Pretension and Conceit

Statement in Point By Imam Komeini

The imam, may his shade endure, says the following :

"What has to be pointed out is that some of those with weak souls, those whose souls are not at ease, cast doubt about many rewards received for partial matters, being indifferent to the fact that if something seems small in our eyes in the life of this world, it does not mean that its image in the world of the unknown and in the angelic world is also small and insignificant. Perhaps a small being may have in its domain and inwardly the perfection of greatness and glory. The sacred physique and the bodily form of the Honored Prophet, the seal of prophets, the revered Prophet and the great one, peace of Allah be with him and his progeny, was one of the small existents in this world, hut his holy soul surrounded the domain and the angelic kingdom and was the cause for the existence of the heavens and the earth. Passing a judgment about the "insignificance" and the small size of something according to its hidden and angelic image is a branch of knowledge of the angelic world and Of the hidden and people like us have no right to make such a judgment. We have to open our eyes and ears to the words of the scholars of the hereafter world. I mean the prophets and friends of Allah, peace be with them all. Moreover, that world is based on the Almighty bestowing His favors and infinite mercy, while there is neither an end nor a limit to Allah's favors. Absolute exclusion from the favor of the most Generous One Who has the infinite mercy originates from extreme ignorance, for all these blessings which He has bestowed upon His servants and which the minds are too incapable of and are too puzzled to count, all came into being without anyone asking for or being worthy of. So, what is the objection if He bestows many times as many as these boons unto His servants without precedence? Is this too much to expect in a world that was built on the influence of the human will and about which the following verse was revealed: "There will he all that the souls could desire there, all that the eves could delight in" (Qur'an, 43:71), despite man's desires having neither an end nor a measure?! Allah, the most Blessed and Exalted One, determined that world and the human will so as man would exist according to His mere will.

"So, my dear one, the narratives and the sacred traditions for these boons arc not just one or two or ten so one may have room to deny them. Rather, they are beyond the limit of being consecutively reported, and all the reliable books of traditions are filled with such quotations. These are similar to one hearing with his own ears from the Infallible Ones, peace be with them, and they allow no room for interpretation. Such a requirement is in total agreement with the consecutively reported texts and not in collision with the evidence, but in agreement with it, backed by evidence. Denying it is a proof for the weakness of one's conviction and an indication of his extreme ignorance. One has to unhesitatingly accept the statements of the prophets and friends of Allah, peace be with them, and there is nothing better than man submitting to the masters of the truth, especially in the matters where reason cannot reveal, nor is there a way to comprehend them except through the venue of inspiration and message.

If man wants to insert his small mind, his whims and thoughts, in the unknown and the worship matters of the Shari'a, he will end up denying what is generally accepted and what is necessary. He will gradually be dragged from what is few to what is many, from what is low to what is high. If we suppose that you cast doubts about these narratives and their ism-0, although there is no room in them for denial, you will be casting doubt about the Glorious Divine Book, the heavenly sacred Qur'an, for it has many such rewards. An example is this verse: "The night of power is better than a thousand months" (Qur'an, 97:3), and like this verse: "The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of Allah is that of a kernel of corn: It grows seven ears, and each ear has a hundred kernels. Allah gives manifold increase to whomsoever He pleases" (Qur'an, 2:261). In my opinion, I the writer, one of the reasons for these exclusions and denials is conceit and the magnifying of deeds. For example, if someone fasts for one day or spends the entire night in adoration, then he hears that there are great rewards for his deed, he will not think it as being far-fetched. Also, this by itself exists had the deed had its own reward, but he magnifies his deed, admires it, so he believes there is such a reward.

"My dear one :

"If we suppose that we, in all our lifespan, say fifty or sixty years, undertook all the obligations stated in the Shari'a, then we moved from this life with a sound belief, with good deeds and sound repentance, what is the measure of the reward for our righteous deeds and conviction? According to the Book and the Sunnah as well as the consensus of all sects, such an individual receives the mercy of the Truthful One, the most Exalted, and he enters Paradise with which he is promised, a garden in which he will remain eternally in bliss and ease, in everlasting mercy, tranquility and fragrance" Is there room in this for denial, had the basis been the reward for the good deed? Let us erroneously suppose that our righteous deeds are worthy of being rewarded, the reward of this person will be hardly imaginable in quantity and quality. It is understood from this that the matter is based on another premise and revolves on another axis: so, there is no room for exclusion, and there is no venue opening for denial."

Here ends his statement, may his shade prolong.

