Among the vices, the fourteenth
one is self love. Self love is one’s liking his worships and good deeds and his
taking pride in them. One’s appreciating the value of one’s performed worships
and good deeds and worrying and fearing lest they should be lost would not be
self love. Nor would it be self love to rejoice with the realization that these
acts of worship are blessings performed owing to the Grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Yet it would be self love to
rejoice with a narcissistic delight that you have accomplished a good deal of
worship, without thinking of the Kindness that Allâhu
ta’âlâ has bestowed on you. The opposite of self love is
‘minnat’, which is the realization that you did not obtain the blessings with
your own working and sweating but they are the blessings bestowed by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Thinking in this manner is
obligatory (fard) when there is the danger of
self love, and permissible (mustahab) otherwise.
The dominant factor that leads human beings into self love is ignorance and
unawareness (ghaflat). Since self love is a vice, we
must get rid of it. In order to get rid of self love, one should ponder that
all kinds of good and useful deeds and faculties, e.g., intellect, mind, and
knowledge were given to him so that he should do good deeds or worships with
them. Property and ranks are all given to us out of the Decree and Will of Allâhu ta’âlâ and owing to His creation
according to His Decree.
‘Blessings’ means things that are beneficial to human beings.
Human beings experience sweetness by possessing them. All types of blessings
are sent only by Allâhu ta’âlâ. There is none besides Him who creates and sends them. When the
Sahâba ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’ saw the huge number of warriors fighting along
the Islamic front during the Holy War called ‘Hunayn’, some of them said that
they will never lose another war. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ became very upset upon hearing
what they had said. At the beginning of the war the help of Allâhu ta’âlâ did not come to the warriors of
the Islamic front and they started to lose the war. But later on, Allâhu ta’âlâ pitied them and granted them
victory. Prophet David (Dâwűd)
‘alaihis-salâm’ was praying as follows, “O my Lord! There is no night that some
of our children do not pray to you and there is no day that some of our
children do not fast for you.” Allâhu ta’âlâ replied, “If I would not decree and give strength and opportunity,
none of those could be accomplished.” This
statement of David (Dâwűd) ‘alaihis-salâm’ offended Allâhu ta’âlâ and he suffered all of those
undesirable things that are written in the history books. We have already
informed things that cause conceit (kibr). They are
also the cause of self love (’ujb). Thanking for the
blessings of Allâhu ta’âlâ is also a great blessing.
Self love entails a myriad of
perils and harms. First of all it causes conceit and also it causes us to
forget about our sins. Sinning darkens our hearts. Anyone who ponders about his
sins would not be able to see his worships as worthy and would also think that
being able to do the worships is a blessing and favor of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Those who have self love also
forget about the punishment of Allâhu ta’âlâ and, to the bargain, they do not ask anyone for advice and thus
they lose the chance to get useful help from others.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“Three
things drag a person into disasters: Buhl, hawâ, and ’ujb.”
A person who has “buhl”, i.e., a stingy person gets deprived of performing
necessary actions that must be performed for the sake of Allâhu ta’âlâ or duties to be performed toward others. A person
who follows the desires (hawâ) of his nafs and who has self love,
i.e. who admires his “nafs” will certainly fall into some abyss and disaster.
Imâm-i Muhammad al-Ghazâlî ‘rahimahullâhu ta’âlâ’ said, “All sorts of
evils
originate from three sources: jealousy, hypocrisy and self love. Try to clear
your heart of these!” A person who has self love always says me, me! He always
wants to be in the leading position in any gathering. He always wants his words
to be accepted by others.
Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“I am
afraid, being sinless may beguile you into an even graver sin: ’ujb (self-love)!”
A sinner will show humility and feel guilty and therefore ask for repentance. A
person besotted with self love will be proud of his knowledge or doings and
will be conceited and egoistical and therefore it will be very difficult for
him to repent. Allâhu ta’âlâ will favor the
stressful moaning of sinners to the boastful voices of worshippers. The worst
kind of self love is to like or admire one’s own mistakes and desires (hawâ)
of one’s nafs. A person who has spoiled himself with this complacency always
follows the desires of his nafs; in other words he becomes a slave to his nafs
and never accepts any advice because he thinks that all others are a bunch of
ignoramuses. But in reality he himself is very ignorant. Deviated people (ahl al-bid’at)
and those who do not follow any Madhhab, i.e., “lâ-madhhabîyya people,” are in
this category. They are attached to their deviated beliefs and to their corrupt
worships by supposing themselves in the correct path. It is very difficult to
obtain cure for this type of self love. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ was requested to explain the meaning of the hundred and
fifth âyat of Sűra Mâida, which reads, in English: “O ye who believe! Guard
your own selves: if you follow (true) guidance, no hurt can
come to you from those who stray. ...” (5-105) Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ answered, “Inform others of the
commandments of Islam and explain to them Islam’s prohibitions! If a person
shows self love and does not listen to you, you correct your own deficiencies.”
The scholars who prepare curative medicine for the malady “Self love” are the
Ahl as-sunnat scholars. Since these diseased people do not know about their own
maladies and assume themselves as healthy, they will not accept advice and
knowledge of these doctors, i.e., Islamic scholars, and hence continue with
these disastrous maladies. In reality, these scholars offer the curative medicine
they have gathered from our Prophet Muhammad
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ without altering anything. Ignorant and stupid
people suppose that
these scholars prepare this medicine on their own. They admire themselves by thinking that they are the ones who are in the right path.