Islamic Morals [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Lesson: 6 Self - Deception and Egotism

One of the
most dangerous attributes that are mostly seen among the scholars and saints
is egotism. It is the same self-centredness for explaining the meaning whereof
great teachers of ethics and morals have written much.

Egotism is
that man thinks himself to be great due to his material attainments, be those
actual virtues in him or only in his imagination.

Some have said:
Egotism is that, man due to whatever attribute or blessing he has thinks that
he is great and becomes unmindful of the one who granted all that to him. They
have not considered it self-deceit and egotism if one considers oneself to be
better than others. It is Ujb even if there is none besides one. Contrary to
this, in case of pride, it is necessary that there is somebody else so that
the proud may be able to imagine himself to be better than the other.

The late Allamah
Majlisi (r.a.) has said: Ujb means to imagine oneself's deed as great and to
be pleased with it is in such a way that he does not consider him at fault but
thinks that he has obliged Allah!

It can be said
that there are stages or grades of self-deceit and egotism. It is not necessary
that the egotist must have crossed all the stages. So it is mentioned in an
authentic narration by Ali bin Suved from Moosa bin Ja'far (a.s.): I inquired
about the deed called ujb. The Imam (a.s.) said: Some of the stages of it are
that a bad deed appears good to one, he considers it nice and becomes happy
with it and thinks that he has done a good thing.???

It is also
one of the stages when man believes in God and imagines that he has favoured
Allah! Whereas the truth is that Allah has favoured him.

Because it
was he who guided him to Faith

In short, it
can be said that it is Ujb when man becomes happy with himself and this is the
very first stage of egotism. Sometimes pride and self-centeredness also branch
out from this stage and man begins to imagine himself to be better than others.
Sometimes it so happens that he imagines that as a result of some of his good
deeds he has acquired some rights over Allah. Scholars have explained this subject
from various aspects.

There are many
narrations in this matter. Here, we mention three of them:

1 - Imam Sadiq
(a.s.) said: Whoever is taken over by egotism is finished.

2 - It is narrated
either from Imam Sadiq (a.s.) or Imam Baqir (a.s.): Two men enter a mosque.
One is a worshipper and another sinner. Then they get out of the Masjid in such
a condition that the sinner becomes a Mo-min and the Aabid turns into a sinner.
The reason is that the oft-worshipper enters the mosque happily taking pride
in his worship and thinks only about it whereas the sinner feels very ashamed
of his misdeeds and seeks Allah's pardon.

3 - The Holy
Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said: Lord Almighty addressed Prophet Dawood (a.s.): O Dawood!
Give good tidings to the sinners and warn the truthful and righteous. Dawood
said: How can I give good tidings to the offenders and warn the pious? Came
the commandment: O Dawood! Give good news to the sinners that I accept repentance
and forgive sins and caution the truthful that they should not be self-centred
due to their good deeds because there is no slave who is called for giving the
account of his deeds ???and he is not destroyed.

Now that we
have known that egotism is prohibited from the viewpoint of traditions, let
us discuss some other aspects of it:

1- Worldly
and Otherworldly harms of ujb.

2- What is the sign of ujb?

3- How it can be cured?

From the viewpoint
of worldly life the harms and corrupting effects of egotism are many. We point
out four of them that have been mentioned in narrations:

A - Ujb means
self-centeredness or egotism. Once man develops this evil he is no more prepared
to obtain any benefit from the centres of knowledge or from knowledgeable persons,
as he imagines himself on their level and sometimes even above them. Due to
this he drags behind in scholarly achievements or in the progress of knowledge.
He remains in a state of multiple ignorance forever. So most of us, possibly
know a group of them, and in the words of our dear leader of the Islamic revolution,
Imam Khomeini (r.a.) which he had uttered in one of his final addresses to the
students:

Honourable
sire! Learn lessons, before your age advance and you turbans expand, because,
then it is likely, you may not be ready to attend study circles and benefit
from them, even though, sometimes, man knows that lesson is beneficial for him.

The master
of the monotheists (a.s.) says:

Egotism prevents progress of knowledge.

He also says: Self-centeredness corrupts ones intelligence.

B - It is but
natural that egotism makes a person unpleasant among the people who become displeased
with him and do not care for him. So the Imam (a.s.) pointing to this, says:
One who is pleased with himself makes many people angry with him.

Yes, it must
be said that egotism, in every meaning, is a harmful ignorance. Imam Sadiq (a.s.)
says: No ignorance and foolishness is more harmful than egotism.

C - Egotism
takes man away from reality. Consequently he is not able to benefit from good
deeds. For example, once Isa (a.s.) = Isa (a.s.) was travelling with one of
his companions. When they reached seashore, Isa (a.s.), with full faith in the
Lord of the worlds, uttered the Name of Allah and began to walk on water. The
youth accompanying him also took the Name of God with full Faith and walked
on water likewise. But, during the walk in the sea, egotism took over the latter
youth. So he said to himself proudly: Now how is Isa (a.s.) superior to me?
At the very moment he entertained this thought he went down in the water. Hazrat
Isa (a.s.) saved him and said: This happened due to egotism in you. If you repent
you will return to your earlier condition. The youth repented and gained his
earlier status.

D - An egotist
mostly has failed and will fail because the Holy Quran, says in regard to the
unbelievers: Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth declares
the Glory of Allah, and He is the Mighty, the wise. He is who caused those who
disbelieved of the followers of the Book to go forth from their homes at the
first banishment; you did not think that they would go forth, while they were
certain that their fortresses would defend them against Allah; but Allah came
to them whence they did not expect, and cast terror into their hearts; they
demolished their houses with their own hands and the hands of the believers;
therefore take a lesson, O you who have eyes!

The Otherworldly
Harm of Egotism

Egotism makes
deeds meaningless. The Holy Quran says: Say: Shall we inform you of the greatest
losers in their deeds? These are they whose labour is lost in their life and
they think that they are well-versed in skill of the work of hands.

And again says:
What! Is he whose evil deed is made fair seeming to him so much so that he considers
it good is like the one who sees the Truth?

Yes, those
who think in this way destroy their good deeds, in a way, by casting favour.
So says the Holy Quran: O you who believe do not make your charity worthless
by reproach and injury, like him who spends his property to be seen of men.

We conclude
this discussion with a narration from Imam Sadiq (a.s.): Egotism is a plant
the seed whereof is kufr unbelief and its ground is nifaq (disharmony) and its
water is oppression and its branches are foolishness and its leaf is waywardness
and its fruit is condemnation and dumping in Hell. So whoever adopts egotism
has cultivated and sown the see of blasphemy and its cultivation will be discord
and know that they are bound to get this fruit.

Sign of
Ujb

Obviously the sign of egotism is that one considers oneself better than
others and in the Words of the Holy Quran: Nay! Man is evidence against himself,
though he puts forth his excuses.

And likewise
Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said: The one who does not recognise the personality of others
is the one who is an egotist.