It's about the struggle Part I; Pride

    Everyday is going to be a constant struggle between two sides of a person. That is the difference between the moral sense and values in life and the other side which is the desires, and completely selfish gain. The shaitan is going to play with our ego, our mind, and is sometimes going to play with our feelings but we have to constantly struggle and purify our hearts, our intentions and our actions.

    There are seven forms in which the shaitan plays with our insides known to Christianity throught he seven deadly sins. These seven deadly sins are pride, anger, greed, gluttony, depression, lust and envy. These forms are all mentioned within the Qur'an as well but these are all forms that exist within us as well as one more which would be laziness as another form of evil that exists within us. Perhaps there are more but this is one base that I have knowledge on and so I am going to be writing on these forms of evils that are within us and what we can do to make the good in us stronger. In my conclusion I will be writing about the benefits of purifying ourselves of the evils within us in the search for absolute truth and formation of absolute justice and peace in our lives.

    The first of the seven deadly sins that we have to struggle with in ourselves is pride. Pride can be the cause of creating an extremely illogical mind, and the cause to many arrogant actions which can lead to brutality and therefore needs to be cured in the first stages of our life. Before I discuss the elimination of pride from our character I am going to quickly clarify the difference between pride and self esteem. Pride is when an individual considers himself superior to other people and therefore justifies the treatment of other people as lower than him. One way to look at this is through the statement "treat others as you yourself would like to be treated" which pride would destroy by seeing people as lower than yourself. Pride is also the cause of arrogance and misbehaving towards other people that may not be privilaged with the same things or the same assumed things as the person that has the pride. Self esteem is very different than pride because self esteem includes being thankful for who you are, making statements on the basis of knowledge that you are aware of and know and therefore confidentaly making those statements. Self esteem is also not degrading yourself towards other people but maintaining your level by being entitled to your own opinion, and making actions based on your knowledge and being grateful towards what Allah (swt) has given you of his bounties and what he has made you by giving you health and beauty while not degrading those around you but understanding that as an individual you value who you are but it doesnt mean that you look down upon what other people are.

    Pride is regarded as a deadly sin because it is harmful to your charactor. It is harmful to the way you see the world around you and it is harmful to the company that surrounds you. It prevents you from seeing the good in other people and it is degrading the people that are around you. It prevents you from understanding the views of people in different situations in life and you from learning more about the world that is around you. An example of pride is when a person has religious knowledge that they are following. The person looks towards other people and considers them inferior to him for not following the religion as perfectly as they themselves are and therefore the target of the person's arrogant behaviour but the truth is that one of the biggest sins in islam is to have pride and treat people arrogantly. The truth is that part of being a really religious person includes making sure that you are able to learn and understand the situation of other people but mainly focus on your own self knowing that the only reason any person is ever going to enter Jannah is because of Allah (swt)'s mercy towards us. As long as we have our intentions clear, do good actions not for the ego to be boosted but for Allah (swt) perfectly and completely, than we are well off. Degrading or looking down upon other people is not going to help us at all.  'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "No one who has an atom's weight of pride in his heart will enter the Garden." A man said, "And if the man likes his clothes to be good and his sandals to be good?" He said, "Allah is Beautiful and loves beauty. Pride means to renounce the truth and abase people." [Muslim] This hadith shows us that caring for one's own self is very different from having pride and also that if a person has even an atom's weight of pride inside of him that it is not possible that this person is going to enter jannah or even come close to it. So if a person want to attain jannah, regardless of the losses and benefits in this life, he or she must get rid of the charactoristic of pride. Looking at the losses and benefits, the person degrades the people that are around her or him and treat people arrogantly. Salama ibn al-Akwa' reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, aid, "A man will continue to be arrogant until he is written among the tyrants and what strikes them will strike him." [at-Tirmidhi] Putting people down to such an extent that there will come a point where the person treats his surroundings arrogantly and is going to behave like a tyrant in his or her misbehaviour and therefore be punished like a tyrant.