5-25-10 In the Name of the Merciful...

From Muhasibi's Book on the Observance of the Rights of God

Chapter on What Conceit Entails of Blameworthy Character Traits and their Description Sell's Preliminary Remarks For Muhasibi, there is no end to the intricacies and insinuations of conceited self-display. It can enter as an inclination while a person is considering an act, or just before an act, or during an act. It can occur without any regretful consciousness of the lack of sincerity, or it can occur with a regret about the lack of sincerity, but without the impetus to changea regret that is only a regret about not being perfect, not true horror of lack of sincerity. It can enter as an inclination after an act, a desire, post facto, that people know of its virtue. What is conceit? Do you experience thisthe fear of confusing sincerity with conceit? Muhasibi I said: Tell me which traits, blameworthy before God Most High, are entailed by conceit. He said: Those traits that are entailed by conceit alone, not anything else, include a variety of flaws, such as pride in action and knowledge and arrogance in faith and in the world. And [it includes]enviousness regarding knowledge and action without any real competitiveness , but out of worry that the one he envies might gain in station and in praise what he has not gained. Notice Muhasibi's use of opposites--knowledge and action, faith and the world. He also mentions not wanting to be lorded over and wanting to lord over others. Conceit here, at least in regards to knowledge, seems to be defined by vying for supremacy over othersto inflate one's ego and avoid being belittled. I said: What is powerlust (ri'asa)? He said: The love of aggrandizement and exercising power over creatures and looking down upon them that not a single word of his be rejected, that not a single person equal him in knowledge, that no one be put before him. When such a one is admonished, he becomes stubborn and refuses advice. When he admonishes, he causes resistance and his advice is not accepted. Someone like this never admits fault. This type of individual puts himself before community, before the wellbeing and best interests of the community and of higher ideals. Instead of working for knowledge he works to get knowledge for himself. Instead of striving for Truth he strives to construct a Truth that he can defend and become praised for. Can a sincere person be seen as this sort of personbecause he holds strongly to an opinion that isn't as well accepted? How can we make that distinction? This sort of personality only repulses people instead of bringing them closer. I said: What is competitiveness (mubaha), how does it operate, and what does it entail, and what is the root of its harm? He said: It occurs with knowledge and actioin.

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As for knowledge, it is a persistence in seeking it, and guarding it, and being obsessed with itand this occurs with many scholars of hadith and the jumping in with the answer whether it is he who is asked or someone else...He races to recall the hadith so that his companion will see he is the more learned. If his companion recalls a hadith, he lets him know that he knew it anyway, out of competitiveness to put himself over his companion. Competitiveness, as a general rule, is accepted and highly encouraged in our societyespecially considering the nature of free market capitalism: put in all of your effort but you may still sink. Is there a positive form of competitiveness in the Islamic worldview? If so, howif at alldoes it conflict with the competitiveness we see here? As for competitiveness in actionscompetitiveness can occur between people in remembering God Most High, or in fighting in the path of God Most High or in praying or in any act of devotion. If there is a group praying together, he prolongs his prayers so that his companion will become embarrassed and discomfited, and will leave the prayer. In this way, he will be raised above his companion. He will have bested him in stature among those who know what happened. In this situation, do you think anyone often notices? Or is this indicative of some sort of vanity in this person's heart that leads him to think he is the center of attention? Today this may be more understood considering the effect of television and movies and the self-awareness where one sees his or her self through the lens of a camera. Perhaps, though, this sort of self-awareness construct is not needed for such a type of vanity. Similarly in battle, he rushes ahead of his companion, wishing to be shown in charge and given preference. He charges in to battle with all he has to best his companion nad display his superiority over him. If by chance he is killed in such a condition, his reward is lost and he is not secure from God's wrath toward him. [H]is reward is lost and he is not secure from God's wrath toward him. This is further linked to the communal, social well-being and the Islam-themed responsibility to shirk pure individualismeven the mujahid's sacrifice can be rendered superficial; he will have sacrificed the well being of his soul instead of his body and life in the way of Truth. As for competitiveness in the world...Out of competitiveness he spends many times the normal amount so that no one will best him, but he will best anyone else. I have heard this happens in some masajid. What do you think? Do you see the syndrome of keeping up with the Jone's amongst the Muslim community? [If the so and so buys a Mercedes you have to buy the Mercedes AMG.] I said: What is vaunting (taf'akhur)? He said: Vaunting can comprise many aspects of competitiveness, but it has features that distinguish it, such as its implication in knowledge. When a person vaunts knowledge, he becomes presumptuous, saying, for example: 'How much did you hear? Did you get anything right? What do you say about such and such?' He says such things to another, implying that he has not done well and has not heard well, 'has not heard what I heard, and has not occupied the station that I occupy.' In short, it seems that vaunting includes competitiveness and adds insult to injury, bragging, etc.

