Humility

You know,

people are always saying that you should do things you can be proud of,

and to be proud when you achieve something,

and then at the same time they're telling you that you have to be humble.

Which is it?

How can it be both?

If we are supposed to be humble,

how can it make sense to say

that we are proud to be muslim?

Now as muslims we know and understand

that everything we have comes from God,

and that includes whatever talents we might have,

our physical skills,

our mental abilities,

and even our natural inclinations

like patience or perseverance,

courage or sense of humour.

Not only that,

but we depend on God to give us

the time and place and opportunity

to use those talents.

So if everything comes from God, how can we be proud?

What is there for us to be proud of?

Well, we know that when we praise God

as muslims we use the word Hamd,

which means praise that comes from gratitude,

and our pride needs to be seen in much the same way.

Pride before God can only be pride in gratitude,

a strange kind of pride

that can exist in partnership with humility.

Pride is a part of human nature,

and can drive us onwards to be the best we can be,

but unless it is held in check by humility

it can easily turn into vanity.

Humility comes from remembering

that whatever our talents or abilities,

whatever success we might have,

it is all God-given.

Before everything else,

what we have is deserving of

our gratitude to the One God Who gave it to us.

Living in the Deen muslims know

that what is important to God

is the way that we do things,

not what we achieve but who we are.

We can feel proud to have been given

the opportunity to stand before others

and bear witness to God's Oneness,

because before God it is impossible

for anyone to feel anything other than humility.

For us this world comes to an end,

and the memory of whatever we have achieved will soon vanish

and eventually become forgotten.

But even in our lives,

before God everything fades into comparative insignificance.

We are specks on a small planet

set in the vastness of what we try to understand.

The whole history of humanity is less than a heartbeat

in the timescale of God's Creation.

And wherever we look on that vast horizon of creation

we see the Face of God,

a glimpse of wonder to compare our talents to

and be humble when we happen to be successful in achievement.

Humility comes from understanding

that however great we might get to be, God is greater.

No matter what we can imagine, God is unimaginably greater than that.

Muslims often remember God using the Arabic phrase Allahu Akbar,

with the meaning God is Greater,

and with God's help allied to our own efforts

we can always become greater than we were.

But with success we need humility for protection,

because what God gives us can also be taken away,

and those who revel in glory can be crushed

when it is taken away.

With humility we can enjoy success in this world,

while always knowing that God can just as easily

help someone else become greater than us.

Remembering God with humility,

we know that what is truly important

is not achievement in this world,

but a different kind of success.

In the Azan we are not only called to come to prayer,

but also to come to success.

Competing against others in worldly achievement is one thing,

and success can bring the victor wealth and glory,

but in the Deen we are only competing in good works,

which we can do in the public gaze

or secretly in private.

When living the muslim way of life,

our success is not judged by our fellow humans,

but by God, our Creator.

And in that we can fear no injustice,

because God is the most just of judges.