Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

450 7k oath of allegiance to Xli, his characteristics & his way oflge
one of the problems that spoil deeds and lead people to doom. Selfadmiration
is one of the obstacles faced by those who strive in their
march towards Allah (g). 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, selfadmiration
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,
hannful and widespread.
Abdullah ibn al-Mubkak said: "Self-admiration means
thinking that you have something that others do not have."465 Ibn
Taymiyah 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 selfadmiration
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,) (Qur'an 1: 5) 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 helpp' will avoid self-admiration."466
Al-Ghazili 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. Selfadmiration
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 (g) a favour by doing them, and he
forgets the blessings that Allah has bestowed upon him by enabling