Pride

The story

The Qur'an holds up Qarun, the kinsman of Musa ﷺ, as the archetype of boasting. Surat al-Qasas recounts how he was enriched with treasures so heavy their keys burdened strong men, and how he paraded his splendour before his people, insisting his fortune was earned by his own cleverness. When the wise among them urged gratitude and humility, he only vaunted himself the louder - until the earth swallowed him and his home. In Surat al-Hadid, God draws the lesson directly: 'And Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful' (57:23). Ibn Kathir explains this as a command not to boast before people about what Allah has favoured you with, 'because it is not you who earned it by your efforts.' Al-Saadi adds that the boaster attributes God's blessings to himself, so that they intoxicate and distract him. The Prophet ﷺ carried the same warning, relaying that God commanded: 'Be humble, so that no one boasts (yafkhar) over another' (Sahih Muslim, from 'Iyad ibn Himar).

Why it's named first

Al-Fakhr is the outward tongue of pride. Where 'ujb glories inwardly and kibr looms over others within the heart, fakhr spills into speech - the deliberate parading of deeds, ancestry, or wealth so that others are made to feel small. Ibn Kathir ties it to acting arrogantly 'with other people,' and al-Saadi notes it leads a servant to claim God's gifts as his own achievement. This is its danger: the boaster steals the credit that belongs to the Giver, converting a trust (ni'ma) into a trophy. Every blessing announced for applause becomes, as al-Saadi warns, a fitna that intoxicates and distracts. The mouth that boasts has already forgotten Who gave.

In the Qur'an

لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا۟ عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا۟ بِمَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ

“In order that you not despair over what has eluded you and not exult [in pride] over what He has given you. And Allāh does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful -”

57:23Listen Read 57:23 with tafsir

Svenska: [Så är det] för att ni inte skall sörja över det som ni har gått miste om, och inte heller jubla i övermod över det som Han har skänkt er. Gud älskar inte inbilska skrävlare

In the Sunnah

أَنِ اتَّوَاضَعُوا حَتَّى لَا يَفْخَرَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أَحَدٍ، وَلَا يَبْغِيَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أَحَدٍ 'Be humble, so that no one boasts over another, nor oppresses another.' (Part of the long hadith of 'Iyad ibn Himar al-Mujashi'i, in which the Prophet ﷺ relayed what Allah revealed to him. Sahih Muslim (Book of Paradise, no. 2865).)

The cure

The cure begins by returning ownership. Before any blessing is mentioned, the heart must name its Source: al-Saadi's remedy is to busy oneself with thanking the One who bestowed the favour. Practically: (1) Convert every impulse to boast into an act of shukr - say 'alhamdulillah' and 'ma sha' Allah' aloud in place of 'I'. (2) Practise concealment - imitate the righteous who hid their good deeds as carefully as others hide their sins, since a deed unseen cannot be paraded. (3) Recall your origins: you began as a despised drop and will end as a corpse; what is there to vaunt? (4) When honoured, deflect the praise to Allah at once. (5) Keep the company of those greater than you in knowledge and piety, so the ledger of your own smallness stays open. As the scholars of the heart observed, gratitude and arrogance cannot share one heart; grow the first and the second withers.

What is at stake

Boasting courts a double loss. In this world it corrodes the very deeds it advertises, for a good work done to be seen and praised is emptied of sincerity before God. And it earns His displeasure directly: twice the Qur'an seals the warning that 'Allah does not like everyone self-deluded and boastful' (57:23; 31:18). Al-Saadi calls the unchecked boaster's blessing a fitna that drives him to transgress and to heedlessness. What was given as a mercy is thus turned, by the boaster's own tongue, into a proof against him on the Day it is weighed.