He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

What is the meaning of the Prophet’s statement (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):

“No one who has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise”?

Does this hadith apply specifically to believers or to disbelievers? If we say it applies specifically to believers, our claim is untenable, because believers enter Paradise by virtue of their faith. If we say it applies specifically to disbelievers, what purpose does the hadith serve?

He replied:

The wording of the hadith in al-Sahīh is:

“No one who has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart will enter Paradise, and no one who has an atom’s weight of faith in his heart will enter the Fire.”

A person whose arrogance is incompatible with faith will not enter Paradise, as Allah says:

“Indeed, those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell in humiliation.”

This includes the arrogance of Iblīs, Pharaoh, and others whose arrogance was incompatible with faith. Likewise, the arrogance of the Jews and those of whom Allah says:

“Whenever a messenger came to you with what your souls did not desire, did you grow arrogant, rejecting some and killing others?”

All arrogance is incompatible with the faith one is required to have. Whoever has an atom’s weight of arrogance in his heart fails to do what Allah has required of him and to refrain from what He has forbidden him. Rather, his arrogance leads him to deny the truth and hold others in contempt. This is the “arrogance” that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) explained when he was asked in