١٧٩. عَنْ عَمْرِو بْنِ شُعَيْبٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ عَنْ جَدِّهِ عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ:
«يُحْشَرُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُونَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَمْثَالَ الذَّرِّ فِي صُوَرِ الرِّجَالِ يَغْشَاهُمُ الذُّلُّ مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ فَيُسَاقُونَ إِلَى سِجْنٍ فِي جَهَنَّمَ يُسَمَّى بُولَسَ تَعْلُوهُمْ نَارُ الْأَنْيَارِ يُسْقَوْنَ مِنْ عُصَارَةِ أَهْلِ النَّارِ طِينَةَ الْخَبَالِ».
179. It was narrated from ‘Amr ibn Shu’ayb via his father and grandfather that the Noble Prophet (pbuh) said:
“On the Day of Resurrection, the arrogant will be resurrected in the form of men with the size of small red ants. Humiliation will overwhelm them from all sides. They will be driven to a prison in Hell called Bawlas, with the hottest fire rising over them, and they will be given to drink of the juice of the inhabitants of Hell, which is blood, pus, and other discharges which are called tinat al-khabaal.” (Tirmidhi, Qiyamah, 47/2492; Ahmad, II, 179; Bukhari, al-Adab al-mufrad, no: 557)
Explanations:
There are certain major sins that on the Day of Judgment, Almighty Allah will not speak to those who commit them, neither look at their faces, nor will acquit them.
Indeed, the unfortunate who fell into this situation are, just like Abu Dhar explained, in complete loss and disappointment and had been severely punished. As a result, such people receive the anger of Allah and the severe punishment in Hell.
That Almighty Allah will not speak to a person means that He will not favor that person and will not receive and be pleased with that person as His righteous subjects, and He will not tell him things that will benefit or please that person.
Almighty Allah’s not looking at someone and not facing him means that He will not treat them with His favor and mercy.
Also, Almighty Allah’s not acquitting someone means that He will not purify that person from the dirt of the sins and evil that will lead him to be punished.
Losers who will be punished so severely are the ones who are arrogant bestowers of gift who do not give anything but by laying obligation on others, and who try to sell commercial goods at a good price by taking false oaths.
Arrogance is one of major sins that Allah fully disliked and strictly prohibited. Almighty Allah commands as follows:
“And swell not your cheek (for pride) at men, nor walk in insolence through the earth; for Allah loves not any arrogant boaster.” (Luqman; 31:18)
“Nor walk on the earth with insolence!” (Al-Isra; 17:37)
Greatness is an attribute that is unique to Allah. Arrogance of a person is trying to see in himself a characteristic that belongs only to Allah, and as such, it is extremely wrong and shows that the person does not know his limits. Indeed, the following characteristics of humans, which are so obvious that they cannot be denied, keep presenting human imperfections: incapability, weakness, erring, forgetfulness, ignorance, oppression and cruelty, hurrying, miserliness, selfishness, and ingratitude… There is nothing that humans can be proud of per the phases of creation and the way their lives end. So, arrogance is not a behavior that befits them.
If Allah the Exalted gives some material and spiritual bounties to someone, that person should not fall into pride and arrogance but should rather thank Almighty Allah. Indeed, humbleness and gratitude are what befit to being a creation and subject of Allah. A servant’s scorn and contempt of persons that were subjected to less blessings than he had would be disrespectful towards Almighty Allah before anything else.
Arrogance is one of the biggest calamities of the carnal self. A person who is caught by arrogance and fell in love with fame would commit many cruelties and oppression but would not even become aware of these. As a result, he lowers himself and falls into embarrassing situations and becomes one of the oppressors. Indeed, in the second noble hadith it is said that:
“A person who keeps being arrogant finally gets listed among the oppressors and tyrants.”
The arrogance of a person and seeing himself as superior to others, his admiration of himself, and strengthening his carnal self into believing that he is better than everybody else leads him to a sad end. If a person advances in this state of arrogance and vanity, at the end he is recorded in the circle of oppressors and arrogants and falls to the lower of lows with them. The punishment given to Pharaoh, Qarun, and Haman is also given to that person.
The arrogant people are denounced in many verses of the Noble Qur’an. Arrogance is generally used to express disbelief and rebellion to Allah. People turn away from worship because of their arrogance and do not obey His commands and listen to His prophets. On the other hand, arrogance is the distinguishing characteristics of Satan. When the term arrogance is mentioned Satan comes to mind, who rebelled Allah by being arrogant and unable to overcome his pride and not prostrating to Adam (pbuh).
“…for Allah loves not the arrogant, the vainglorious.” (An-Nisa; 4:36) (Al-Nahl; 16:23) (Al-Hadid; 57:23)
As a matter of fact, since Qarun trusted and boasted about his fortune whose keys could be carried only by a group of very strong people, and performed various wrong and mischievous deeds, Allah caused the earth to swallow him up and his fortune. (Qasas; 28:79-82)
Arrogance originates from ignorance and true scholars are never conceited. In fact, arrogant people can neither receive knowledge[1] nor can serve any good.
Almighty Allah says:
“Those who behave arrogantly on the earth in defiance of right – them will I turn away from My signs.” (Al-Araf; 7:146)
Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi says
“Would a stone turn green in spring? Be humble like the soil so that colorful roses and flowers grow up from you!”
