The Evil of Pride

Thursday, 01 November 2007 17:52

Pride - Challenging The Power Of Allah

Allah Ta'ala states in a Hadith-e-Qudsi: "Majesty is my upper-garment and greatness is my lower-garment. Whoever attempts to snatch away any of the two from me, I will enter him into the fire of hell." Hadith-e-Qudsi, as Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) explains, is directly from Allah Ta'ala, but it is not part of the Quran Sharif. In this Hadith-e-Qudsi Allah Ta'ala states: "Majesty is my upper garment." What will we think of a person who tries to snatch away the garment of someone else? We will say that he is very immoral and evil. Therefore that person who wants to establish his greatness, who wants to show his superiority over others and wants to impose his arrogance on others, is in fact trying to snatch the upper-garment of Allah. We know what can happen to a person who tries to snatch away Allah Ta'ala's garment. If someone, like one of us, wants to attack us, we can challenge him, even if he is two or three times more powerful than yourself, you can still challenge him with the aid of something.

However, the greatness and power of Allah Ta'ala; it has no limits. "And He is the One who has complete power over His slaves." (verse 18/6)  "And He has the power to punish you from above or below your feet or to put you into confronting factions and make you taste the vengeance of one another." (verse  65/6)

Allah Ta'ala has complete power. The entire universe is the creation of Allah Ta'ala. The snake and the scorpion, are the creations of Allah Ta'ala. The lion and the wolf are the creations of Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'ala has the power to punish any criminal with any creation of his. Diseases and sicknesses are the enemies of man. Natural disasters are also an enemy. Someone could be diagnosed with a tumour, some with TB or cholera breaks out. All these and many other sicknesses are also the creation of Allah Ta'ala. Allah Ta'ala can punish any sinner with whichever of his creation He wishes. Allah Ta'ala can punish one, who tries to snatch His garments, with any creation He wishes. Therefore one should not allow arrogance or pride to form within the heart.