The “Big Head” Syndrome

Innal Hamduliallah…It seems anytime a person tries to do something good, there will appear his enemies from amongst the allies of Shaytaan who will in turn try to tear what the person is doing down…and thus, here we go again!

What is the “Big Head” syndrome?  This is when a person does something and then becomes so proud and arrogant about what he has done that he begins to think that there is none better than he.  He begins to view himself as being above everyone else.  This is a horrible affliction for a person to suffer from because first of all, whatever the good deed was that was done, the reward has been lost because as our Prophet(sa) has said,

“Riya or the showing off of deeds destroys the the deed.”

Also anyone who suffers from this type of pride will be denied entrance into paradise.

So to accuse a person of suffering with this affliction is something serious indeed.  So now lets get to the heart of the matter.  I have received emails from a couple of people asking me why did I make this blog.  They then asked did I make it because I am suffering from the “Big Head symdrome” since my lectures are now on video for the world to see.

At first I became angry from the emails…this is why I waited till now to comment on them.  I wanted to be sure all the anger had dissappeared and I comment rationally and Islamically.  Being so, my response is as follows:

Alhumduliallah I was raised by a God-Fearing gracious woman who instilled self respect, self esteem and self love into me.  She also instilled  Love for Allah and his Prophet and the companions in me as well.  So thus, I do not suffer with symdromes such as “The Big Head”.

You all know of me only here in cyberspace, but in real life there is more about me than meets the key board.  Since my mother instilled the above things into me as a child, I have had success in every endeavor I have attempted in my life.  Video’s in which you can not even see me, do not even count.!  If I wanted to have a big head I would have had one over my accomplishments in the real world..not video’s in which you can not even see me.

 Let me explain why I put those video’s here.  First of all, I am a professional teacher..not some internet wanna be.  In the real world, after teaching a course the teacher hands out a questionaire for the students to complete asking what have you learned, what improvements are needed to make it easier for others and the likes.  So just as we do that, in the real world so that we can improve the course so the students can better understand the material, I decided to do the same here too.  So that is the reason behind posting the video’s here.  To allow you as a student to give me feedback so as I can make the material easier the next time around.  Please note that all the classes I teach are repeated over and over again each year.  As I stated, I am a professional teacher and our website is a REAL online school.  So that is the reason for the video’s!

Subhanallah… Understand that bad thoughts come from Shaytaan.  Its his way of keeping you from learning and also his way of disuniting us.  When you get bad thoughts about a person, especially one who has devoted their time to teaching you your religion..try saying “aoothu billah”  and push those thoughts away.  Then make duaa for that person.  I guarantee if you try doing that you will be a much happier person!

Any questions or comments about this… please do share!

What are your aspirations for the future?

Hmm thats a good one.  My aspirations are to keep conveying the message of the sunnah and to die a Believer.  I pray everyday that Allah keeps me firm and steadfast and that he continue to protect me from the evils of mankind, shaytaan and the hasideen.

I pray that our website continues to grow in quality and quantity and that we inpact Muslims to the point of bringing them back to the sunnah.

If we can do this then we have truly succeeded!

Tell us a little about yourself – How did you come upon islam?

Innal Hamduliallah…Unlike many may think, I am not a convert to islam. I have been Muslim all my life. My mother is a very strong Muslim woman of creole ethnicity so that means she has the strength of many in her blood;  Mostly of Celtic Origins (French Viking and Scottish) and African (Southern Bantu and Camaroon) are known to be people of strength, and she has all of those bloods within her. So thus embracing Islam was a natural for her – and she raised all of her children to know that they were created for paradise and there is nothing that they can not do or be in this world.

My father died when I was a young child so I did not get to know much about him. He was Arabic – Egyptian… but the credit of being Muslim and raised as such belongs to my mother.

I also had a great step-father who contributed in instilling my islamic morales. My Allah bless both he and my mother with paradise…ameen

What and when did you develop an interest in the dawah?

Subhanallah.  When I was six years old I knew how to read and my mother immediately made me attend classes held at the masjid to learn what being a Muslim was all about.  My first teacher was Imam Mutawwaf Abdus Shaheed and he focussed on teaching the sunnah via Hadith to us.  So thus I began to memorize the hadiths of Bukhari and Muslim beginning at age six along with their meanings. 

By the time I was twelve I was giving presentations on the Rulings of Marriage, Menses and the likes at mini conferences held at our masjid…remember too this was back in the late 70’s when Islam was not a well known thing here in America.  I continued to study Islam with concentration upon Hadith all my life (now included) and when I met up with my present teacher, Shaykh Mustapha Morsy – I then was given permission by him to teach to others.  And I have been on the internet teaching for the past 5 years.

I have sacrificed a lot for this dawah but alhumduliallah it will be worth it.

Where did the Video Lecture idea come from?

MashaAllah.   Wallah the idea came from Allah.  It was totally inspired by him.  When the fitnah emerged, I pondered how to address it and then the idea came to me, to not address it at all…at least not in the traditional way.  Instead the idea was that my work speaks for itself, so just put my work out there for the world to hear and thus I would be addressing and diffusing the allegations made against me.  I followed that idea and so thus…Here we are!

So what was that fitnah all about?

Well in a nutshell…I myself was not even aware of that fitnah.  I was never approached by the person.  To be honest, I had not spoken to that person since arlington texas…Wallah it had been 4 months since I had spoken on the phone with that person, so I was as shocked as you all were.  To this day the person never confronted me. I learned about it from you.  Were the allegations true…My Video Lectures reveal the answer to that…

Many of you have asked what would cause a man to issue charges that if true could actually result in the death of a woman whom he is ordered by Allah to protect and care for…The answer is simple… jealousy, envy and hasad.  These are evil characteristics that shaytaan spurs into the hearts of man…particularly a husband and wife because he loves to destroy marriages more than anything.  And if that husband and wife are both people of righteousness then he will work even harder with the help of his army of devils from mankind and Jinn.

This was the case here. 

So how are things now??

Mashallah everything is fine.  I got thru it and so did the website.  Alhumduliallah the website has grown even more and Allah has sent us better!  So thru every hardship comes relief and elevation!