Annihilate the Pride

The heart does not become pure, until it is completely devoid of pride. We have heard the statement of the prophet (salAllaahu alayhi wa Sallam) that "a person who has an atom's weight of pride in his heart will not enter paradise" [sahih Muslim]. And we understand this because; only a heart that is pure would be accepted on that day, and also, because pride itself alters the very essence of Imaan. This then makes it very important for us to eliminate pride from our hearts down to the last atom’s weight. It means we need to be extremely cautious of letting it creep into our hearts to gain accommodation. And we need to go extra miles to seek that which keeps us far away from pride, humility and adopt it. This is what we really need.

So but first we need to understand what in entails. Is it the desire to be well-dressed and beautiful? No. Is it wanting to remain neat and well-kept always, and stay away from that which is filthy? Why certainly not. When the prophet (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) was asked, he said “[Kibr (pride) is the rejection of truth (Batrul-Haqq) and condescension of others (wa ghaamtun-naas).” [sahih Muslim]. It is the feeling that one is better or superior to his fellow brother, and that which makes you reject the truth when it comes to you.  

So what is the first step that we need to take in eliminating pride from our hearts? It is recognizing the need to get rid of it and that which leads us to it. Accepting that it exists and there’s a possibility of having ourselves infected by it and understanding the importance of this. A patient cannot seek treatment for a disease if he/she believes that he/she is immune to that disease. Or worse still, they cannot seek medication if they don’t even know they have been infected by the disease and they neither perceive any symptoms nor are aware of its lethal implication. So also, we can only help ourselves to get rid of pride by first recognizing the need and importance of doing so. If we establish this in our subconscious we would find ourselves constantly reviewing our actions, our thoughts and intentions. Why am I doing this? Or why am I not doing this? Is it out of pride? Is this pride I perceive in my heart?

A typical example may be how we receive correction. It seems easier to accept correction when it is coming from someone older, or our teachers, or someone generally more knowledgeable. But when a younger person corrects us, or when someone who seems lower in status, or someone who does even more wrong than we do comes to us with the truth, do we accept it readily? Or do we hesitate? Why?

Another example may be how we respond to bad treatment from people. When your boss at work speaks to you in a disliked manner, it may be easier to tolerate it because you perceive he is above you. You excuse his behavior. But when the clerk, or the chauffeur, or anyone you perceive as lower than you in status does the same, do you excuse him or her as well?. Why?

There shouldn’t be any difference. When truth is presented to us, we accept it regardless of who it is coming from or even how it is presented. And also, when we have people being disrespectful to us, we excuse their behavior regardless of who they are. This is how we can expel pride from our hearts. We don’t have laid down expectations of how we should be treated by others, and we do not compare ourselves to others feeling superior or inferior.
Surely, the scales of Allah are different from the scales of the people, and Allah gauges people differently; according to our level of taqwa and righteousness. It is when we compare ourselves to others that we make way for pride to creep in to our hearts. Each person has their unique value known only to Allaah. 


The second step to understand that everything that we have is from Allah and will return to Allah. Everything of knowledge, status, wealth and all that has the potential to make us feel proud was given to us by Allah and so we do not claim ownership of them. we also remember that any of these can be taken away from us at any time. 

The third step is to go extra mile to make sure pride doesn't exist in our hearts. After recognizing the need to remove pride and the existence of the chances of possessing it, it becomes imperative for us to make effort to keep away from pride. In others words to make sure we remain humble always. Allaah gives us a therapy for this in the Quran, He says “and the servants of (Allah) Most Gracious are those who walk on earth in humility and when the ignorant address them they say “peace” (Al-Furqaan, Ayah 63). And here Allah does not say the ignorant boss, or the ignorant leader only, He just says the ignorant; whoever it may be.

So out of humility you don’t even tell yourself that you don’t deserve the way the ignorant person has addressed you, but rather you reciprocate this manner of speech with mild and gentle words of peace. You excuse their behavior, and you do not get upset, because we are all slaves of Allah, and He is the only one to whom all praise and respect is due, not me, not you. so if a certain individual or group of people do not recognize you are the king of your community or prominent public figure and hence, do not treat you as such you tell yourself, Alhamdulillaah, I am only a slave of Allah and He is the only one to whom all praise is due.

Another way to go extra miles in eliminating pride is to exchange greetings. This is not just when it is easy, when you are on good terms with a person or when the person greets you. But rather, to always extend the greeting even when you’re the first one doing it all the time and when the person scarcely ever replies. Even when the person has wronged you in some way and has not apologized. Greet the young and the old, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, everyone you can, stranger or known. This is one effective cure for pride.

Yet another step to take is to always be polite. The popular three words we have been taught since childhood is what I’ll refer to again. Please, I’m sorry and thank you; Courtesy, humility and gratitude. And again, not just when it easy to say them, or when you know you have to, but even when it seems like it is not even required. When the recipients do not even expect them and it seems to make no difference at all. It actually makes a huge difference; it expels pride from your heart!

So this means, for example, if an employee of yours does the work he/she is supposed to do (the work you pay him/her to do), you still thank them for their effort, you still say please to them out of courtesy, and you still apologize if you wrong them unknowingly. This would not reduce anything from you but would rather increase you in honor and humility.

And it may seem like a lot, but with conscious effort and sincerity, Allah would make it easy. And we can walk on the earth in humility, with our thoughts and actions devoid of pride, so we can attain the beautiful virtue of possessing the pure hearts for the sake of Allah.