M11
Humility and avoiding arrogance
The Prophet (pbuh) defined arrogance precisely: "Arrogance is to reject the truth and look down on people." Humility is therefore not looking shabby or thinking badly of yourself; it is being open to the truth and never looking down on others.
وَلَا تُصَعِّرْ خَدَّكَ لِلنَّاسِ وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ١٨ وَٱقْصِدْ فِى مَشْيِكَ وَٱغْضُضْ مِن صَوْتِكَ ۚ إِنَّ أَنكَرَ ٱلْأَصْوَٰتِ لَصَوْتُ ٱلْحَمِيرِ١٩
Transliteration: walā tuṣaʿʿir khaddaka lilnnāsi walā tamshi fī l-arḍi maraḥan inna l-laha lā yuḥibbu kulla mukh'tālin fakhūrin · wa-iq'ṣid fī mashyika wa-ugh'ḍuḍ min ṣawtika inna ankara l-aṣwāti laṣawtu l-ḥamīri
And do not turn your cheek [in contempt] toward people and do not walk through the earth exultantly. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful. And be moderate in your pace and lower your voice; indeed, the most disagreeable of sounds is the voice of donkeys."
Translation: Saheeh International
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And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace, 25:63
Arabic text and transliteration
وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَمْشُونَ عَلَى ٱلْأَرْضِ هَوْنًا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلْجَٰهِلُونَ قَالُوا۟ سَلَٰمًا
waʿibādu l-raḥmāni alladhīna yamshūna ʿalā l-arḍi hawnan wa-idhā khāṭabahumu l-jāhilūna qālū salāman
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And do not walk upon the earth exultantly. Indeed, you will never tear the earth [apart], and you will never reach the mountains in height. 17:37
Arabic text and transliteration
وَلَا تَمْشِ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَرَحًا ۖ إِنَّكَ لَن تَخْرِقَ ٱلْأَرْضَ وَلَن تَبْلُغَ ٱلْجِبَالَ طُولًا
walā tamshi fī l-arḍi maraḥan innaka lan takhriqa l-arḍa walan tablugha l-jibāla ṭūlan
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O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. 49:13
Arabic text and transliteration
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
yāayyuhā l-nāsu innā khalaqnākum min dhakarin wa-unthā wajaʿalnākum shuʿūban waqabāila litaʿārafū inna akramakum ʿinda l-lahi atqākum inna l-laha ʿalīmun khabīrun
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That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous. 28:83
Arabic text and transliteration
تِلْكَ ٱلدَّارُ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةُ نَجْعَلُهَا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُرِيدُونَ عُلُوًّا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا فَسَادًا ۚ وَٱلْعَٰقِبَةُ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
til'ka l-dāru l-ākhiratu najʿaluhā lilladhīna lā yurīdūna ʿuluwwan fī l-arḍi walā fasādan wal-ʿāqibatu lil'muttaqīna
If you want to go deeper
3min read
What it means
Kibr and tawāḍuʿ. Kibr (arrogance) is from the root "to be big": making oneself big over others. Tawāḍuʿ (humility) is from "to put down, to lower": lowering oneself, not in self-hatred but in honesty about one's place before God and others.
What the Quran says
Luqman's advice (31:18–19). "And do not turn your cheek [in contempt] toward people and do not walk through the earth exultantly. Indeed, Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful. And be moderate in your pace and lower your voice; indeed, the most disagreeable of sounds is the voice of donkeys" (31:18–19). This is part of the wise man Luqman's advice to his son, in a Meccan sura. It is about everyday bearing: the turned cheek, the swagger, the loud voice.
The servants of the Most Merciful (25:63). "And the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth easily, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they say [words of] peace" (25:63), Meccan. Humility shows in how one answers rudeness.
You cannot reach the mountains (17:37). "And do not walk upon the earth exultantly. Indeed, you will never tear the earth [apart], and you will never reach the mountains in height" (17:37). The verse uses gentle mockery: pride is out of proportion to what a human is.
The Hereafter for those who seek no exaltation (28:83). "That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous" (28:83). It comes at the end of the story of Qarun (Korah), a rich man destroyed by his pride (28:76–82).
Rank by righteousness (49:13). "Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you" (49:13) — not the richest, most learned or best-born.
What the Prophet (pbuh) taught
The definition. ʿAbdullah ibn Masʿud (ra) reports the Prophet (pbuh) as saying: "Anyone has an atom's weight of arrogance in his heart will not enter Paradise." When a man asked about wanting to look good, he said: "Verily, Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty. Arrogance is to reject the truth and look down on people" (Sahih Muslim 91, English as given by HadeethEnc; the man's question is summarised here). This is the key to the whole topic: caring how you look is not arrogance; refusing the truth and despising people is.
How scholars have understood it
Iblis as the first arrogance. The verse is not quoted here because no verified text of it was available.
What research shows
Intellectual humility. [Moderate; mostly correlational.] Porter and colleagues (2022) define intellectual humility as "a meta-cognitive ability to recognize the limitations of one's beliefs and knowledge". They review evidence that it is linked to less "myside" bias, more exposure to opposing views, less hostility toward other groups, and more motivation to learn. They caution that "much of this work is correlational", that questionnaires "rely on subjective judgements", that intervention studies are small and "have not been subject to replication", and that "intellectual humility is not a panacea". This fits the hadith's definition: the first mark of arrogance is "to reject the truth".
In daily life
When you are corrected, say "you may be right" and check. Rejecting the truth because of who says it is the first half of the hadith's definition of arrogance.
Notice whom you ignore: the cleaner, the new person, the one with less status. Greet them first.
Lower your voice in an argument (31:19).
Answer rudeness with peace (25:63), without giving up the truth.
For the heart and mind
If you think badly of yourself, that is not humility. Humility in the hadith is about how you treat truth and other people, not about despising yourself. You are among "the children of Adam" whom God honoured (17:70).
If religious people have looked down on you for being less observant, that contempt is what the hadith calls arrogance — in them, not in you.
Questions readers ask next
Is caring about my appearance arrogant?
No. The Prophet (pbuh) said, "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty"; arrogance is rejecting truth and looking down on people.
How do I know if I am arrogant?
Ask: do I resist being corrected? Do I feel better than others because of my knowledge, piety, family or money?
Is confidence arrogance?
No. Confidence in what is true, with openness to being wrong, is compatible with humility.
Why does Luqman mention the voice of donkeys?
It is a vivid image: loudness used to dominate is unpleasant, not impressive (31:19).
Sources
- Saheeh International via the site's Tanzil data — 31:18–19, 25:63, 17:37, 49:13, 28:83.
- Hadith of arrogance (Sahih Muslim 91), English as given by HadeethEnc, https://hadeethenc.com/en/browse/hadith/6209 (number as in sunnah.com's listing).
- T. Porter, A. Elnakouri, E. A. Meyers, T. Shibayama, E. Jayawickreme and I. Grossmann, "Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility", Nature Reviews Psychology 1 (2022), pp. 524–536, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9244574/.
- Porter et al., "Predictors and consequences of intellectual humility," Nature Reviews Psychology 2022 (PMC)
- Greater Good Science Center, intellectual humility research overview
- Al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ, "Dhamm al-Kibr wa-l-ʿUjb"
- Ibn Kathīr on 31:18–19 and 25:63
- Chouhoud, "What Causes Muslims to Doubt Islam?" (Yaqeen, 2018)