Arrogance blocks truth, humility opens the heart
Arrogance (kibr), rejecting the truth and looking down on Allah's creation, is the root disease that made Iblis and the Quraysh reject what they knew was true, and the only cure is the humility that Allah Himself revealed and commanded.
The khutbah in 8 steps
- Opening on the hadith definition of kibr: rejecting truth and looking down on people, illustrated with a UPS/FedEx package analogy
- Istikhbar/kibr explained as looking down on creation (khalq), not just people
- The story of Iblis refusing to bow to Adam, 'I am better than him' as an arbitrary apples-to-oranges argument
- The Quraysh rejecting the Prophet despite knowing him as al-Sadiq al-Amin, on arbitrary clan-based grounds
- Turning inward: why we reject the Deen in our own homes out of hidden arrogance
- Spiritual arrogance and riya, thinking one's longer sujud or prayers make one superior
- Surah an-Nasr and the Prophet's humble entry into Mecca; istighfar before and after deeds
- Quran's command not to walk arrogantly (you cannot tear the earth or reach the mountains); the hadith that Allah lowers whatever is raised in the dunya; closing duas
In the khateeb's words
“But to look at the creation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.”
“The confidence that this creation would have towards his creator.”
“That our values are higher than that of Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.”
“These are the hidden types of arrogance that we have.”
For the dinner table
Today's khutbah was about arrogance, kibr, and its opposite, humility. Ustadh Faheem explained that arrogance has two parts: looking down on people and rejecting the truth, like refusing a package that has your own name and address on it. He reminded us that Iblis fell because he said 'I am better than him,' comparing fire and clay the way we compare apples and oranges, and we do the same thing when we think our country, skin color, or tribe makes us better than someone else. He also warned about a sneaky kind of arrogance: doing a few good deeds and starting to think we're better Muslims than everyone else. The cure he gave us is humility, remembering we can't even break a small rock with our bare hands, and saying astaghfirullah before and after everything we do. In the end, everything raised up in this dunya will be brought down, so it's far better to humble ourselves now than to be humbled later.
- If a package arrived with your name on it, would you send it back, so why do we sometimes 'send back' good advice?
- Iblis said fire is better than clay, what's a silly 'I'm better than you' comparison kids make today?
- What's one thing you can say astaghfirullah before and after doing this week?
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