Article appeared Friday, March 8th, 2013 in The News Today, Bangladesh

The Revelation (268)

yousuf mahbubul Islam, PhD

How should we rate arrogance? And is arrogance justified? Before attempting to answer these questions, let us first look at the definition of arrogance. For example, the WordWeb dictionary gives overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner towards others. Another definition {1} is Arrogance means bigging yourself up whether publicly or just inside your own mind. Often it involves knocking others down at the same time. In other words, a persons arrogance needs to find logic to suggest to himself or/and goes to various lengths to prove to others that, I am better than and superior to others. Why does one need to justify that he/she is better than others around him? A variety of reasons are suggested, including that it is a negative character trait {1}, and that it is a way to hide feelings of inadequacy. Another explanation given {2} is Arrogance and smugness is often a reflection of limited life experience, and a feeling of concern that those with greater life experience "have got something over them." Regarding the higher opinion of self research {3} shows that people typically believe they are more likely to engage in selfless, kind, and generous behaviors than their peers. Such an attitude is captured by the popular phrase holier-than-thou, i.e. I-am-more-religious-and/or-more-holy-than-you. Taken to an extreme, such a person may begin to feel that he/she is doing favors to the Creator or that he/she is a blessing to mankind. There are therefore a variety of ways in which man can fall prey to arrogant thoughts. Jesus (pbuh) used a story to help people understand this holier-than-thou attitude among those who pray to the Creator: Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: 'I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For, I don't cheat, I don't sin and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' [Luke 18:9 18:13, NLT] {4} Jesus proceeds to the moral of the story: I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." [Luke 18:14, NLT] {5} The arrogant Pharisee in the story is blind to who the Creator is. Standing before the Creator, the Pharisee himself judges who is good and who is bad. This is like going to a court of law for justice and dictating to the judge what the verdict should be instead of pleading for justice. Archbishop Fulton J Sheen uses the example of the Pharisee {6} to explain that such people base their scales on the prevailing norms of the society and presume to sit on judgment both on the society and themselves. The nice people rarely come to God; they take their moral tone from the society in which they live. Like the Pharisee in front of the temple, they believe themselves to be very respectable citizens. Elegance is their test of virtue; to them, the moral is the aesthetic, the evil is the ugly. Every move they make is dictated, not by a love of goodness, but by the influence of their age. Their intellects are cultivated in knowledge of current events; they read only the bestsellers, but their hearts are undisciplined. {6}

The holier-than-thou attitude extends itself to the various religions and religious sects of the world. This leads to ugly disputes as pointed out in the most recent Revelation, the Quran, The Jews say: "The Christians have naught (to stand) upon"; and the Christians say: "The Jews have naught (to stand) upon." Yet they (profess to) study the (same) Book... [2.113, YA] But they (mankind) have broken their religion among them into sects, each sect rejoicing in its (own) tenets. [23.53, MP] What then, would be the appropriate attitude? Instead of being self-righteous, the humble heart [23.55 23.61] would want to know what the Creator actually wants and how to please Him it would not presume to know more than the Creator. It would use the current knowledge in the world (from the scriptures and science) to apply deductive reasoning to find and establish the truth about the Creator with conviction. Those to whom We have sent the Book study it as it should be studied; they are the ones that believe therein; those who reject faith therein the loss is their own. [2.121, YA] If we do not study and contemplate with a humble heart, we run the risk of falling into the footsteps of Satan, who was the first to demonstrate arrogance against the Creator; When We ordered the angels: "Prostrate before Adam in respect," they all prostrated except Iblis (Satan) who refused in his arrogance and became a disbeliever. [2.34, FM] thereby, (Allah) said: "Get down from this (place): it is not for you to be arrogant here: get out for you are of the meanest (of creatures)." [7.13, YA] Rejected, Satan sought permission to deceive mankind by injecting similar arrogant thoughts from a variety of viewpoints till the Day of Judgment.

7.14 He said: "Give me respite till the Day they (mankind) are raised up." 7.15 (Allah) said: "be among those who have respite." 7.16 He said: "Because You have thrown me out of the way, lo! I will lie in wait for them on Your straight way. 7.17 "Then will I assault them from the front and behind them from their right and their left: nor will You find in most of them gratefulness (for Your Mercies).
Arrogance denies feelings of gratitude towards the Creator and adopts a variety of logic as justification.

7.18 (Allah) said: "Get out from here disgraced and expelled. If any of them (mankind) follow you, Hell will I fill with you all.
-----{Notes}: {1} http://personalityspirituality.net/articles/the-michael-teachings/chief-features/arrogance/ {2} http://www.wikihow.com/Detect-Arrogant-People {3} http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/nicholas.epley/EpleyandDunning2001.pdf {4} http://bible.cc/luke/18-9.htm {5} http://bible.cc/luke/18-14.htm {6} http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/self-righteousness