Principle of Modesty and Humbleness
part 1
The holy prophet used to contribute in working with his family members. He used to take the milk of sheep with his own hand. He patched his dress and repaired his shoes. He used to help his servant in grinding the wheat for turning it in into flour. He used to shake hand with a great devotion and he used to sitwith poor and deprived ones to take food.
The Significance of Modesty and Humbleness in Holy Prophet's Character
The modesty and humbleness has a great importance in worshipping, and becoming purified form disobedience and violation brings glory to the man. If a man had a correct and accurate perceiving from cosmos then he would admit that the man is nothing by itself, and it is the only God, the Almighty, who has supremacy over all. There exist no beauty, glory and perfection except for Divine, and ultimately it remains no space for disobedience and violation. Imam Khomeini (R.A) explains as following:
“The most significance is that we have neither recognized ourselves, nor our God, the Almighty. We neither trust ourselves, nor believe in God. We have not a belief in our own selves; nay we have ascertained that we are nothing by itself. (We stand in the need of Allah). We have not yet believed that he is the all.”
If a man becomes aware that the glory and greatness are pledged only for God, the Almighty, and the man is privileged to his worship. If he had accepted this then he would pay homage to glory of God, and all the men would not behave except in a polite and modest way. Imam 'Ali (A.S) said in this regard:
“Praise is due to Allah who put on dress of esteem and glory and pledged these two for himself and it was made forbidden for other creatures. He made it pledged for himself and it was banned to others. He had chosen such a dress for himself as it matches to his glory, and cursed that person who thinks of his esteem and glory. (Real Glory and Esteem are pledged for God, the Almighty)”
If a man ponders over Divine dignity and observe the power of God, the Almighty throughout all phenomenon and elements of the cosmos, he will discover his weakness and real status of being nothing. As a result he will put off his dress of dignity and crown of dignity.
Imam Khomeini (R.A) has guided us, and we see necessary to present a summary in this regard: “O, the man! If you compare your position with other creatures such as the cosmos and solar system, you will find the physical world as one of the object and worlds having the lowest status.
O, dear! You have thought only about yourselves and you have not compared it with other phenomenon. You might compare your possessions with others. If you have reputations then compare it with kingdom, and many other things which you still not heard about it. You might compare earth with solar system, stars and galaxies. Scientist have still discovered a very little of it. We, our physical world and even all of the other systems including solar one and undiscovered worlds and other systems all are bounded to their physical nature, but metaphysical world is much more valued than these ones. There exist worlds of metaphysical nature which are much beyond these physical ones. We belong to these material worlds and we even cannot imagine of the spiritual and metaphysical worlds which are more precious and incomparable.
We, all of our worldly and material affairs and powers decline when we become a subject to the destiny designed by truthful God. At the certain time, all of our parts of body and power decline, when we became a subject to certain state then what would be done with our powers and possessions. It is too clear and no need for explanation.
Then we will have to face an interval period of Barzakh, where according to some of the Islamic tradition, even the pious mediators might not have an access to us.1 The darkness and fears of the interval period are so dreadful and only our deeds and actions will remain with us. We have to face the day of resurrection next to the interval period of Barzakh. It is the day when the secrets are discovered and we would have to face the consequences of our deeds. Our deeds are supposed to be embodied and shown in their real nature and physical forms. Each of these stages is worse than each other. The hell is a place if one of its doors were opened to this world; all of its inhabitants would face fatality. O, the man kind! How do you feel pride and arrogance?”
Imam 'Ali in this regard said:
“O, man kind! How he can feel pride while he has been created by a sperm and its water, and one day he will be a perished one. He is neither self sufficient in its earning, nor it can defend itself against death.”
Imam 'Ali (A.S) has recommended for Malik Ashtar as following:
“If the powers you have been blessed with it, make you feel esteem and bring for you a pride. Here you should think of the esteem and glory for the rule of God. He has such a control over you that you even do not have over own self. Such thinking controls your aggression and it will bring back wisdom to you”.
Imam Khomeini (R.A) says in this regard:
“It became evident that the arrogance was outcome of ignorance. Each one who bears ignorance and enjoys a less of intellect, he will feel more ignorance. Each one who is blessed with more knowledge and greater soul, such a person will feel modesty. The holy prophet gained knowledge from source of revelation and he was blessed with the greatest soul. He left his impact on the soul of the millions of the people. He brought an end to all superstitious customs of the ignorance era. He became the seal of prophets. He had dominance over all the worlds with the permission of God, the Almighty, yet he was the modest and humble one of all the people.”
Source:
Behavior and Character of the Holy Prophet of Islam from Imam Khomeini's Viewpoint
Written By: Mostafa Dilshad Tehrani
Translator: Ali Shahbaz
Other Links:
Principle of Leading a Simple Life (part 1)
Principle of Leading a Simple Life (part 2)