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I said: How can one reject the truth, knowing that it is the truth? He said: Out of dislike that anyone come near to him in being right, or best him. Thus the people of the Book have fallen apart out of covetousness. So you have to undermine Truth to maintain your own pseudo-truth which arises from your nafsyour need and desire to be (at least seen as) correct. I said: What is rivalry (hubb al-ghalaba)? He said: Rivalry comes from conceit and other causes. That which is caused by conceit is a person's dislike of being bested in any competition and having the victor placed above him... How many a godservant has fought and competed with someone in knowledge until he won? The loser had been respected and honored, but once he is defeated, those who used to respect him disparage him and turn their respect and honor to the victor. So one wishes the other person to be wrong, and oneslef to be right. If the other is right he is pained...Such a person does not try to understand what his opponent in argument is saying; his concern is refutation and dissension. It is related of Hudhayfa, God be pleased with him, concerning the Prophet, God's peace and blessings upon him, that he said: 'Do not seek knowledge to vie with the scholars in it, or to dispute with the ignorant, or to draw the regard of people to you.' To What Extent the Godservant Can Be Certain That He Is Sincere in an Act and to What Extent He Cannot Be Certain Sell's Preliminary Remarks A person needs always to be wary, but wariness should not lead to a lack of confidence or a paralyzing sense of self-consciouness. It is true that a person can never be sure that conceit has not mixed in with his act (yukhalitu 'amalahu), causing it to fail morally. However, if one has begun an action with good intention (niyya), and has followed the practice of confirmation (see the first passage above), then such a balance between wariness and confidence can be achieved. Below, Muhasibi outlines how an intense wariness can still allow for a life of hope. Can someone sum up the idea of confirmation that we spoke about a couple of weeks ago? (p 178) Keep in mind the issue of wariness and hope. Muhasibi I said: Is it possible for anyone to be certain that he has sincerely carried out a given act for Allah alone when he is uncertain if any conceit might have mixed in with it, or when fear and doubt take control of him? He said: Before he begins an act, he should not enter into the act until he knows that Allah wills it and no other wills it.

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And after a few momentsit could be no more than the blink of an eyewhich is enough for the creature to fal prey to forgetfulness and inauthenticity, fear takes him over...He might have accepted the inclination and then forgotten that it came from conceit. Thus he remains in a state of worry and fear. A blink of an eye. I said: If he is in such a state of doubt, how can he achieve hope over doubt? How can he hope for the good favor of Allah Most High? He said:As for the doubt by which he would not know whether he entered upon the act with sincerity or not there can be no such doubt, since he knew that he entered upon the act on the will of God Most High alone. But as for the doubt he has when fearful that Allah might have reckoned against him his acceptance of an inclination which he has forgotten about and does not intuityes indeed, there can be fear concerning his act, and nervousness, and anxiety on that account. If his initial action is in accord with what Allah wills and he has confirmed this according to the previously given criteria then he can be hopeful in that portion of his act. However he should doubt whether his action was followed through with pure sincerity. I said: Therefore he has equal amounts of fear and hope concerning whether he carried out the act for God Most High or for an other-than-God. Thus his hope in God Most High will be weak. How can he enjoy his obedience to Allah and enjoy its sweetness in such circumstances? He said: In fact, hope is dominant and greater, because he was certain that he entered upon the act with sincerity for God alone, but he is not certan that he fell to any conceit in it. So the sincerity is certain and there is doubt about the conceit. His fear about the possibility of conceit mixing into act is among the things that he hopes that God will purify him ofin his worry over those things he does not know. So his hope is increased [because it includes hope Allah will purify him of any conceit he might have fallen for and forgotten]. And if no conceit entered into his act, his worry about it has made his act greater and increased his devotion. He entered upon the act with certainty of its sincerity, and then he sealed it with anxiety and fear concerning the knowledge of God Most High. In this way his hope is made greater and he is able to enjoy his obedience to his lord Most High. Fear, anxiety is an act of devotion and thus his hope should be stronger. What do you think? Sell's Closing Remarks In his Book on the Observance, Muhasibi's moral psychology is presented within an almost purely psychological dimension. Eschatology, the finality, the reward and punishment, are almost excluseively invoked as aspects of the effort to escape the subtle traps of egoism. There is no particularly Sufi world depicted; the moral psychology is as an aspect of universal human disposition and within the general framework of the Qur'an and the traditions of the Prophet. Do you think some of these concepts are truly universal? Which ones? How can they help our society?