Arrogance and being conceited not only become apparent in one’s feelings and thoughts but also in his attitudes, behaviors, and dresses. If it is done with such intention, wearing a long dress that its skirt touches the ground can be a manifestation of arrogance.
It is said in a noble hadith that:
“Allah will not look, on the Day of Resurrection at the person who drags his garment (behind him) out of conceit.” (Bukhari, Libas, 1, 2, 5; Fadail al-Sahaba, 5; Muslim, Libas, 42-48)
However, there is no harm in wearing nice dresses and shoes without falling into the feeling of arrogance. If wearing beautiful dresses cause one to be arrogant or conceited, then they become harmful. A person should wear nice dresses not to be arrogant, or make everyone feel that he is different, or to swagger but rather to make sure that bounties given by Allah are shown on him and to than thank His blessings. When someone wears a nice and new dress, he should praise the Lord per our Master’s advice and donate the extra clothes to the needy. (Tirmidhi, Daawat, 107/3560)
Muslim scholars say that the way to dress in compliance with the traditions of the Prophet (pbuh) is to wear the dress down to one’s legs, and they also find it acceptable if it stretches down to heels. However, even if there is no thought of arrogance, they find it reproachable (makruh) if the clothes fall below the heels because that would be against the prohibition of the Messenger of Allah.
Our third hadith informs us that the conceited people will go to Hell. This is because arrogance causes many bad attributes and evil acts. Then the end of this road is undoubtedly Hell. For this reason in order to discourage from arrogance the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said:
“He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.” (Muslim, Iman, 147-149; Tirmidhi, Birr, 61/1998)
Also, in another the Messenger of Allah informed us that Hell boasts to Paradise by saying:
“The haughty and the proud would find abode in me.” (Muslim, Jannah, 34; Bukhari, Tafsir, 50/1; Tawhid, 25; Tirmidhi, Jannah, 22)
This is because the bounties of the land of the Hereafter are favored upon those who conduct their servanthood in humility not those who are conceited.
Almighty Allah commands as follows:
“That home of the Hereafter We shall give to those who intend not high- handedness or mischief on earth: and the end is (best) for the righteous.” (Qasas; 28:83)
In our fourth hadith, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) describes the state of the conceited people in the Hereafter. Since they unjustly boasted in the world, the arrogant people will receive “a fitting recompense”[2] in the Hereafter. Just as it is necessary to bend it in the reverse direction to straighten a curved stick, in order to purify the arrogant people from this evil characteristic, it is necessary to humiliate and lower them. So, the arrogant people in the world will be as small as ants in the Hereafter even though they look like humans in form and stature. They will be turned into extremely servile and contemptible beings, and since Allah did not value them at all, people will step over them and move on and will continue to crush them until the rights of all of the people of the Day of Judgment are accounted for. (Haythami, X, 334)
The fire that surrounds them at last, “the mother of all fires,” is so hot that it burns other fires just like normal fire burns wood. When explaining this fire, the commentators point out the following noble verse:
“Who will enter the Great Fire, in which they will then neither die nor live.” (Al-A’la; 87:12-13)
Some scholars say that the rhetoric in these sayings of the Prophet (pbuh) is figurative.
One of the greater sins is to taunt someone by reminding a favor done to him. On the Day of Judgment, the people who will be second in loss only to oppressors are the people who taunt others by reminding the favors that they did and burdening people with indebtedness. The person to whom a favor is granted is already squashed in his heart. İn addition to this, taunting him by reminding the favor is the worst spiritual torment that he can be subjected to. So, being in such behavior is one of the great sins that Allah the Almighty would never be content with.
On the other hand, the ugliness of taunting someone by reminding a previously done favor is so obvious that it does not require an explanation and it is accepted by everyone.
God Almighty states as follows that taunting someone by reminding a previous favor does not befit a Muslim and is a sign of hypocrisy and completely nullifies the performed good deed:
“O you who believe! Cancel not your charity by reminders of your generosity or by injury, like those who spend their substance to be seen of men, but believe neither in Allah nor in the Last Day. They are in parable like a hard, barren rock, on which is a little soil: on it falls heavy rain, which leaves it (Just) a bare stone. They will be able to do nothing with aught they have earned. And Allah guide not those who reject faith.” (Al-Baqarah; 2:264)
With this example, our Exalted Lord beautifully described the inner worlds of such cold-hearted people who taunt others by reminding their previous favors.
In another noble verse, this situation is explained as follows:
“Those who spend their substance in the cause of Allah, and follow not up their gifts with reminders of their generosity or with injury, for them their reward is with their Lord: on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.” (Al-Baqarah; 2:262)
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) informed us that the people who taunt others by reminding their previous favors will not enter paradise. (Nasai, Zakat, 69/2560)
Of course, these expressions are to discourage from such sins. If the arrogant person or those who taunt people for whom they did favors by reminding them die upon faith, then they will first go to hell and will return to paradise upon completing their punishment unless they are forgiven.
The third group of people informed in our third hadith that will face grave loss and disappointment are the ones who show a higher cost or quality by taking oath in order to be able to sell merchandise that they posses in return for a higher price than it is worth. We had previously covered this topic in detail under the title “Lies and False Oaths.”
Taking false oaths is always prohibited not just when selling merchandise. However, people are more likely to lie in commercial transactions. On the other hand, trading relationships is the first among the areas where rights of other slaves of Allah are at issue. This is because all people have to trade in order to survive.