So let the servant keep close watch over them(1), shielding them from whatever is harmful, that he may have an answer ready for that questioning. Whoever employs them in obedience to Allah has purified and cultivated them, and they will bear for him everlasting bliss. But whoever uses them for the opposite purpose has sullied and debased them, and they will lead him to a painful punishment.

• As for His statement: “And do not walk upon the earth exultantly” (17:37), it means: do not act arrogantly—neither toward the truth nor toward people—for arrogance is among the most despicable traits. The conceited, self-admiring person will never reach what he imagines or what his corrupt fancy longs for, namely a lofty status above others. On the contrary, he is detested by Allah and by His creatures, hated and scorned; through this conduct he sinks to the lowest of the low. Thus, because of his pride and self-conceit, he forfeits what he seeks and gains the very opposite.

Among the harms of arrogance is that it is authentically reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that: “No one who has even a mustard seed’s weight of arrogance in his heart shall enter Paradise” (2); the Fire is the final abode of the arrogant.

Arrogance is defined as: “rejecting the truth and belittling people” (3)—that is, to look down on and disdain them.

• These fine commands and directives contained in these verses form part of the exalted wisdom that Allah revealed to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). They rank among the greatest merits of the religion, for the religion is one of wisdom: knowing what is right and acting upon it, recognizing the truth and upholding it in every matter.