Chapter on Kibr Directed at People of Innovation
Chapter on the Explanation of Arrogance toward the People of Innovation and Others among the People of Disbelief and Polytheism
I said: You have already made clear to me how I should avoid arrogance regarding the people of disobedience among the Muslims. So inform me about the people of innovation who lead the servants astray from God, Mighty and Glorious, enemies of the sunna (prophetic traditions) of the Messenger of God ﷺ, whose concern is extinguishing their light and reviving misguidance, and humiliating the people of truth, and lying through false interpretation against God, Mighty and Glorious, and against His Messenger ﷺ.
He said: The people of innovation — hatred of them and avoidance are incumbent upon you, except for one toward whom you have an obligation that you must fulfill to him; so you fulfill it to him while your heart detests him and is averse to him, whoever he may be. However, your heart should not forget what is upon your neck of sins and what has preceded regarding you from the Knower of the unseen matters — of wretchedness, or felicity, or an evil ending.
And know along with that, that God has favored you over them by what He has protected you from — of adopting their creeds as religion — without being heedless, to the point that you are certain that you are better than them in the Hereafter. You see yourself as saved while they are perishing.
For if the consequence of your affair is entering the Fire, then you have enough preoccupation to keep you from belittling him, and from supposing about yourself that you are better than him. So if you have drawn near to God by hating him and opposing him, and you know what He has bestowed upon you thereby [damaged], and your heart does not become heedless such that it overwhelms you that you are saved while he is perishing — if He protected you from adopting what he adopts — and that you are saved while he is perishing overwhelms your heart, then you have become arrogant within yourself and have been deluded regarding your Lord, Mighty and Glorious.
So this is the explanation of what you asked about regarding arrogance and its negation from you concerning the people of innovation.
I said: The people of innovation, even if they are astray, they nonetheless hold to the belief in divine unity. But consider —
there is no doubt concerning him that he is an enemy of God, a disbeliever in Him; if he dies upon his disbelief, then he is in the Fire. So let nothing prevent me from knowing which good is better before God — ever — and that he is perishing, not [merely] in a [poor] state, and that there is nothing of goodness with him that pleases God, Exalted and Glorious, or that He would accept even a mustard seed's weight of it, and that he has no good deed with God, Exalted and Glorious, in the Hereafter.
He said: He is as I have described, unless God bestows upon him tawba (repentance). If God bestows repentance upon him before death, then God is most worthy of showing grace to him. But if God does not bestow repentance upon him, then he is the wrongdoing loser.
Rather — as for pride over any person among people, it is not permitted for you. However, it is permitted for you — and for every Muslim it is permitted — and it is virtue and goodness and a means of drawing near to God — to know that God has made you superior over him and that there is no good in him, and that the decree from God upon him is enmity and wrath — except that God has concealed from you your outcome, and his outcome — what he dies upon and what you die upon. Even if you are one who recognizes his disbelief and his misguidance, you must be grateful that God has made you superior over him by preserving you from his disbelief and bestowing upon you His tawhid (divine oneness). You do not know in what state you will die, nor in what state he will die. And you should be fearful of the outcomes by which deeds are completed for the servants, for you have no knowledge — perhaps he will die as the most devout worshipper of the people of his time, and you will die as the most disbelieving of the people of your time. So be apprehensive of that.
What points you to this is that God sent His Prophet with the most excellent [message] He ever sent to any of His creation, and he called [people] to His tawhid (divine oneness). The first people [called] — a group responded to him, while others delayed in responding. Among those who responded to him were Abu Bakr, Ali, Bilal, and Umar — may God [be pleased with] them and others — while others were disbelievers. And there were those who had been with the Prophet ﷺ — such as his uncle 'Amr ibn 'Anbasa, Bilal, and others — and they would look at Umar while he was a misguided disbeliever, not knowing what would become of him. Then God bestowed [Islam] upon him, and he surpassed in Islam all who had accepted Islam before him, except Abu Bakr alone. They had been believers, and they did not know what God, Exalted and Glorious, would honor him with, while he was a disbeliever. Then he accepted Islam and surpassed them. Likewise with others — one whose Islam came early, and the Islam of another after him was delayed — down to this age of ours.
