had committed a major sin. He had confessed to the sin. Yet, his repentance for that sin was sincere. We must not judge others because they sin, for that is for Allah Only. We can give out the punishments that Allah has mandated, and then leave it to Allah to forgive them or not. We can not decide. We are not privy to what is in the heart. We can talk to the one who is not doing something Islam mandates, like hijab or beard or avoiding music or whatever, but we can not even try to believe that we are better than they are. For we do not know their circumstances or what is in their hearts or even their fates. That is for Allah.
Look to the example of the prostitute. If we had seen her in the street, what would we have thought of her? Yet she was granted Paradise for a small deed she did.
Abu Hurairah (radiAllahu anhu) narrated: Allah's Apostle said,
<b>"A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave he because of that."</b>
[sahih al-Bukhari; 4: 54 #538].
We can not be happy with her sins, but we must teach her, maybe punish her, but we should not abuse her, nor should we be certain that we are so much better than her. Furthermore, we should take the time to befriend those who we see committing sins, if we can. The person may simply be ignorant of the correct Islamic practices. We should try to teach them and maybe gain something ourselves from this effort. It may be that this person has something to offer you in the way of goodness.
Let me add, I am constantly shocked by stories of Muslims looking down on others because of factors like race and national origin or because they are poor or even because they are rich.
I have seen some Arab women looking down on the convert Americans because, perhaps, they were not virgins before accepting Islam. Yet, many of these same women are stronger in their faith after accepting Islam than the women who look down upon them. I have seen some Pakistani's look down to a Muslim because he is black. Yet this black man is more Allah-fearing than those looking down on him.