The Importance of Humility - Shaykh Aqeel Mahmood

The Importance of Humility

Praise be to Allah. We praise Him, seek His help, and ask His forgiveness. And we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds.

Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him, and whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, with no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

O you who have believed, fear Allah as He should be feared, and do not die except as Muslims.

O you who have believed, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul, and created from it its wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, about whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Verily, Allah watches over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah, and speak a firm word. He will amend for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great triumph.

As for what follows — verily the most truthful speech is the Book of Allah, and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ. And the worst of things are its innovations, and every innovation is a newly invented matter, and every newly invented matter is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Humility of Abu Bakr

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed away, Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was chosen by the companions to be the leader of the Muslims. And when he stood up to deliver his speech, he made a speech that was very different to the kinds of speeches that are made by leaders today, and even in those days. Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, he stood up and he said: "Verily I have been chosen to be the leader amongst you —

(Speech of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq upon assuming the Caliphate — recorded in Tarikh al-Tabari and other classical sources)

— And I am not better than any one of you. And if you see me doing something good, then help and support me in doing something good. And if you see me doing something wrong, then prevent me and advise me with regards to what I'm doing wrong."

Al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him, the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ, he would say about Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him: "By Allah, he is the best from amongst us. But the believer always keeps himself in check."

Humility — An Action of the Heart

As Muslims, after the month of Ramadan, brothers and sisters, it's also important for us to keep ourselves in check. And one of the ways we can do this — on top of continuing some of the physical acts of worship that we were doing in the month of Ramadan, from whatever is possible for us to do, such as the Salah, reciting of the Qur'an, etc. — are certain actions which are from the heart. Actions which the Prophet ﷺ himself would have, and as we've seen, the companions, may Allah be pleased with them all, would also have.

From those actions of the heart, brothers and sisters, which are considered to be acts of worship, is this quality of humility. Having humility and being humble. And humility and humbleness, brothers and sisters, is something which is a rewardable act. And it's something which you don't necessarily see in a person when you look at them, but it's something which is in the heart.

And it's something which is lacking today. The social media society we're living in today — many people want to show their power, show their influence, show how much power they have, and they start to show signs of arrogance as opposed to humility. In fact, Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, herself noticed this during her time. She recognized that people were being neglectful, they were forgetting about humility.

How the Scholars Defined Humility

The scholars talked about humility, and they tried to describe and define what humility is. Some of them said that humility is that you do not consider yourself worthy of any of the blessings which Allah has given you. Thereby, when you think of any blessing which you have, you're showing humility towards Allah — that it's something which you don't deserve.

Others said humility was to think of yourself as the most sinful person on earth — such that you are always striving to do good. It's not stopping you from doing good deeds; it's actually encouraging you. You're motivated to do good because you think of yourself as somebody who is the most sinful person on earth.

Others said the height of humility is that when one meets somebody who has less than him, the one who has less never feels inferior in front of you. He doesn't feel like he has less than you. He doesn't feel intimidated by you. He doesn't feel like he is lowly in front of you. You make him feel like he's on the same level as you.

Humility Elevates Your Rank

And humility isn't something which makes a person weaker in front of the people. Humility is something which elevates your rank in front of the people. Sometimes we think that when you show signs of humility, you look weak — you're a pushover. Whereas in fact, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 6264)

"Nobody shows humility for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status."

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, would say that we found honor in humility. When we would show humility towards Allah, we found that we were more honorable. We found honor when we showed signs of humility.

Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, would say that whenever someone humbles himself for the sake of Allah, Allah will elevate him on the Day of Judgment. And whoever exalts himself, praises himself, Allah will humiliate him on the Day of Resurrection.

The Danger of Arrogance

And when somebody praises themselves, when somebody does acts which are contrary and opposite to humility — those are signs of arrogance. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us about arrogance, and he said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 265)

"That individual will not enter Jannah — the one who has even an atom's weight of arrogance in his heart."

And so we can see, brothers and sisters, that humility is something which is a key component of our deen. It's not necessarily something you can see, although there are signs that you can tell someone has humility — but it's something which starts in the heart. The actions of the heart are so integral. Because without sincerity, without certain acts of the heart, our good deeds which are physical in nature may never be accepted by Allah.

Signs of Humility in a Believer

Walking with Humility

Allah also spoke about an individual who is from the slaves of the Most Merciful, and Him behaving in certain ways. From the traits of the slaves of the Most Merciful, Allah mentions in the Qur'an:

"And the slaves of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly." The slave of the Most Merciful is the one who, when he walks, he walks with humility. He doesn't walk with arrogance. And the scholars said that from the signs of a person walking with arrogance is that he walks with his shoulders swinging — as if he owns the land, as if he owns the earth he's walking on. The "millionaire strut" is what they call it nowadays. It's what some celebrities do, and people praise them for walking and behaving in this manner. But this is something which is contrary to the Sunnah and contrary to the religion of Islam.