And indeed, a group of people apostatized who had accepted Islam during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, and they killed disbelievers on the Day of Ridda [the Wars of Apostasy]. Then their Islam was made good, and they killed believers as martyrs — one who had been a disbeliever while they were believers.
So if you are in a state of fear for yourself regarding the final outcome (khātima) and the end, and certainty of its salvation does not predominate over your heart — nor that one has died upon disbelief — then you have negated arrogance (kibr), and you have not been deluded, and you have not felt secure against the change and decline that would cause you to inherit the punishment.
The Book of Delusion
Chapter on Delusion Regarding God, Exalted and Glorious
I said: What is delusion regarding God, Exalted and Glorious, and from whom does it occur?
He said: Delusion regarding God, Exalted and Glorious, occurs from the disbelievers, from the disobedient among the Muslims, and from the devout ascetics. Everyone who is deluded by anything has neglected the command of God, Exalted and Glorious, and his caution and fear of Him have diminished.
Delusion regarding God, Exalted and Glorious, is nothing but the self's deception through God's gracious treatment of the servant, or in the name of hope (raja') in God, Exalted and Glorious, or through some worship and knowledge. Many among the servants are deluded by some of that, such that one disobeys God while considering himself among those who do good (muhsinun), or disbelieves in God Most High while considering himself among those who are rightly guided, or is deluded and disobeys knowingly while considering that God will forgive him, that he is saved and will not be punished.
As for the first type — that of the disbelievers — it is a deception from their own selves and from their enemy through the outward appearance of this world.
He said: Delusion is of two kinds: delusion by this world away from the Hereafter, and delusion regarding God, Exalted and Glorious, and the Hereafter. As for delusion by this world away from the Hereafter, it is preferring this world and being preoccupied with it away from the Hereafter, and that is the saying of God
«Let not the life of this world deceive you, and let not the Deceiver deceive you concerning God». And the saying of God, Exalted and Glorious: «The life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion».
I said: Tell me about al-ghurra (delusion) regarding God, Exalted and Glorious — what is it by which the servants are deluded?
He said: As for that by which the disbelievers are deluded regarding God, it is what they saw of what God did with them — His honoring of them with this world, its elevation and its abundance — and they supposed thereby that this was from God only because of their station with Him and that they are more deserving of good than others.
Then they are divided after that into two groups:
A group among them who are doubters about the Hereafter, saying within themselves and with their tongues: "If God has a return, then we are more deserving of it than others, and we shall have the most abundant share in it" — being deluded by what appeared to them of the good of this world and His honoring.
Do you not hear what God, Exalted and Glorious, recounted about the two men who were conversing? The disbeliever among them said to his believing companion in the dialogue: «I do not think the Hour will ever come, and if I am returned to my Lord, I shall surely find something better than this as a resort» — meaning: I am not certain that God, Exalted and Glorious, has a resurrection, reward, and punishment. But if it is so, then I shall have with Him something better than what He gave me in this world — a delusion regarding God, supposing that God would not honor him in this world except while being pleased with him, and if there is a resurrection and an abode in which there is reward and punishment, He will deliver him from punishment, and He will honor him in the Hereafter just as He delivered him from poverty and hardship in this world. So the disbeliever believed that, and this was the dialogue.
And they are — in the exegesis, and the exegetes have related the story of what occurred between the two of them — it is a long story. It is related in the exegesis that the two who spoke were two brothers, the believer and the disbeliever. The dialogue between them was, in summary of the matter, that the disbeliever built a palace for a thousand dinars, and purchased a garden for a thousand dinars, and servants for a thousand dinars, and married a woman for a thousand dinars — and all of that
"Did you not purchase a palace in Paradise?" — and he says to him: "You purchased a palace that will fall into ruin and perish. Did you not purchase a palace in Paradise [damaged] and a wife who does not die, and servants who do not perish, and a garden that does not decay? And did you not marry a wife who does not die?" In all of that, the disbeliever responds to him: "There is nothing there; and even if there were, what I would have in the Hereafter would be better than this."
Likewise, God, exalted and glorified, described for us the words of al-'As ibn Wa'il, when he says: «I shall surely be given wealth and children» [Maryam 19:77]. God, exalted and glorified, said: «Has he penetrated the Unseen, or has he taken a covenant with the Most Merciful?» [Maryam 19:78].
