Documents of the Right Word

‘alaihis-salâm’: O Prophet of Allah! Who among us is the
greatest and who is the smallest? In response to this question of
theirs Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ stated, “The greatest one among you is
the smallest; and the smallest one is the greatest.” By this he
meant, “He who thinks too much of himself is a mean person,
and a modest person is a noble one.” In addition, Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’, the final and the highest Prophet, criticises
presumptuous people and praises modest ones in quite a number
of his hadîth-i-sherîfs. For instance, he states in a hadîth-i-sherîf,
“If a person condescends for Allah’s sake, that is, if he does not
consider himself superior to Muslims, Allâhu ta’âlâ will heighten
him.” Scholars of Ahl as-sunna state that Allâhu ta’âlâ has
endowed His slaves with a particle from each of His Attributes
such as knowledge and power. Yet three of His attributes are
peculiar to Him alone. He has not given any share from these
three Attributes of His to any of His creatures. These three
Attributes are Kibriyâ, being Ghanî, and Creating. Kibriyâ
means greatness, superiority. Being Ghanî means not to need
others and to be needed by all others. On the contrary, He has
given His slaves three lowly, mean attributes. These are zul and
inkisâr, that is, being low and humiliated, being needy, and being
fânî, that is, ceasing to exist. Consequently, to be arrogant means
to infringe on the Attribute (of Greatness) which belongs to
Allâhu ta’âlâ by rights. Arrogance does not become slaves. It is
the gravest sin. It is declared in a hadîth-i-qudsî, “Azamat (Pride)
and Kibriyâ (Greatness) belong to me. I shall very bitterly
torment those who wish to share these two Attributes with Me.”
It is for this reason that Islamic scholars and outstanding men of
Tasawwuf have always advised Muslims to be modest. Muslims
will not be selfish. Allâhu ta’âlâ dislikes selfish people. Hadrat
Abd-ul-qâdîr-i-Gheylânî ‘quddisa sirruh’, one of the greatest
Awliyâ and an outstanding leader of Tasawwuf, was born in the
Gheylân city of Iran in 471, and passed away in Baghdâd in 561
[C.E. 1166]. One day he, Sayyid Ahmad Rifâî and a number of
his disciples were sitting by the Tigris River. As they talked he
displayed such karâmats (miracles) as bewildered the audience.
When one of them, entirely dazed with admiration, inadvertently
let slip a laudatory remark, hadrat Abd-ul-qâdîr-i-Gheylânî
humiliated his self and woke the others from oblivion with the
following modest reply: “I do not presume there could be a
Muslim on earth lower than I am.” Hadrat Ahmad Rifâî was
born in a village named (Umm-i-Ubayda), somewhere between
– 127 –