Chapter on 'Ujb Regarding the World and Oneself

Chapter on Self-Admiration Regarding the World and the Self

I said: What is self-admiration (ʿujb) from the side of the world?

He said: Self-admiration with the self (nafs), self-admiration with beauty, self-admiration with lineage, self-admiration with the abundance of servants, children, clients, kinfolk, and companions.

I said: What is self-admiration with the self?

He said: It is admiration with beauty and the body — its greatness and its completeness — and with strength, intellect, deeds, and the beauty of one's voice. As for beauty and the body, it is finding these pleasing in oneself, and forgetting what is incumbent upon the servant: of gratitude to God Most High for that, and forgetting the divine decree at the outset, and the afflictions through which one passes, and the destiny of beauty and the body toward annihilation and decay — until one grows arrogant and struts and exposes one's beauty to immorality, and boasts of it over others.

I said: What avails against that?

He said: Remembering the blessing and what is obligatory upon him of gratitude, and what he has squandered of it, and what the Bestower of blessings deserves — and that his squandering of gratitude through disobedience to Him changes his beauty to disfigurement through the traces of [remembering] the punishment of God Most High, and that the Fire consumes the beauty of the body and its completeness; and his knowing his origin and his measure — that his beginning was from dust and the seminal drop, and what he passes through of filth and impurities; and that the dust shall efface his form and decompose his body. So when he knows himself, his measure, and his destiny, and what is upon him of gratitude, and what he has squandered of it, and what has become incumbent upon him through his squandering of gratitude in terms of punishment — self-admiration departs from him, and he occupies himself with gratitude and humility before the Bestower of blessings.

I said: What about self-admiration with strength?

He said: It is to magnify it, to forget gratitude, to rely upon it, and to forget reliance (tawakkul) upon God Most High — as those who said: «Who is mightier than us in strength?» [Fuṣṣilat 41:15] They admired their own strength and relied upon it, thinking that through it they would be delivered from the punishment of God, Mighty and Majestic.

he cut a piece from the mountain to place it upon his neck, and ʿAwj ibn ʿUnq used to eat relying on his strength—Moses saw him, so God, exalted and glorified, split it and it settled around his neck.

The believer may also eat relying on his strength, as was described of the Prophet, peace be upon him, by the saying of Sulayman, upon him be peace: "I will surely go around tonight to a hundred women." And he did not say: "If God wills." So what he intended of offspring did not come to be, and the servant relies upon his strength and forgets tawakkul (trust) in his Lord, exalted and glorified.

And from this is the saying of Dawud, upon him be prayer and peace: «If You test me, I will be patient» [cf. 38:24]. And he may also grow bold with the strength he has been given in wars, in acts of disobedience to God, exalted and glorified, and he hastens to strike and kill one who opposes him whom he does not recognize as possessing strength, relying upon it, and he taunts the weakness of his opponent out of deception, and boasts over him with his strength.

He said:

By his knowledge that it is a blessing from God, exalted and glorified, as a favor from Him, let him look at how He employed it in His obedience, and that gratitude is incumbent upon him therein since He favored him with it over others among the weak, and that God, exalted and glorified, is the One who strengthened him with it, and had He willed He could have taken it away through affliction, illness, or weakness. So let him bind himself to the obligation of shukr (gratitude) upon him, and let him fear that if he acts arrogantly with it and employs it in disobedience to God, exalted and glorified, He may break it or take it from him as punishment. When he fixes this in his qalb (heart), self-admiration with it vanishes and he devotes himself to rendering gratitude therein.

I said: What about self-admiration with intellect, acuity, and perceptiveness?

He said: It is deeming that excellent and aggrandizing it, forgetting the blessing by considering it one's own merit, and relying upon it—that through it he attains what he desires and hopes for, whether of knowledge, opinion, the rulings of the religion of God, exalted and glorified, or worldly matters—while abandoning tawakkul (trust) upon God, exalted and glorified, in all of that, until this leads him to weak adherence to his intellect out of his self-admiration with it, such that he errs in the religion of God, exalted and glorified, and speaks about it without truth. It also leads him to abandoning understanding from those whose knowledge, command, or deliberation he encounters, until he is deprived of comprehension of the truth and refuses anything but speech that is erroneous and mistaken. And it leads him to contempt for those beneath him who were not given of perceptiveness the like of what he was given.

even if he is more scrupulous than him, and more virtuous in works. And he is more virtuous than him and more scrupulous than him, yet he deems many of them «ignorant fools, like the donkey» that does not «comprehend» [TN: cf. al-Jumu'ah 62:5]. He sees them as such, since he considers himself superior to them in acumen and keenness of mind, and he looks down upon them and belittles whatever good they have done, and he views himself as better than them, even if his work is squandered because of his acumen and his intellect.

I said: What negates that?

He said:

His knowledge of his own ignorance despite what he has been given of acumen, and his heedlessness and forgetfulness, and the scarcity of what he perceives through his intellect — even though he may have been given more acumen than others. For indeed shukr (gratitude) is thereby obligated upon him, since he has been given much. He was only favored with keenness of mind so that the proof against him would be greater and so that obedience would be confirmed upon him by adhering to it. And let him look to God — exalted and majestic — how He employs his intellect in understanding from Him and occupying himself with Him, and that what he was given of intellect is in the hand of God — exalted and majestic — [and] were He to will, He could alter it and remove it through some afflictions, as He has done to those who are like him and those above him in deed. So let him not feel secure from God — exalted and majestic — stripping him of his intellect.

And when he recognizes his weakness, his ignorance, and the scarcity of what he perceives through his intellect, and that what he was favored with is a blessing — a gift from Him — upon him, entailing the greatness of the proof and the obligation of what is due, and that he is one who squanders that — when he knows all of that, he knows that one who was not given the like of what he was given of acumen is in a better state than he, since he does not thank God — exalted and majestic — for what He favored him with, and that the proof against him is greater than against those beneath him — [the proof being] concerning acting upon it.

So when he fixes his heart upon this knowledge, self-admiration ('ujb) departs from him. And he fears the greatness of the proof and the obligation of what is due, and he devotes himself to gratitude and the fulfillment of what is owed.