It is narrated from Khabbab ibn al-Aratt that he said: "I was a blacksmith, and al-'As ibn Wa'il owed me a debt. I came to collect it from him, but he would not pay me. So I said: 'I will collect it from you in the Hereafter.' He said to me: 'When you reach the Hereafter, I will indeed have wealth there, and I will pay you from it.'" So God, exalted and glorified, revealed: «Have you seen him who disbelieved in Our signs and said, "I shall surely be given wealth and children"?» [Maryam 19:77]. Thus the disbeliever was deluded by God, exalted and glorified, and supposed that God, exalted and glorified, would [also] give to him in the Hereafter.
And God, exalted and glorified, said: «And if We let him taste mercy from Us after hardship that has touched him, he will surely say, "This is mine, and I do not think the Hour will ever come to pass; and if I am returned to my Lord, indeed with Him I shall have the best"» [Fussilat 41:50].
Ibn Jurayj said, on the authority of Mujahid: "He will surely say: 'This is mine by virtue of my deeds, and I am deserving of this as the best reward'" — being deluded by what God, exalted and glorified, gave him to taste of His mercy in this world.
Do you not hear God, exalted and glorified, speaking about the words of those who are deluded by the blessings God, exalted and glorified, bestowed upon them in
They said: "We are greater in wealth and children, and we are not among those being punished" — that is, [they said regarding] this world: They said, "He has bestowed His blessings upon us through His generosity toward us, so He will not punish us." And they said: "If it were something good, they would not have preceded us to it."
They are also deluded because God, exalted and glorified, has favored them with the blessings of this world over others. They consider that what God, exalted and glorified, has singled out the people of faith with — had it been true guidance in God's sight — He would have granted it to the weak among them as He granted it to them. So they are deluded and they shun guidance, [thinking] that if this were guidance, it would be more fitting that it be for them.
And the disbelievers are heedless of the blessings of God, exalted and glorified, in this world, and they do not see that God, exalted and glorified, has seized them. Do you not hear the words of God, exalted and glorified, reporting about the speech of Qarun and Moses — peace be upon him — and his fear? He said: «He said: I have been given it only on account of knowledge I possess» [al-Qasas 28:78]. Qatada said regarding the words of God, exalted and glorified: «Did he not know that God had already destroyed before him, from the generations, those who were mightier than him in strength and greater in accumulation?» [al-Qasas 28:78] — meaning, what God, exalted and glorified, had given them of blessings — those who were more intense in power and greater in accumulation — that did not prevent Him from seizing them, since they did not obey Him, in this world. And God, exalted and glorified, had indeed already done that to others.
So let Qarun know that God, exalted and glorified, [did this], and that is from God, exalted and glorified, a gradual enticement (istidraj) for the one He intends to destroy and punish, so that he is deluded by the blessings of God, exalted and glorified.
Do you not hear His words, exalted and glorified: «We shall gradually lead them [to destruction] from where they do not perceive» [al-A'raf 7:182]? It was said in the exegesis: "Every time they committed a new sin, We granted them a new blessing." And He said: «So when they forgot that by which they had been reminded, We opened upon them the doors of every thing» — until — «We seized them suddenly, and they were in despair» [al-An'am 6:44]. And He said regarding Qarun — glorified is He — «It is but a trial» [al-Qasas 28:76] [TN: the exact referent of this phrase is debated]. He said: «I have been given it only on account of knowledge I possess.» Then He said: "He had already" — He said it .
Looking at the Arabic source, I need to find where footnote (Surah al-Zukhruf) should be placed.
In the Arabic, the footnote (۱) for "Surah al-Zukhruf" appears at the very end of the page, and examining the Arabic text, it seems to relate to the overall passage or a specific Quranic reference context. Looking more carefully at the Arabic source, I can see that the first paragraph mentions the "saying of the Blessed and Most High" which introduces the Quranic quotation. The reference to Surah al-Zukhruf (footnote 1) appears to be associated with the word "fitna" (trial) or the concept that the world is a trial — specifically, the Arabic footnote (۱) corresponds to "ةرهزلا ةروش" (Surah al-Zukhruf).
