Spiritual diseases are more detrimental than physical diseases. One of the worst diseases is exalting oneself and claiming purity of oneself. This is the mother of all diseases and 90% of sins are caused by this. When one thinks high of himself, he gets hasad (jealousy) of one who is exalted in that quality which he thinks high of him. The cure for this is to do the person towards whom we have jealousy more favor and to praise him in public. Jannah is made for those who are pure from pride. If we have Kibr, we should think how we are born and from what thing we are created and this will show us our status. A man’s physique shows his physical maturity and when a man gets rid of kibr, he is said to be spiritually matured. The main objective of sitting in the majlis of buzurgs (pious elders) is to get rid of kibr and get humility and submissiveness. When a person has this Disease in his heart, his heart won’t be inclined towards sitting in such majlis. This disease gets more detrimental when one doesn’t recognize this disease. If he thinks himself as intelligent and not others, then that’s the worst disease. When a person doesn’t know he is sick, how will he benefit from a doctor? This kibr deprives a person from finding solution when he knows there is some problem and when he sees evil, he won’t have the courage to stop it. This is the worst outcome of kibr.
Our buzurgs used to be such that even when a small child or anyone points out the mistake, they will immediately look at themselves because they were free from kibr while we try to justify our self and falsify the one pointing out the mistake. When we touch a hot object or ice cube with our hands, we immediately sense it but when there is no life in those hands, it won’t sense anything. So is the case with our hearts. When it is alive, it will sense any sin or evil. When you wear clean clothes ironed well, you will immediately recognize even a small stain on those clothes but if the clothes are fully soiled, we won’t recognize any stain attached to it. Imam Shafi RA whenever he finds difficulty in understanding a masaail, he will immediately turn to Allah Swt in forgiveness as he knows well that some sin has stopped him from understanding the issue. Another buzurg told that the imam could recognize because his sins are very few in number. The very nature of sins is that they are highly detrimental and it can deprive us of blessings. Sometimes we see a person performing more nafil salahs or reciting more Quran but suddenly if he was derived of those righteous acts, that is because of the sins.
A man in bani Israel during Musa AS time told that he is committing sins but Allah SWT is overlooking him. Allah SWT sent the wahi to Musa AS to ask the man to see that Allah SWT has removed enjoyment in his salah. When we lose khushu in salah and when we find the ibadah very cumbersome losing interest, then that is because of our sins. Sometimes a person might be deprived of obedience from those under him. One should then ask himself if he is obedient to the one above him because of which he is the facing the disobedience from those under him. If one wants to know if he is going through a punishment or a trial, then the thing that differentiates is if a man gets more distressed, then that’s the punishment and if he is not distressed but content, then that’s the trial to exalt him. This is like when an enemy comes from behind and presses you, you will get more distressed but when your dear friend comes and presses you from behind, you will feel much comfort. Let Allah SWT grant us all a life of taqwa and give us the ability to act on what we hear, write and read. Ameen
