As-salaamu'Alaykum,
‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (radiyAllaahu anh) said:
“Self-admiration is the most serious of problems.”
(Jami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm wa fadlihi, 1/571)
Self-admiration is one of the problems that spoil deeds and lead people to doom. Self-admiration is one of the obstacles faced by those who strive in their march towards Allah. It is a disease that is contrary to sincerity, and it keeps one away from humility and the sense of needing Allah. It represents a bad attitude towards Allah. Moreover, self-admiration keeps a person from evaluating himself and turns him away from finding out about his problems and faults. Yet we rarely hear discussion of this problem, even though it is very serious, harmful and widespread.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said:
“Self-admiration means thinking that you have something that others do not have.”
(Siyar A’laam an-Nubala’, 8/407)
Ibn Taymiyyah differentiated between showing off and self-admiration, and said:
“Self-admiration is akin to showing off, but showing off is a kind of including people as a motive for one’s efforts, whereas self-admiration is including oneself with Allah (in the sense that one remembers one’s talents but forgets that they all come from Allah and by His help). So the show-off is not fulfilling the words ‘You (Alone) we worship’, and the one who admires himself is not fulfilling the words ‘and You (Alone) we ask for help’, because the one who fulfils the words ‘You (Alone) we worship’ will avoid showing off, and the one who fulfils the words ‘and You (Alone) we ask for help’ will avoid self-admiration.
(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 10/277)
Al-Ghazali said:
“It should be noted that the problems resulting from self-admiration are many. Self-admiration leads to arrogance. So what is generated by self-admiration is arrogance, and arrogance leads to many problems that are not hidden. Self-admiration leads to forgetting and overlooking one’s sins. As for acts of worship, (the one who admires himself) thinks that his acts of worship are great, and he uses them as evidence of his righteousness; he thinks that he is doing Allah a favour by doing them, and he forgets the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon him by enabling and helping him to do them. The one who admires himself is too confident in himself and his opinion, so he feels safe from the plan and punishment of Allah, and he thinks that he has some status before Allah. His self-admiration makes him praise himself a great deal.”
(al-Ihya’, 3/370)
Al-Quraafi said:
“The reason why self-admiration is haraam is that it is a bad attitude towards Allah, may He be exalted, because a slave should never think of as great the acts of worship by means of which he seeks to draw close to his Master; rather he should think of them as little in comparison to the greatness of his Master, especially the greatness of Allah.
Hence Allah says:
“They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him.”
(Qur’aan, 39: 67)
This means that they did not venerate Him as He deserves to be venerated. Whoever develops self-admiration and admires his worship is doomed before his Lord, Who is aware of him. He has exposed himself to the wrath and anger of Allah.”
(al-Furooq, 4/227)
It may be said that self-admiration results from two things:
A – Ignorance of the rights of Allah, not making a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him, lack of knowledge of the names and attributes of Allah and not worshipping Allah on the basis of proper understanding of His name and attributes.
B – Not understanding the nature of the ego (lower self), ignorance of its faults and problems, and negligence in checking and watching oneself.
(Ma’alim as-Sulook wa Tazkiyat an-Nufoos, pg. 98)
Hence the remedy is to learn about Allah, realise His greatness, make a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him, base servitude to Him on knowledge of His beautiful names and sublime attributes, and worship Him on that basis, for all goodness is in His hands, and His mercy encompasses all things.
“And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah.”
(Qur’aan, 16: 53)
Imaam ash-Shaafa’i said:
“If you fear that self-admiration will affect your deeds, remember the One Whom you are trying to please, what blessings you are trying to seek and what kind of punishment you are seeking to escape. The one who thinks of that will see his deeds as insignificant.”
(Siyar A’laam an-Nubala, 10/42)
An-Nawawi said:
“The way to rid oneself of self-admiration is to know that knowledge is a blessing from Allah and a complete favour. That belongs to Allah which He takes away, and that belongs to Him which he gives, and everthing has an appointed time with Him, so a person should not develop self-admiration for something that he had nothing to do with and has no control over, and it is not certain that it will last.”