Looking at the Arabic more carefully, the opening statement about the world being a fitna relates to a verse from Surah al-Zukhruf (43:35, which mentions worldly provisions being merely "mata' al-hayat al-dunya" — enjoyment of worldly life, or 43:48 about trials). The footnote marker in the Arabic appears near the beginning of the passage, associated with the concept of the world being a fitna (trial).
The marker should go after "fitna (trial)" since that is the concept from Surah al-Zukhruf.
Here is the complete updated translation:
He informed that the world is a fitna (trial): a tribulation and a test, and that it is not a proof of the pleasure of God, Exalted and Glorified, against obstinacy. The proof is the saying of the Blessed and Most High: «As for man, when his Lord tests him and honors him and bestows favors upon him, he says: 'My Lord has honored me.'» to His saying: «No!» God, Exalted and Glorified, said.
Al-Hasan said: It is as though He is saying: "This is not by My honoring, nor is this by My humiliating. Rather, the honored one is the one whom I have honored through obedience to Me, regardless of his condition — whether he be poor or wealthy. And the humiliated one is [the one humiliated through disobedience]." But the disbelievers were deluded by the outward appearances of the blessings of God, Exalted and Glorified, and they supposed that what He had provided them of wealth and children [was a sign of their merit]. Likewise is His description of them, as He said: «We hasten for them good things? Nay, they perceive not.»
And he said that the hypocrite, if he did evil and [yet] was granted provision abundantly, then he recited: «If I am returned to my Lord, surely there will be for me the best with Him.»
For indeed it is [in return] for his righteous deed, and it will be fulfilled for him, and God Most High is true in His [promise] regarding it. And He expanded [provision] for him. As He described the son of Adam, He said: «As for man, when his Lord tests him and honors him and bestows favors upon him, he says: 'My Lord has honored me.'» The deluded Muslim thus resembles that one — he supposes that this is an honoring for him from God, Exalted and Glorified, and that he holds a [special] station with God, Exalted and Glorified. He has shared with the disbelievers in their delusion, even if he does not doubt the Resurrection and the Reckoning.
The disbeliever is also deluded by the deferral of punishment from him. If [threats] frighten him, yet he is not [truly] frightened, he supposes that the punishment has not been delayed from him while he deserves to be punished, and he supposes that he is upon the truth.
[damaged]
Abu Jahl said: "O God, sever the ties of kinship for us regarding what we do not recognize as true!" So God, exalted and glorified, said: «They sought victory, and every obstinate tyrant was disappointed».
And among that is that Qarun [Korah] called upon Moses, peace and blessings of God be upon him, to engage in mutual cursing, until Moses prayed against him. So Qarun began first but was not answered. Then Moses prayed and was answered. So Qarun had invited Moses to mutual cursing out of ghurr (delusion) regarding God.
The other group among the disbelievers are those who are deluded by what has been made to seem fair to them from the evil of their deeds through acts of worship by which they worship other than God, exalted and glorified: «they suppose that they are doing well in their work» [al-Kahf: 104].
So delusion (ghurra) among the disbelievers is a deception from the tempter, for one to [believe] that he has standing with God, mighty and glorified, by His decree—either that He has honored him with something of this world, or a deed of misguidance that he reckons to be guidance.
Chapter on Delusion among the Common Muslims and the Disobedient
He said: As for delusion among the common Muslims and the disobedient among them, it is a deception from the nafs (the self) and the enemy. They mention rajā' (hope), generosity, and nobility, and thereby their souls are put at ease, and they increase in boldness upon sins. So they persist in acts of disobedience to God, supposing that this constitutes hope on their part. As Wahb ibn Munabbih said to his son: "O my son, beware of delusion regarding God, exalted and glorified, for delusion regarding God, exalted and glorified, is persisting in disobedience to Him while expecting His forgiveness."
So they persist in acts of disobedience and wish for forgiveness and mercy, supposing that what puts their souls at ease is rajā' (hope), when it is only delusion that puts their souls at ease. They wished and supposed that this constituted hope on their part toward their Lord, exalted and glorified. One of them is only able to invoke hope because he supposes it to be hope on account of tawhīd (divine unity), or on account of mentioning righteous forefathers alongside the profession of divine unity, or a feeble deed.