After reading the Tashahhud, the Ta’uz and the first chapter of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Amirul Mo’menine, Zafrullah Domun said:

Last week I told you about a hadith which spoke about some bad moral qualities which render all our deeds useless in the sight of Allah. Some of these bad qualities are as follows:  backbiting, boastfulness, arrogance, pride; envy, hypocrisy and lack of exclusive intention to please only Allah.

Since boastfulness, arrogance and pride have connotations that are a bit common I have decided to speak about arrogance today. The main reason for my doing this is that many Ahmadis dub others to be arrogant whereas in the sight of Allah they are guilty of this vice but they do not know. They do not know because they do not care to know. I think that most of these persons are not aware at all what the Holy Quran says about this vice and they do not know at all what Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad^as has said about it. When we read the Holy Quran we understand that arrogant people are those who reject the messengers of Allah in the most expansive sense of the word. I will give you some of the relevant verses. Allah says:

Those who reject Our Signs and turn away from them with disdain, the gates of the spiritual firmament will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Heaven until a camel goes through the eye of a needle. And thus do We requite the offenders. [7:41]

Only they believe in Our Signs who, when they are reminded of them, fall down prostrate and celebrate the praises of their Lord, and they are not proud. [32:16]

For when it was said to them, ‘There is no God but Allah,’ they turned away with disdain [37:36]

And said, ‘Shall we give up our gods for a mad poet?’

Will you then, every time a Messenger comes to you with what you yourselves desire not, behave arrogantly…..[2:88]

I shall soon turn away from My Signs those who behave proudly in the land in an unjust manner; and even if they see all the Signs, they will not believe therein; and if they see the way of righteousness, they will not adopt it as their way; but if they see the way of error, they will adopt it as their way. That is because they treated Our Signs as lies and were heedless of them. [7:147]

These are only five verses or part thereof that I have chosen. But there are many others which I have not quoted because the sermon will become too long. Anyhow he or she who is interested may search and read these verses and take the necessary conclusions. The verses that I have quoted are very explicit. Allah makes it very clear for those who are endowed with understanding that the rejection of Allah’s signs will bar them access to spiritual realities. If you desire access to heavenly or divine realities you should accept Allah’s signs, the way He manifests them. Those who recognize Allah’s signs they humble themselves by falling into prostration. And hasn’t the Holy Prophet^saw told us “iza tawaza’al abdo rafa’ahul laho ila samaais  saabe’ate” meaning that “ when the servant humbles himself Allah raises him to the seventh heaven”.(Kanz ul Umal). Moreover when the servants accept the sign and follow the guidance that Allah sends to them, Allah gives them additional signs and an increase in guidance according to other verses of the Holy Quran.

From the other verses that we have mentioned we understand that the mission of anyone who comes from Allah is to tell the people that “there is no God besides Allah”. But the people who reject the messenger will always say “we know this and this is what we practice.” Allah knows better what they profess and what they practice. If they were true in their beliefs and action they would have no problem at all in accepting the one who comes from Allah. But “they turn away in disdain”, Allah says, because what they are being reminded is against their own desires and they show their arrogance.

Now I will tell you what the founder of the Ahmadiyya Jamaat Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as qualifies as arrogance. This subject is so important that he has spoken about it both in prose and in verse. We will start by what he has said in prose. He says:

I tell you truly that on the Day of Judgment, next after association of anything with God, no vice shall rank as high as arrogance. This is a vice that humiliates a person in both worlds. Divine mercy rescues every believer in Divine Unity, except an arrogant one. Satan also claimed that he believed in the Unity of God, but as he was afflicted with arrogance and looked contemptuously upon Adam, whom God loved, and found fault with him he was ruined and became accursed. Thus the first sin whereby one was ruined for ever was arrogance ( Ayenae Kamalate Islam, p. 598 ).

And then we have the famous extract from the book “Nuzul Masih”where the Promised Messiah explains in detail the meaning of arrogance. He says:

I admonish my community to shun arrogance as arrogance is hateful in the eyes of God, the Lord of Glory. You may not perhaps fully realize what arrogance is. Then listen to me as I speak under the direction of God.

Everyone who looks down upon a brother because he esteems himself more learned, or wiser, or more proficient than him is arrogant, inasmuch as he does not esteem God as the Fountainhead of all intelligence and knowledge and deems himself as somebody. Has not God the power to afflict him with lunacy and to bestow upon his brother whom he accounts small better intelligence and knowledge and higher proficiency than him? So also he who, out of a mistaken conception of his wealth, or status, or dignity, looks down upon his brother, is arrogant because he forgets that his wealth, status and dignity were bestowed upon him by God. He is blind and does not realize that God has power to so afflict him that in a moment he might be reduced to the condition of the lowest of the low, and to bestow upon his brother whom he esteems low greater wealth than him. In the same way he who takes pride in his physical health, or is conceited of his beauty, or good looks, or strength, or might and bestows a scornful designation on his brother making fun of him and proclaims his physical defects is arrogant, for he is unaware of God Who has power to afflict him with such physical defects as to render him worse than his brother and to bless the latter so that his faculties should not suffer decline or be stultified over a long period, for He has power to do all that He wills. So he who is neglectful of Prayer on account of his dependence upon his faculties is arrogant for he has not recognized the Fountainhead of all power and strength and relies upon himself. Therefore, dear ones keep all these admonitions in mind lest you should be accounted arrogant in the estimation of God Almighty unknowingly. He who out of pride corrects the pronunciation of a word by his brother partakes of arrogance. He who does not listen courteously to his brother and turns away from him partakes of arrogance. He who resents a brother sitting next to him partakes of arrogance. He who mocks and laughs at one who is occupied in Prayer partakes of arrogance. He who does not seek to render full obedience to a commissioned one and Messenger of God partakes of arrogance. He who does not pay full attention to the directions of such a one and does not study his writings with care also partakes of arrogance. Try, therefore, that you should not partake of arrogance in any respect so that you may escape ruin and you and yours may attain salvation. Lean towards God and love Him to the utmost degree possible and fear Him as much as anyone can be feared in this life. Be pure hearted and pure intentioned and meek and humble and free of all mischief so that you may receive mercy ( Nuzulul Masih, pp. 24-25 ).