(al-Majmoo’, 1/55)
Ibn al-Qayyim said:
“It should be noted that when a person says or does something, seeking the pleasure of Allah, realising the blessings that Allah has bestowed by enabling him to do or say it and knowing that Allah helped him with regard to that, and he is doing it by the help of Allah and not by his own power, knowledge, thought and strength – rather it is Allah Who created for him his tongue, heart, eyes and ears – therefore He is the one who blessed him with what he said or did. When that becomes well entrenched in his mind, then self-admiration will not develop in him, because self-admiration results from focusing on one’s own self and not realising the blessings and help of one’s Lord.”
(al-Faraa’id, p. 144)
As for the other remedy for self-admiration, it is to know oneself and to keep taking stock of oneself. Ibn al-Jawzi said:
“Whoever thinks of the inclinations of his own self and the sins that his self is committing will realise his sins and shortcomings for certain and will be uncertain with regard to other people. What he must beware of is self-admiration and exaggerating about the righteous deeds that he is doing for the hereafter. The believer in that regard is always thinking little of himself. It was said to ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Azeez (may Allah be pleased with him):
‘If you die, we will bury you in the chamber of the Messenger of Allah
.’
He said:
‘If I meet Allah with all kinds of sin except for polytheism, that is dearer to me than thinking of myself as qualified for that.’”
(Sayd al-Khaatir, pg. 250-251)
Ibn Hazm said:
“Whoever is tested with self-admiration, let him think of his faults; if he admires his virtues, let him think of his bad manners and attitude. If he cannot find any, to the point that he thinks that he has no faults, then he should realise that his problem is chronic and that he is the most imperfect of men, and has the most faults and least discernment. That is because he is feeble-minded and ignorant, and there is no fault worse than these two, because the wise man is the one who can see faults in himself and tries to overcome them, whereas the foolish man is the one who is ignorant of his own faults. If you admire your opinions, then think of the number of times when you got it wrong; remember them and do not forget them. Think of every time you expressed your opinion and it turned out to be wrong, and someone else got it right and you were mistaken. If you admire your knowledge, then remember that it is not from yourself; rather it is a pure gift from Allah that was given to you by your Lord, so do not respond to it in a way that angers Him, for He may cause you to forget it by means of a problem with which He may test you, which may result in you forgetting what you have learned and memorised. If you are impressed by your brothers’ praise for you, then think of the criticism of your enemies; then your self-admiration will disperse. If you have no enemies, there is nothing good in you; there is no one whose status is lower than the one who has no enemy. It is no more than the status of the one who has no blessing from Allah for which to be envied, may Allah keep us safe and sound. If you think little of your faults, then think of them if people found out about them. Imagine people finding out about them, then you will be embarrassed and will recognise your shortcomings.”
(al-Akhlaaq was-Siyar, p. 71-77)
Ibn al-Qayyim said, speaking about the wisdom behind the divine decree allowing evil deeds and sins, that one of the reasons for this is that:
“When Allah wills good for His slave, He causes him to forget his acts of obedience and erases them from his mind and from his lips (so that he does not speak about them). But if he commits a sin, He makes him think about his sin all the time and forget his good deeds, so that he focuses constantly on his, when he stands up and sits down, when he comes and goes. This is the essence of mercy concerning him, as one of the early generation said:
‘A person may commit a sin and enter paradise because of it, and he may do a good deed and enter hell because of it.’
They said:
‘How is that?’
He said:
‘He does one wrong thing and keeps thinking of it, and whenever he remembers it he weeps, feels regret and repents and asks for forgiveness. He turns to Allah and beseeches Him, and he humiliates himself before Him and does righteous deeds, so this becomes a cause of mercy for him. Another person may do a good deed and keep thinking about it, so he feels proud of it before his Lord and before people, and he becomes arrogant because of it and wonders why people do not show respect to him and honour him because of it, and this continues until it takes its toll on him and causes him to enter hell.’”
(Miftah Daar-us-Sa’aadah, 1/297, 298; Madaarij as-Saalikeen, 1/177)
This is a brief explanation of the words of ‘Ali:
“Self-admiration is a disease of the mind and heart.”
(Jami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi, 1/57)
(From Biography of Ali ibn Abee Taalib).
‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (radiyAllaahu anh) said:
“Self-admiration is the most serious of problems.”
(Jami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm wa fadlihi, 1/571)
Self-admiration is one of the problems that spoil deeds and lead people to doom. Self-admiration is one of the obstacles faced by those who strive in their march towards Allah. It is a disease that is contrary to sincerity, and it keeps one away from humility and the sense of needing Allah. It represents a bad attitude towards Allah. Moreover, self-admiration keeps a person from evaluating himself and turns him away from finding out about his problems and faults. Yet we rarely hear discussion of this problem, even though it is very serious, harmful and widespread.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said:
“Self-admiration means thinking that you have something that others do not have.”
(Siyar A’laam an-Nubala’, 8/407)
Ibn Taymiyyah differentiated between showing off and self-admiration, and said:
“Self-admiration is akin to showing off, but showing off is a kind of including people as a motive for one’s efforts, whereas self-admiration is including oneself with Allah (in the sense that one remembers one’s talents but forgets that they all come from Allah and by His help). So the show-off is not fulfilling the words ‘You (Alone) we worship’, and the one who admires himself is not fulfilling the words ‘and You (Alone) we ask for help’, because the one who fulfils the words ‘You (Alone) we worship’ will avoid showing off, and the one who fulfils the words ‘and You (Alone) we ask for help’ will avoid self-admiration.
(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 10/277)
Al-Ghazali said:
“It should be noted that the problems resulting from self-admiration are many. Self-admiration leads to arrogance. So what is generated by self-admiration is arrogance, and arrogance leads to many problems that are not hidden. Self-admiration leads to forgetting and overlooking one’s sins. As for acts of worship, (the one who admires himself) thinks that his acts of worship are great, and he uses them as evidence of his righteousness; he thinks that he is doing Allah a favour by doing them, and he forgets the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon him by enabling and helping him to do them. The one who admires himself is too confident in himself and his opinion, so he feels safe from the plan and punishment of Allah, and he thinks that he has some status before Allah. His self-admiration makes him praise himself a great deal.”
(al-Ihya’, 3/370)
Al-Quraafi said:
“The reason why self-admiration is haraam is that it is a bad attitude towards Allah, may He be exalted, because a slave should never think of as great the acts of worship by means of which he seeks to draw close to his Master; rather he should think of them as little in comparison to the greatness of his Master, especially the greatness of Allah.
Hence Allah says:
“They made not a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him.”
(Qur’aan, 39: 67)
This means that they did not venerate Him as He deserves to be venerated. Whoever develops self-admiration and admires his worship is doomed before his Lord, Who is aware of him. He has exposed himself to the wrath and anger of Allah.”
(al-Furooq, 4/227)
It may be said that self-admiration results from two things:
A – Ignorance of the rights of Allah, not making a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him, lack of knowledge of the names and attributes of Allah and not worshipping Allah on the basis of proper understanding of His name and attributes.
B – Not understanding the nature of the ego (lower self), ignorance of its faults and problems, and negligence in checking and watching oneself.
(Ma’alim as-Sulook wa Tazkiyat an-Nufoos, pg. 98)
Hence the remedy is to learn about Allah, realise His greatness, make a just estimate of Allah such as is due to Him, base servitude to Him on knowledge of His beautiful names and sublime attributes, and worship Him on that basis, for all goodness is in His hands, and His mercy encompasses all things.
“And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah.”
(Qur’aan, 16: 53)
Imaam ash-Shaafa’i said:
“If you fear that self-admiration will affect your deeds, remember the One Whom you are trying to please, what blessings you are trying to seek and what kind of punishment you are seeking to escape. The one who thinks of that will see his deeds as insignificant.”
(Siyar A’laam an-Nubala, 10/42)
An-Nawawi said:
“The way to rid oneself of self-admiration is to know that knowledge is a blessing from Allah and a complete favour. That belongs to Allah which He takes away, and that belongs to Him which he gives, and everthing has an appointed time with Him, so a person should not develop self-admiration for something that he had nothing to do with and has no control over, and it is not certain that it will last.”
