The remedy:
A person who begins to feel arrogant and superior should look inside himself in a wise and deep manner and not look at his outside with a superficial and bestial look.
Let him remember the origin of his existence, where he came from, and that his end in this worldly life will be nothing but a rotten corpse.
It is related that Mutraf ibn ‘Abdullah ibn al-Shikhkhīr looked at Al-Muhallab ibn Abu Safrah as he was wearing a fine garment, which he was dragging behind on the ground and walking arrogantly.
Thereupon, he said: “O Abu ‘Abdullah, what is this gait which Allah and His Messenger dislike?” Al-Muhallab said: “Do you not know me?” He said: “No, I know you. You began as a little drop of sperm and will end up as a dirty corpse, and inside you is urine and stool.”
If only people think about what lies inside them, none of them would feel arrogant or superior.
Al-Munāwi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “A person should not despise anyone, for the despised one may have a purer heart, better deeds, and a more sincere intention. Despising people brings loss, humiliation, and disgrace.”
IbnTaymiyyah said: “A fearful sinner is better than an arrogant worshiper.”
A wise person should act modestly, sit with the knowledgeable and the weak, visit the sick, observe those who die or suffer afflictions, and consider the stories of arrogant people to see how they rose and ultimately fell and what happened to them.
As if you did not hear about what happened to people in the past.
Neither do you see what will happen to those who live in the present.
So, if you are unaware of what happened to them, here are their dwellings; they were ruined by the wind and the passage of time.
O Allah, we implore You by Your name “Al-Mutakabbir” to strengthen us, conceal our faults, forgive our sins, and not to make us among the arrogant, O Lord of the worlds!
