Humility (tawadu')

In the Sheikh's account, humility is the first principle of taqwa: the believer does not look down on anyone, and knows his own faults before those of others. ^{1 2}

The Sheikh lists four principles of taqwa, the first being that a Muslim does not look down on anyone. ¹ He divides people into older, younger and of the same age, and says that everyone falls into one of these groups. ³ He says that before an older person he sees himself as lesser, since they have served God for longer. ⁴

He asks why people respect him, and says he knows his own faults with certainty while people judge him by assumption (his view). ² When a close relative insults a Muslim, the first thing to ask is whether his own sins invited it; the Sheikh calls this the first lesson (his view). ⁵

He summarises three pillars: humility with people, remembering God when heedless, and keeping company with the Qur'an. ⁶

He cites scholars that a Muslim should not think the enemy has won, that the one who turns away from the truth is at fault, and that God protects those who fear Him (needs_source). ⁷ He tells of a scholar who said he was not righteous, and a shaykh who replied that people loved him; the Sheikh draws a lesson of humility from it (needs_source). ⁸

The Sheikh criticises the person who is humble in front of people and his colleagues at work, then enters his home and raises his voice at his family, and asks why he is hard-hearted toward the children and his mother yet soft-hearted toward the manager and the staff ⁹.

The Sheikh urges treating a person who is better in God's sight with respect rather than arrogance, and likewise someone younger, noting that older people usually see the young as reckless, and he replies that they are not ¹⁰.

The Sheikh depicts a scene of young men each boasting of his father, in which the boy sitting among them answers that he is the son of the man for whom God made the angels prostrate, meaning Adam; he says that someone with money, property and millions should not look down on God's creatures but be humble, since he comes from this earth ¹¹.

He then cites lines of verse about graves, in which the poet reflects that the ground he walks on is made of the remains of people, and says he asked himself among the graves where rest and safety lie, and was answered by what he saw of worms playing in the eye sockets of the dead (the Sheikh's own use of the poem to teach humility) ¹².

The verses end by saying that the slave and the king are equal in the grave; the Sheikh then says everyone here is waiting for permission to go to God, and returns to his account of Musa and Harun, who were sent to Pharaoh ¹³.

He hopes to see humble people, and defines arrogance as despising the opinions of others and believing oneself the cleverest and best. ¹⁴

He says that the more God's blessing grows upon a person, the more humble he should become, and he criticises those who boast of knowledge, wealth or status. ¹⁵

He compares boasting about wealth to the conduct of a wealthy uncle towards his orphaned nephews, and notes that the man of wealth forgot that God gave him what he owns. ¹⁶

He holds that arrogance toward others is a serious flaw, even in people who call themselves Muslim. ¹⁷

He criticises the arrogant person who believes he is of a different substance and a different mind from other people. ¹⁸

He cites a Qur'anic passage that help came when the believers were in a state of weakness and humbling, and says that a sick person should be humble before God, since humility is a door through which prayers are answered. ¹⁹

He says the ignorant take the modest needy for the rich, that investigating their cases and giving to them with dignity is better, and he cites a Qur'anic verse on the modest. ²⁰

He cites a hadith that modesty is part of faith, and that every religion has a character, the character of Islam being modesty. ²¹

He cites a hadith that all people descend from Adam; he recounts the humility of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz when a man addressed him, and says humility raises a person in the eyes of others. ²²

He says the Prophet ﷺ had no fixed seat and sat wherever the gathering ended; a Bedouin visitor openly asked which of them was Muhammad. ²³

He says humility is something practised rather than only spoken, and cites a saying of al-Shafi'i that he wished God would show the truth through the other person's tongue (needs_source: the saying attributed to al-Shafi'i). ²⁴