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HUMILITY

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SPEECHLESS!

SPEECHLESS!

This Khutba has been Formatted into an Article.

By: Imam Sikander Ziad Hashmi, Ottawa, Ontario

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Most democratic societies pick someone to govern them through elections. These elections take place every few years. On election night, after the results have come in,there is a lot of attention paid to the party leaders and their speeches, both victory and concession ones. There is a certain tone that leaders try to strike –positive, optimistic, grateful, and confident.One of the traits people look for in leaders is humility. In Islam, humility is not a trait that should just be found in leaders, though it is emphasized for leaders.

The reality is that we are all either leaders in some way, or are going to be in the future, so having this trait of being genuinely humble is very relevant for all of us, not just elected leaders. According to the Harvard Business Review:“The Best Leaders Are Humble Leaders". It is a trait we all need to introduce ourselves to, and work on it to make it grow. Our Prophet SAW was a great example of humility. Allah said to Prophet:

وَٱخْفِضْ جَنَاحَكَ لِمَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ

“And lower your wing [i.e., show kindness]to those who follow you of the believers.”(26:215)

وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ

“And do not turn your cheek [in contempt]toward people and do not walk through the earth exultantly. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful.” Saheeh International (31:18)

It is a very important characteristic to have in humans. Humility is the opposite of conceit, pride, and arrogance, which have repeatedly been described as one of the traits of the stubborn rejecters of the truth, disbelievers, in the Quran.

The traits opposite to humility can cause various problems inside a human heart and it also causes several challenges with others. Many times, people know what’s right and true, but their pride and arrogance create a wall between them and the truth. The downside is that a person who is stuck in pride and arrogance is not willing to understand that there is more to learn, and much more to improve in every way. Eventually they get stuck in the now, no desire to continue to seek truth, to learn more, to seek guidance, or to work on improving themselves, which is a major impediment to worldly and spiritual success.

One of the clearest examples of humility, is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would sit in the Masjid with his companions and if a stranger or visitor came to the Masjid, he wouldn't know who the Prophet was until he asks, "Which one of you is Muhammad"? This is because he Prophet ﷺ would not sit, dress, or be treated in a way that distinguished him from the people, unlike the way leaders and famous people generally carry themselves and are treated in public. Whenever a stranger enters a gathering, it becomes quite clear to the stranger which person is noteworthy amongst the people.

Abdullah ibn Amr رضي الله تعالى عنه said: 'The Prophet entered ﷺ upon me, so I gave him a pillow (to sit on) made from skin and filled with date palm fibers. The Prophet refused ﷺ to sit on it and he chose to sit on the (bare) ground, and he left the cushion between him and myself'. Bukhari/Muslim

Aisha (رضي الله تعالى عنه was asked, 'What did the Prophet useﷺ to do when he was in the privacy of his home'? She replied, 'He used to be in the service of his family'. He used to repair his sandals and sew/patch his own clothes and he would milk the sheep. Sahih al-Bukhari

حَدَّثَنَا حَفْصُ بْنُ عُمَرَ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنِ الْحَكَمِ، عَنْ إِبْرَاهِيمَ، عَنِ الأَسْوَدِ، قَالَ سَأَلْتُ عَائِشَةَ مَا كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَصْنَعُ فِي أَهْلِهِ قَالَتْ كَانَ فِي مِهْنَةِ أَهْلِهِ، فَإِذَا حَضَرَتِ الصَّلاَةُ قَامَ إِلَى الصَّلاَةِ.

I asked Aisha what did the Prophet ﷺ use to do at home. She replied. "He used to keep himself busy serving his family and when it was time for the prayer, he would get up for prayer." (Sahih al-Bukhari 6039)

This was genuine humility, and not just for a show. There are many personal,communal, and spiritual benefits of exercising this trait. The first benefit of exercising humility is the ability to recognize our true worth in the world and especially in front of Allah. Living in this small world compared to the universe we develop this idea in our minds that we are very substantial, but in fact we’re just a tiny part of this universe; and in front of Allah, we are even more minuscule and insignificant. By understanding this, we can truly strive towards the path of true submission to Allah (turning to Allah without most humility and dependence on Him). This way we would feel the true humility when we worship Him.

- إنَّ الله أوْحَى إِلَيَّ أنْ تَوَاضَعُوا حَتَّى لا يَفْخَرَ أحَدٌ عَلَى أحَدٍ ، وَلا يَبْغِي أحَدٌ عَلَى أحَدٍ وعن عياض بن حمار رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم:

"Allah has revealed to me that you should humble yourselves to one another. One should neither hold himself above another nor transgress against another.” (Muslim) Riyad as-Salihin 601

We can also understand the importance of deep hearted humility with one of the companions of Muhammad (ﷺ), Umar Ibn Khattab (رضي الله تعا لي عنه): As narrated by 'Urwah ibn Zubair (رضي الله تعا لي عنه). He said: 'I saw Umar carrying a large leather water canteen on his shoulder. I said to him, 'Oh Amir-ul-Mu'mineen, you shouldn't be carrying that'. Umar replied by saying, 'A delegation came to Medina, and I saw their obedience to me, and some conceit entered into my heart, and I wanted to destroy it'.

Everyone knows the strong personality of Umar: (رضي تعالي الله عنه ) yet, when a small and minute amount of pride (nakwah) entered his heart, he hurried to destroy it, before it destroyed him.

There are many key benefits of having true humility in our hearts : As this example explains,

مَا نَقَصَتْ صَدَقَةٌ مِنْ مَالٍ وَمَا زَادَ اللَّهُ عَبْدًا بِعَفْوٍ إِلاَّ عِزًّا وَمَا تَوَاضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلاَّ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ

.Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Charity does not decrease wealth, no one forgives another except that Allah increases his honor, and no one humbles himself for the sake of Allah except that Allah raises his status. (Sahih Muslim 2588)

This hadith can be understood in two ways:

1) Allah will raise a humble person (in status) in this world, and give him status in people’s hearts because of his humility (for Allah, and not humility for the showoff), and give him a high status in people’s eyes

2), Or his status will be raised as a reward in the Hereafter, because of his humility in this world.

There are great lessons from the above hadith, few are as follows.

. Allah loves humility because it is conducive to submission to Allah and is opposite of arrogance/pride (trait of the enemies of Allah)

· The Prophet was filled with humility, it is evident in all his actions

· This is the essential trait for true success (worldly, spiritually)

· Humility raises a person’s rank, either in world, hereafter, or both

· Be conscious of behaviour, how it comes across (perception is important)

· Actively work towards increasing humility by serving others, especially when feeling conceit fully proud or arrogant

Reference: https://hbr.org/2014/05/the-best-leaders -are-humble-leaders

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