Over the last few weeks we quoted a number of Hadiths in which the Prophet describes pride and conceit as a vice which no true Muslim can ever contemplate. We also mentioned a Hadith in which Hell laments that its dwellers consist largely of people who are conceited, arrogant and overbearing. Pride is an attitude that is shunned in all religions. In Islam, it is described as a cloak which belongs to God alone. Whoever tries to take a piece of that cloak for himself will inevitably be destined to Hell. We have a Hadith in which the Prophet gives a highly vivid description of how conceited people find themselves on the Day of Judgment. He says: “Those who have been conceited and arrogant in this life will be raised on the Day of Judgment like tiny red ants in the shape of human beings. They are overwhelmed by humiliation and they are driven to a prison in Hell called Bolus. A fiercely raging fire rises high over them and they are made to drink from the pus of Hell dwellers which makes their minds disturbed.” (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Ahmad and At-Tirmithi).
The first thing to note about this Hadith is the fact that the first part of the punishment which is inflicted on those arrogant people puts them in a position which is the opposite of the appearance they try to maintain in this life. While every one of them seeks to appear mighty and tries to command respect, he is given on the Day of Judgment an infinitely small figure so that he is looked down upon by all people and creatures. He is no bigger than a small red ant, although he has the shape and form of a man. Humiliation is poured over them from everywhere so that they suffer a fate which is the antithesis of the position they had coveted. Since a conceited person tries to appear able to do whatever he wishes, it is not sufficient that he is thrown in Hell on the Day of Judgment but that he is driven to a prison in it. The name of that prison certifies despair, which is a feeling those conceited people will be made to experience. They despair of God ever bestowing His grace on them. They cannot expect any mercy from Him. Instead, the fire engulfs them and their minds are disturbed as they are made to taste their awful drink.
What should a believer do in order to avoid such a situation? Obviously, he needs to behave in a way that does not give any impression of conceit. With all this campaign against conceit, pride and arrogance, it is not unreasonable to expect that the companions of the Prophet who were the first community to be addressed by the Qur’an and the Hadith were keen not to leave any suspicion that they might have been proud or conceited. It would not have been totally unexpected that some of them might try to adopt a posture of humility. We notice that some people often do that, allowing their appearance to suggest that they have no interest in the material world and they seek no high position for themselves. Indeed they appear to downgrade themselves. This, however, was not the practice of the companions of the Prophet, particularly those who were dedicated servants of Islam.
In a report related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Abu Salamah ibn Abdurrahman says: “The Prophet’s companions were not too meek or self-effacing. They used to recite poetry in their gatherings and mentioned their practices in pre-Islamic days. However, when any of them was approached to accept a compromise concerning any aspect of faith, his eyes would turn round as if he were mad.” This description of the Prophet’s companions is very significant because the first point it makes is that those who understood Islam best, i.e. the first people to believe in Islam and to have constant access to God’s messenger, did not feel that they had to demonstrate their lack of arrogance by adopting an opposite attitude and trying to appear meek and self-effacing. There is certainly a difference between the absence of pride and arrogance and trying to give such an impression by being too meek. You recognize the absence of pride in the ordinary behavior of a person. He need not go out of his way to show that he is humble.
We have several reports to confirm this. One such example states that when Omar, the second Caliph, saw a man hanging down his head, he said to him: “Raise your head; Islam is not ill.” He saw another man trying to appear weak and approaching death. He said to him: “Do not give our faith an air of death, may God bring about your death.” Ayesha, the Prophet’s wife, saw a man appearing too submissive that he could give the impression that he was about to die. She asked what was wrong with him and she was told that he was a good reciter of the Qur’an. She said: “Omar was the master of all reciters, but he was fast when he walked, spoke aloud to make people hear him, and when he hit anyone, he caused him pain.”
The second point in the description of the Prophet’s companions is that they used to recite poetry. It is well-known that poetry flourished in the period that preceded Islam. People loved to listen to its recitation and every tribe felt very proud when one of its young men showed promise that he could be a poet and gain fame. Poetry in pre-Islamic days dealt mainly with love, passion and other feelings as well as mundane matters.
Since Islam gave its followers a noble call to pursue, it was only to be expected that the early companions of the Prophet would have had no time for poetry. But the fact was, as it appears in this Hadith, that the Prophet’s companions continued to enjoy poetry and recite it in their gatherings. They went further than that and reminisced over their healthy and enjoyable practices in their pre-Islamic days. In other words, they lived a normal, ordinary life, having time for leisure and enjoying some of the pleasures of life. They did not try to suppress any of their ordinary human inclinations.
However, the matter was totally different when it came to showing dedication to the cause of Islam. None of the Prophet’s companions would countenance any compromise over any matter of faith. If anyone thought or behaved in a way which might have suggested that such a compromise could be given, the person concerned would be too angry that his anger would show in his face. The report describes this condition as that of a person who was mad with anger, his eyes turned round, ready to punish the person who dared to make such an approach to him.
This means that the companions of the Prophet knew exactly what to do in every situation. If it was a matter of faith, then they would surely be the first to defend their faith. But if there was no worry over this, then they did not mind enjoying some of the pleasures of life. They followed a middle road just like Islam wants its advocates to follow. A Muslim has the hereafter as his ultimate objective, but that does not mean that he denies himself everything in this life. This life is meant to be enjoyed in a clean and lawful manner. That is what Muslims do.
