Each of these—belief and desire—necessarily entails something of the other. Whoever imagines himself to be great desires what befits that imagined greatness; and whoever desires superiority in the land must imagine himself great and belittle others in order to pursue it. In desire, he imagines that greatness as something to attain; in belief, he imagines it as already existing and pursues the desires that follow from it.

Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, Allah does not love anyone who is conceited and boastful.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Arrogance is rejecting the truth and looking down on people.”

Boastfulness resembles looking down on people, since both involve exalting oneself over others. Rejecting the truth—meaning denying and repudiating it—resembles unfounded conceit, for a person imagines the truth to be false by denying and repudiating it.

There are two ways of understanding this:

The first is to place conceit and rejection of the truth in the category of beliefs: treating truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth in matters concerning one’s own greatness and elevated standing. A person thus denies the truth that conflicts with his desires and superiority, and imagines falsehood that accords with them. Boastfulness and looking down on people are then placed in the category of desires, for the boastful person wishes to elevate himself and abase others, as does the person who looks down on people. This is supported by what Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from ʿIyād ibn Himār al-Mujāshiʿī