Among the other harms of conceit is that it forces the conceited person to be pretentious. This is so because demonstrating what is beautiful of the human instincts and stopping to show off one's beauty is very difficult, just as difficult as it is for a hungry and thirsty person not to eat and drink. The men of knowledge, those who are giants in this field, have very interesting situations and made very precise statements, but it is not suitable to quote them here. This sense does not distinguish between true beauty and an imagined, fake one. One who admires his deeds, since they look good in his eyes, and since the deeds which he does must be shown to others, finds it very difficult to withstand this psychological inclination. Had he had this will, he would not have been afflicted with conceit in the first place. This is the opposite of one who does not admire his deeds. He does not see them as being anything but as nothing, seeing his manners dismal and his conviction as being unworthy of being demonstrated to others; so, he does not admire himself, his attributes or deeds. Rather, he sees himself as not beautiful at all. Such a person is in no position to make a show of himself and present his deeds to others. He is just as imam Khomeini, may his shade endure, has said, "The rotten and ugly merchandise is never displayed at the wholesale market." But if he sees himself and his deeds as presentable, he will be in a position to show off his beautiful deeds in their imagined beauty. Therefore, all the harms mentioned in these sheets are definitely counted among the harms of conceit as well. In the field of the harms of conceit, the greatest mentor of manners and spirituality, imam Khomeini, may his blessings last forever, has made a statement, and here is a translation of its text :

WISE ADMONISHMENT BY IMAM KHOMEINI :

"Let the conceited person know that this abomination is the seed of all other abominations and the cause of many matters each one of which independently causes eternal annihilation and lodgment in torment. If he gets to know these harms properly, reviewing them carefully, studying the reports and legacies of the greatest Prophet and his Ahl al-Bayt, blessings of Allah be with them all, he will surely see for himself that he must reform them and purge himself of this abomination, must uproot it from his inner self so he may not leave this world, God forbid, and go to the next carrying this abomination with him. This is because once the worldly eye is closed, when one sees the power of the barzakh and .judgment, he will see that the condition of those who committed great transgression is better than his own, for Allah Almighty permitted them to dive in oceans of His mercy on account of their repentance, or due to their reliance on the favor of Allah Almighty, whHe this poor-person who saw himself as being independent, seeing inwardly that he had no need for the favor of Allah Almighty, Allah, praise to Him, held him to account through the scales of His justice, just as he wanted: Now 1-le informs him that he never intended to truly worship the Truthful One, that all his acts of worship distanced him from the side of the Truthful One, all his deeds and conviction were not only nil and nothing but necessitated his perdition. They were seeds for painful torment, a cause for being lodged into hell forever. God forbid that Allah, praise to I Jim, should deal with anyone through His justice, for had this tablet been opened, none from the first generations and the last would have had a way to salvation. The imams of guidance, peace be with them, and the great prophets used to hope, in their silent supplications to Allah, for His favor, the most Praised One, and they were terrified by His justice and judgment.

"The silent supplication by the elite ones to the Truthful One and to the Infallible Imams (peace be with them) are full of admission of dereliction, of incapacitation to truly adore. In one place, the one who is the very best of everything in existence declares the following: "We never knew You as You ought to be known, nor did we adore You as You ought to be adored." The condition of the rest of people is well known. Yes, they realized the greatness of the Truthful One, the Almighty, knowledgeable of the ratio of what is possible to what is mandatory. They knew that had they spent their entire lifespan in the life of this world adoring, being obedient, praising and glorifying Him, they would never have thanked Allah for His blessings: so, how could they fully meet the requirements for praising Him and His attributes? They knew that nothing exists by itself, on its own, that life, ability, knowledge, power and all the other perfections are but the shadow of His perfection, the Almighty that lie is. What can he is poor, rather, purely poor, living in His shade, never being independent. How can there be any perfection for one by himself so he may display his perfection for sale? What power does he have so he may bargain over his work? The ones who are knowledgeable of Allah, of the beauty of the Truthful One, of His Greatness, witnessed through vision and sight how imperfect they are, how incapable, how weighty their obligation is, while we, poor souls, are surrounded by the barrier of ignorance, indifference and conceit! The barrier of inwardly and outwardly transgressions has veiled from our eyes, ears, minds, senses and the rest of faculties, so much so that we display our existence in contrast with the overwhelming authority of the Truthful One, the Almighty, claiming independence, saying we are something.

"So, poor being who has no knowledge about his own self and about his ratio to the Creator! 0 poor wretch who is unaware of his function compared to the One Who owns the kings! Such ignorance, such lack of knowledge, is the cause of these sufferings. We have been afflicted by them because of the darkness and impurity. The destruction starts from its origin: the water is impure from its source; our eyes are too blind to see the deep knowledge. Our hearts are dead. Such is the reason for all the calamities. Yet we are not in the process to reform them, either ...

"Lord! We plead to You to grant us success, acquaint us with our functions, grant us a share of the lights of deep knowledge with which You tilled the hearts of those who know and those of Your friends! Show us how Your power and authority overwhelm, how faulty we are, and enable us to understand the meaning of praising Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. We are the poor ones, the unaware, who attribute all the praiseworthy attributes to the beings; do inform our hearts that not a single good attribute belongs initially to any being, and show us the truth of tins verse: "Anything good (0 man!) that happens to you is from Allah, but whatever evil happens to you is from your (own) nafs (soul)" (Qur'an, 4:79), and instill in our cruel hearts, the impure one, the blessed statement of Tawhid, for we are the people of the barrier, of the dark, of shirk and hypocrisy. We love ourselves, we admire them, so help us take the love for the nuts and for this world out of our hearts. Do make us loving Alin, worshipping I surely YOU can do anything at all."

This is the conclusion of the wise admonishment of imam Khomeini, may his blessings last.