(al-Majmoo’, 1/55)
Ibn al-Qayyim said:
“It should be noted that when a person says or does something, seeking the pleasure of Allah, realising the blessings that Allah has bestowed by enabling him to do or say it and knowing that Allah helped him with regard to that, and he is doing it by the help of Allah and not by his own power, knowledge, thought and strength – rather it is Allah Who created for him his tongue, heart, eyes and ears – therefore He is the one who blessed him with what he said or did. When that becomes well entrenched in his mind, then self-admiration will not develop in him, because self-admiration results from focusing on one’s own self and not realising the blessings and help of one’s Lord.”
(al-Faraa’id, p. 144)
As for the other remedy for self-admiration, it is to know oneself and to keep taking stock of oneself. Ibn al-Jawzi said:
“Whoever thinks of the inclinations of his own self and the sins that his self is committing will realise his sins and shortcomings for certain and will be uncertain with regard to other people. What he must beware of is self-admiration and exaggerating about the righteous deeds that he is doing for the hereafter. The believer in that regard is always thinking little of himself. It was said to ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul-Azeez (may Allah be pleased with him):
‘If you die, we will bury you in the chamber of the Messenger of Allah
.’He said:
‘If I meet Allah with all kinds of sin except for polytheism, that is dearer to me than thinking of myself as qualified for that.’”
(Sayd al-Khaatir, pg. 250-251)
Ibn Hazm said:
“Whoever is tested with self-admiration, let him think of his faults; if he admires his virtues, let him think of his bad manners and attitude. If he cannot find any, to the point that he thinks that he has no faults, then he should realise that his problem is chronic and that he is the most imperfect of men, and has the most faults and least discernment. That is because he is feeble-minded and ignorant, and there is no fault worse than these two, because the wise man is the one who can see faults in himself and tries to overcome them, whereas the foolish man is the one who is ignorant of his own faults. If you admire your opinions, then think of the number of times when you got it wrong; remember them and do not forget them. Think of every time you expressed your opinion and it turned out to be wrong, and someone else got it right and you were mistaken. If you admire your knowledge, then remember that it is not from yourself; rather it is a pure gift from Allah that was given to you by your Lord, so do not respond to it in a way that angers Him, for He may cause you to forget it by means of a problem with which He may test you, which may result in you forgetting what you have learned and memorised. If you are impressed by your brothers’ praise for you, then think of the criticism of your enemies; then your self-admiration will disperse. If you have no enemies, there is nothing good in you; there is no one whose status is lower than the one who has no enemy. It is no more than the status of the one who has no blessing from Allah for which to be envied, may Allah keep us safe and sound. If you think little of your faults, then think of them if people found out about them. Imagine people finding out about them, then you will be embarrassed and will recognise your shortcomings.”
(al-Akhlaaq was-Siyar, p. 71-77)
Ibn al-Qayyim said, speaking about the wisdom behind the divine decree allowing evil deeds and sins, that one of the reasons for this is that:
“When Allah wills good for His slave, He causes him to forget his acts of obedience and erases them from his mind and from his lips (so that he does not speak about them). But if he commits a sin, He makes him think about his sin all the time and forget his good deeds, so that he focuses constantly on his, when he stands up and sits down, when he comes and goes. This is the essence of mercy concerning him, as one of the early generation said:
‘A person may commit a sin and enter paradise because of it, and he may do a good deed and enter hell because of it.’
They said:
‘How is that?’
He said:
‘He does one wrong thing and keeps thinking of it, and whenever he remembers it he weeps, feels regret and repents and asks for forgiveness. He turns to Allah and beseeches Him, and he humiliates himself before Him and does righteous deeds, so this becomes a cause of mercy for him. Another person may do a good deed and keep thinking about it, so he feels proud of it before his Lord and before people, and he becomes arrogant because of it and wonders why people do not show respect to him and honour him because of it, and this continues until it takes its toll on him and causes him to enter hell.’”
(Miftah Daar-us-Sa’aadah, 1/297, 298; Madaarij as-Saalikeen, 1/177)
This is a brief explanation of the words of ‘Ali:
“Self-admiration is a disease of the mind and heart.”
(Jami’ Bayaan al-‘Ilm wa Fadlihi, 1/57)
(From Biography of Ali ibn Abee Taalib).
