14- SELF LOVE ( U J B)

Among the vices, the fourteenth one is self love. Self love is one's liking his worships and good deeds and his bragging with them. One's appreciating the value of one's performed worships and good deeds and worrying and fearing lest they may be lost would not be self love. Alternately, thinking about and joying by recognizing that these are the blessings sent by Allahu ta'ala would also not constitute self love. Joying by not thinking and by not recognizing that these are blessings sent by Allahu ta'ala but thinking that one earned or obtained these things by himself with his own doing will constitute self love. The opposite of self love is called "Minnat". "Minnat" is the thinking that one did not obtain the blessings with one's own working and sweating but they are the blessings bestowed by Allahu ta'ala. Thinking in this manner is obligatory (Fard) when there is a danger of self love, and permissible (Mustahab) in other instances. The leading reason that leads human beings into self love is ignorance and unawareness (Gaflat). Since self love is a vice, we must get rid of it. In order to get rid of self love, one should ponder that all kinds of good and useful deeds and faculties, e.g., intellect, mind, and knowledge were given to him so that he may do good deeds or worships with them. Property and ranks are all given to us because of the decree and desire of Allahu ta'ala and His creation according to His Decree. Blessings means things that are beneficial to human beings. Human beings experience sweetness by possessing them. All types of blessings are sent only by Allahu ta'ala. There is none besides Him who creates and sends them. Some of the companions of the Prophet, before the beginning of the "Hunayn war," by seeing the huge number of warriors fighting along the Islamic front said that they will never lose another war. Rasulullah, peace be upon him, became very upset upon hearing what they had said. At the beginning of the war the help of Allahu ta'ala did not come to the warriors of the Islamic front and they started to lose the war. But later on, Allahu ta'ala pitied them and granted them victory. Prophet David (Dawud), peace be upon him, was praying as follows, "Oh my Lord! There is no night that some of our children do not pray to you and there is no day that some of our children do not fast for you." Allahu ta'ala replied, "If I would not decree and give strength and opportunity, none of those could be accomplished." Sayings of David (Dawud), peace be upon him, was not accepted favorably by Allahu ta'ala and he suffered all of those undesirable things that are written in the history books. We have already informed things that cause conceit (Kibr). They are also the cause of self love (Ujb). Thanking for the blessings of Allahu ta'ala is also a great blessing.

The dangers and harm of self love are many. First of all they cause conceit and also they cause us to forget about our sins. Committing sin darkens our hearts. Anyone who ponders about his sins would not be able to see his worships as worthy and would also think that being able to do the worships is a blessing and favor of Allahu ta'ala. Those who have self love also forget the punishment of Allahu ta'ala as well as they do not ask advice from anyone and thus miss the opportunity of getting useful help from others.

In one hadith, Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "Three things drag one into disasters: Buhl, Hawa, and Ujb." A person who has "Buhl", i.e., a stingy person would not be able to perform necessary actions that must be performed for the sake of Allahu ta'ala or duties to be performed toward others. A person who follows the desires (Hawa) of his soul (Nafs) and who has self love, i.e. who admires his "Nafs" will certainly fall into some abyss and disaster. Imam-i Muhammad al-Ghazali, may Allahu ta'ala be pleased with him, said, "Sources of all evil things are three: jealousy, hypocrisy and self love. Try to clear your heart of these!" A person who has self love always says me, me! He always wants to be in the leading position in any gathering. He always wants his words to be accepted by others.

In one hadith, Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said, "If you do not commit sin, I am afraid you will be caught in a bigger sin. That is the self love 'Ujb'." A sinner will show humility and feel guilty and therefore ask for repentance. A person who possesses self love will be proud of his knowledge or doings and will be conceited and egoistical and therefore it will be very difficult for him to repent. Allahu ta'ala will favor the stressful moaning of sinners to the boastful voices of worshipers. The worst kind of self love is to like or admire one's own mistakes and desires (Hawa) of one's soul. A person of this caliber always follows the desires of his soul or in other words he becomes a slave to his soul and never accepts any advice because he thinks that all others are a bunch of ignorants. But in reality he himself is very ignorant. Deviated people (Ahl al-bida) and those who do not follow any school of thought, i.e., "la-madhhabiyya people," are in this category. They are attached to their deviated beliefs and to their corrupt worships by supposing themselves in the correct path. It is very difficult to obtain cure for this type of self love "Ujb". They have inquired from Rasulullah, peace be upon him, the meaning of the 108th verse of the "Maida" chapter of the Qur'an which says, "Be observant of yourselves. As long as you are in the right path, the deviation of others will not harm you!" Rasulullah, peace be upon him, answered, "Inform others of the orders of Islam and explain to them the forbidden things! If a person shows self love and does not listen to you, you correct your own deficiencies." The scholars who prepare curative medicine for the malady "Self love" are the Ahl as-sunnat scholars. Since these diseased persons do not know about their own maladies and assume themselves as healthy, they do not accept advice and knowledge of these doctors, i.e., Islamic scholars, and hence continue with these disastrous maladies. In reality, these scholars offer the curative medicine they have gathered from our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, without altering anything. Ignorant and stupid persons suppose that these scholars prepare this medicine on their own. They admire themselves by thinking that they are the ones who are in the right path.