Pride and Arrogance

“Ali ibn al-Husayn (a.s.) has said, ‘It is astonishing how one who yesterday was only a sperm and tomorrow will turn into a carcass displays arrogance and boastfulness.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘The misfortune for lineage is boastfulness and feeling self-important.’”

“Once, I said to abu Ja’far (a.s.) ‘I am ‘Uqbah ibn Bashir al-Asadi and among my people my lineage is very prominent.’ The narrator has said that the Imam then asked, ‘What is it that makes you oblige us because of your lineage? Due to proper belief, Allah has exalted those whom people consider low. Due to disbelief, He has made low those whom people called men of dignity. No one is superior, because of any other reason, to the others except due to piety.”’

“Abu Ja’far (a.s.) has said, ‘It is astonishing how one acts boastfully and arrogantly, when it is a fact that he is created from sperm and he will soon turn into a carcass and, in between, he does not know what may happen to him.’”

“Once a man came to the Messenger of Allah and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I am so and so son of so and so counting (boastfully) up to nine generations.’ The Messenger of Allah said, ‘You are the tenth of them in the fire.’”

“The Messenger of Allah has said, ‘The misfortune for lineage is boastfulness.’”