Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/235



is the weight of a grain of mustard seed of pride." And another saying, " Said God Most High, Pride is my mantle and majesty is my cloak, and whosoever takes away one of them from me I will cast him into hell, and I care not/ " Another say ing attributed to Mohammed is evidently taken from the Gospel, " Whoso humbleth himself be fore God, God will exalt him, and whosoever is proud God will bring him low." His definition of humility is beautiful: " True humility is to be sub ject to the truth and to be corrected by it even though thou shouldst hear it from a mere boy on the street." In this connection he quotes also a saying of Jesus: "Said the Messiah (upon Him be peace), Blessed is he to whom God has taught His book. He shall never die in his pride/

Pride is shown in different ways. Al-Ghazali enumerates pride of knowledge, of worship, of race and blood, of beauty and dress, of wealth, of bodily strength, of leadership. He quotes Mo hammed as an example of humility, and also Abl Saeed el Khudri, who said, " Oh, my son, eat unto God and drink unto God and dress unto God. But whatsoever thou doest of all of these and there enters into them pride or hypocrisy it is disobedi ence. Whatever you do in your house do it your self as did the Apostle of God, for he used to milk the goats and patch his sandals and sew his cloak and eat with the servants and buy in the bazaar, nor did his pride forbid him carrying his own pack-*