Unfortunately today we see that many people in Jamaat Ahmadiyya have such an opinion of the caliph that he cannot be mistaken. They think that his words are more important than the words of Allah and they give it more weight. But let me tell you what Hazrat Masih said:

“It is not my way that I should look so fierce and awe-inspiring that people should fear me as they fear a wild beast. I hate to be idolized. I have come to abolish idol worship and not to become an idol myself so that people should worship me. God Almighty knows well that I do not prefer myself to others in the slightest degree. In my estimation there is no greater idol worshipper nor anyone more wicked than an arrogant one. Such a one worships no God, he only worships himself ”( Malfoozat, Vol. II, pp. 6-7 ).

In another extract he said:

Remember that arrogance is allied to falsehood. The worst falsehood is that which accompanies arrogance. That is why God, the Glorious, smashes the head of an arrogant one before all others. ( Ayenae Kamalate Islam, p. 599 ).

In another most important extract Hazrat Masih Maood has this to say:

It is easy for a person to discard the principal vices, but some vices are so subtle and hidden that one is not normally conscious of them, and even when one becomes conscious of them it is difficult to discard them. For instance, typhoid which is a severe illness and a high fever can be treated immediately with appropriate remedies, but tuberculosis which works its mischief out of sight is very difficult of treatment. Such are these subtle and hidden vices which keep a person from achieving exalted ranks. They are moral vices which cause disruption in social life. Slight differences generate rancour, hatred, jealousy, hypocrisy and arrogance and a brother begins to look down upon a brother. If a person observes Salat properly for a few days and people praise him, he falls a victim to showing off, pride and self-esteem and loses that sincerity which is the true purpose of worship. If Allah, the Glorious, bestows wealth, knowledge, high family status or honour on a person he begins to look down upon a brother who does not enjoy those advantages. If through obstinacy or enmity a person's relations with a brother are embittered he devotes himself day and night to finding fault with his brother or carries tales against him to someone in authority so that by winning the favour of the latter he might replace his brother in some office held by him, while he himself suffers from all those faults. Such are the subtle vices which are difficult to discard. Arrogance is one of them and is manifested in diverse forms. The divines suffer from it in respect of their knowledge. They are occupied all the time in finding fault with each other at the intellectual level so as to humiliate each other and to bring each other into contempt. It is very difficult to get rid of such subtle vices, but they are not tolerable under Divine law. It is not only the common people who are afflicted with them but also those who shun well known vices and are esteemed as divines and scholars and people of high degree. Deliverance from these subtle vices is like undergoing a sort of death. Until a person is delivered from the darkness of such vices he cannot achieve complete purity of soul and cannot become worthy of those bounties and excellences that are bestowed by God Almighty on purification of the soul. Some people deem themselves as having been delivered from such moral vices, but when they are confronted with another person they are greatly roused and are not able to suppress their high notion of self-esteem and their arrogance and exhibit such a low quality of morals of which they themselves had no conception. It is at such times that it is known that they have found no deliverance from such vices and have not yet achieved any good, and that they are still far short of that purification of the soul which is a characteristic of the righteous and is a sign of true excellence. This shows that moral purification is very difficult and cannot be achieved without the grace of Allah, the Glorious. Such grace is also attained through the three means that have just been mentioned, namely, first, striving and planning; secondly, Prayer and supplication; and thirdly, keeping company with the righteous ( Speeches, pp. I7-18).

Arrogance is an affliction that constantly affects man. Keep in mind that arrogance comes from Satan and converts an arrogant one into Satan. Until a person turns wholly away from the path of arrogance he is not enabled to accept the truth and does not become worthy of receiving Divine grace, inasmuch as arrogance bars his way. So shun every type of arrogance, whether generated by learning, wealth, status, caste, family or noble descent. These are the factors that give birth to arrogance. Until a person purifies himself of all such pride he cannot win Divine approval and become a chosen one of God. He is not bestowed such comprehension of the Divine as totally consumes the passions of self. Such pride is the characteristic of Satan and is displeasing to God. Satan manifested such pride, conceived that he was better than Adam and claimed: I am better than he. Thou hast created me of fire and him hast Thou created of clay (3 8: 77). The result was that he was rejected and was expelled from the presence of God ( Speeches, p. 19 ).

Arrogance and mischief are evil. A slight mistake might destroy all the good achieved over many years. It is written of a holy man who dwelt in a mountain where no rain had fallen over a long period, that one day when rain fell over stones and rocks also, he felt that rain was needed by fields and gardens and that much of it which had fallen on stones and rocks had been wasted. It would have been of much greater benefit if it had fallen over cultivated fields. Thereupon God Almighty deprived him of all holiness. He became very sorrowful and sought help from another holy person and was told in the end that he had offended God because of his criticism of God's bounty (Malfoozat, Vol. VI, p. 57).

For today we will stop here. All the extracts that I have read are from the book “Essence of Islam Volume 2” which can be downloaded from www.alislam.org.

May Allah grant each one of us the opportunity of living a humble life and may He be always pleased with us both in this world and in the next. Ameen