Despite how our family and friends know us, there is always a certain image of ourselves that we like to project – especially to strangers. How do you like to ideally show yourself to the world? If meeting someone for the first time – given that, yes, your interaction will largely depend on the background of the individual you meet – what are some of the bigger characteristics of your personality, of yourself, that you would like to project and immediately show?
As a Muslim, how does one capture humility in projecting who one is? How does one do this if there are significant accomplishments and affiliations that strongly shape who one is?
How does one share significant affiliations of oneself in a way that is useful to another individual, but at the same time is done in a humble way?
Jeebs said
salaams,
i was listening to a hamza yusuf tape a while back, and something he said stuck with me. he was talking about humility and he said, if you are aware of your own humility, then it is not true humility. because being aware of one’s humility or goodness means you looking at it from above and seeing it, rather than truly living it. so in response to the question, i think that one can’t “capture” humility when speaking about oneself. rather, humility must exist within – it cannot lie in choice of words or speech, it has to be an actual belief that one carries with oneself. but in terms of how to talk about oneself, since all of us undoubtedly lack something in the humility department by nature of our imperfection as human beings, i would say, talk about your accomplishments or experiences when there is some benefit in doing so – not just to get a pat on the back or impress someone. if you fear that you haved mixed intentions for sharing, then hold back and reevaluate. on the aspect of how to actually achieve humility, that’s a different discussion. i think one way to humble oneself is to look at the example of our Prophet, as well as other role models we may have, and remind ourself how small and flawed we truly our, and how, at the end of the day, we’re just a regular person doing our best to give our best inshallah. sometimes we think we’re so great and accomplished b/c we have these fancy degrees and titles, but at the end of the day Allah’s going to look at the state of our heart, so what are we so proud of anyway? at the same time, we can look at Prophet Yusuf, who stepped forward and proclaimed his skill in the area of managing the grain supply of Egypt, because he knew that he could serve his people best by coming forward, and that in fact he had a responsibility to. i think one lesson from that is that we don’t have to feel there’s something wrong with letting people know what we’re good at – but we do need to check our intentions and pray that all that we do is truly for the sake of Allah. may He help us do great things for His sake inshallah, ameen.