Humility in Clothing

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2481)

"Whoever leaves certain types of clothing — extravagant, expensive clothing — for the sake of Allah, when he is able to wear such clothing, Allah on the Day of Judgment will bring him in front of the whole of creation and will give him the choice to choose whichever garment of Jannah he wishes to wear."

This is the reward a person achieves and attains by showing signs of humility, brothers and sisters. It's not something which we should belittle, look down upon, or neglect.

Seeing Others as Better Than Yourself

Al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him, would ask: "Do you know what humility is? It is to leave your home and not meet a Muslim except that you see him as superior to you." You don't look at a person and think that he isn't doing enough good deeds, that he doesn't look like a better Muslim than you. That is contrary to the character of one who shows humility.

The one who shows humility is in fact the opposite. When he sees a Muslim, he thinks to himself: maybe this Muslim is doing more good deeds than I am. Maybe he's a better Muslim than me. I need to be doing more. And so he shows these signs of humility.

Humility in Blessings and Wealth

Ka'b, may Allah be pleased with him, said with regards to wealth: "Allah has not bestowed a favor upon a servant in this world, and he thanks Allah for that favor and humbles himself for the sake of Allah, except that Allah will grant him the benefits of whatever he was thankful for in this world." When you are thankful for the blessings of Allah, it should show a level of humility also — that you were not deserving of this. This is something which Allah has blessed you with. And you are a sinful person. We are all sinners. Every son of Adam makes mistakes. None of us are deserving of anything which Allah has given us.

And the greatest blessing which Allah has given us is Islam. This is one of the greatest things one could ask for — guidance from Allah. And so when we are thankful for the blessings which Allah gave us, and we show humility towards Allah, Allah will bring about benefit from whatever it was that we were showing thanks for and were humble about.

Accepting the Truth

The Salaf would also say that from the acts of humility is accepting the truth from whoever brings it — even if it's somebody younger than you, even if it's a child, even if it's somebody who is ignorant. Because from the signs of arrogance is when a person rejects the truth. Therefore, from the signs of humility is that a person, when he hears the truth, accepts it — even if it comes from a child. One shouldn't think: "He's a child, he doesn't know what he's talking about. I'll act like I'm right even though I know he's right and I'm wrong." The one who is humble accepts the truth, even as the Salaf would say, even if it comes from an ignorant person. Because the truth is the truth, regardless of where it may come from.

Humility in Positions of Power

The Salaf would also say with regards to being in a position of power, that humility is integral when you have a position of power — whether it's with regards to family, responsibility over people, or at work, or by whatever means. When a person is in a situation where he has power over another, it is even more integral for that individual to show humility and humbleness towards Allah.

Ibn Samak would speak to Harun al-Rashid, the leader of the Muslims, and would tell him: "Your humility in your nobility is more honorable than your nobility." The fact that you are showing humility when you are in a position of power is more honorable — it is better than simply being in a position of nobility and power.

How many times have we seen leaders who were loved — not necessarily because they were leaders, but because of how they behaved when they were leaders? They showed humility. They were humble when they were leading, humble when they were in a situation of power. And none more so than our beloved Messenger ﷺ. So many examples of the Prophet ﷺ showing humility — when he arrived in Medina and they built the Masjid of the Prophet ﷺ, he himself was one of the builders. He was involved in carrying the bricks and the stones. He was involved in laying the bricks of the Prophet's Masjid.

And how many leaders do we have who were hated — not because of the fact that they were in positions of power, but because of how they behaved when they were in those positions? They were arrogant. They weren't showing humility. And so they were hated and disliked as a result of a lack of humility.

Imam al-Ghazali on Humility

Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, also said that the highest thing a believer can be to Allah is the lowest thing he can be to himself. The more insignificant he considers himself in front of Allah, the more Allah raises his ranks.

We ask Allah that He blesses us with this quality of humility in our lives.

Second Khutbah

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the messengers and prophets, our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and upon his family and companions.

Humility also means showing increased levels of humility — having more humility than maybe we did previously. And we said that humility is when a person admits and accepts what is correct, even if it's from somebody younger or from somebody who is ignorant. We mentioned many examples of humility and showing humbleness.

Humility, brothers and sisters, is also when a person recognizes the weakness of other individuals — when he realizes that other people may be struggling, may be suffering, as Muslims are around the world today, and you feel what they are feeling. We look at many Muslims suffering all over the world — in Palestine and in other parts of the world — and recently there has been an uprising in Sudan, where millions have been affected, and it's something which many of us are unaware of.

And we ask Allah that He gives all the Muslims around the world — in Palestine, in other areas, and in Sudan also, where things have become very difficult — that Allah eases their difficulties, and that Allah unites the Muslims, and that Allah eases their affairs and gives them success in this life and the Hereafter.