The Feeling of Arrogance: “We Are the Children of Allah and His Beloved”
From “We are the children of Allah and His beloved” to every soul that sees itself as better than others.
Occasion: A Fajr khatira delivered on 20 October 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrHXPAsEUU)
The doctor opened his khatira by asking Allah to turn away from us the punishment of the Fire and the causes of punishment in this world and the next, by His mercy and His good pleasure, and he welcomed those present, praying that Allah accept from them and guide them to Paradise.
Then he said: during the recitation I reflected on the meanings of the Qur'anic verses, and perhaps we can pause at a few simple, brief points.
The first disease: “We are the children of Allah and His beloved”
The first thing that came to us in the recitation was the words of the Exalted: ﴿وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَىٰ نَحْنُ أَبْنَاءُ اللَّهِ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ﴾ (“The Jews and the Christians say: We are the children of Allah and His beloved”).[1] What comes to your mind here is that this is the root, the cause of every kind of disorder that comes after it. Regardless of the Qur'anic answer, the matter is one of trying to be distinguished, of feeling that I am better than others. If you look, you will find that this is the very same disease that Iblīs had when he said: ﴿أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ﴾ (“I am better than him”), and it is the very same disease that one of the two sons of Ādam had. This feeling of greatness, of distinction, of superiority, is the chronic disease found in every person who does not love good for people and does not like those around him to excel; he wants it to be him, and him alone.
“Rather, you are human beings among those He has created”
Our Lord, glorified is He, answers them with a brief reply: ﴿قُلْ فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُم بِذُنُوبِكُم بَلْ أَنتُم بَشَرٌ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقَ﴾ (“Say: Then why does He punish you for your sins? Rather, you are human beings among those He has created”). That is: that a person should feel that he is one among the whole body of people.
He gave himself as an example: I am someone who works in this field; I speak to you, I sometimes speak at the prayers, and I deliver the Friday sermon. If I were to feel inside that I am the best person in this field, I would not accept anyone else, I would not listen to him, and I could not psychologically bear his presence beside me. Then all the ills of revenge, anger, envy and mutual hatred begin, and the heart fills with blackness, and we seek refuge in Allah.
Likewise someone who works in a company, merely an accountant or an editor or any other job: I work in this place, so I am one among all these people; I may lack an idea, or need help, or need to ask something of someone else. But for a person to feel that he is the best, that he is the most deserving of promotion, the most deserving of the position, the most deserving of the salary, the most deserving of the raises, the most deserving of everything, this feeling in itself makes a person look at those around him not as people who complete him but as his competitors. And this feeling kills its owner before it kills anyone else.
“We have no obligation toward the unlettered”
If you look at those who see themselves as above other human beings, you will find their saying: ﴿لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ﴾ (“We have no obligation toward the unlettered”); we are more entitled to this, we are better in that. This feeling makes whatever they do entirely justified in their eyes; he wants to stand out in any way at all, without regard for anyone.
Humility and patience
So humility, patience, and appreciating the blessing of the human beings around us, of the people around us in whom there is good, give us ever greater distinction and excellence.
He closed by asking Allah, glorified is He, to grant us good learning from His verses, to guide us to the means of raising ourselves to the places of good, and to make the means of salvation possible for us.
--- [1]: Editor's documentation: al-Māʾidah 18. Its answer is in the rest of the verse: ﴿قُلْ فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُم…﴾. The words of Iblīs are in al-Aʿrāf 12 and Ṣād 76, and the saying ﴿لَيْسَ عَلَيْنَا فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ سَبِيلٌ﴾ is in Āl ʿImrān 75.