Kibr al-ʿĀlim
Definition
Kibr al-alim — the pride of the scholar — receives special attention from al-Ghazali because it is particularly dangerous and particularly common. The scholar who has acquired genuine knowledge is both more susceptible to ujb (being impressed by their own achievement) and more capable of disguising this ujb as genuine religious concern. Al-Ghazali draws on his own experience: his greatest spiritual crisis was precipitated in part by the recognition that much of what he took for genuine religious scholarship was in fact motivated by the desire for recognition and the pleasure of intellectual superiority. The scholar who has truly understood the purpose of knowledge will find it producing humility rather than pride.
As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.
Appears in
1 book in the library
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