On 28 June 2026, members of Lajna Imaillah (Ahmadi Women’s Auxiliary) and Nasiratul Ahmadiyya (Young Girls’ Auxiliary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community) from Switzerland were granted a meeting with the worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, at Islamabad, Tilford, UK. During the meeting, attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions and seek His Holiness’ guidance on a range of issues. One Lajna member asked how to define the boundary between self-respect and arrogance.
His Holiness replied:
Arrogance means that you boast before people on account of some quality that you possess. It is arrogance to boast before people, to express that one is superior to others, or to consider oneself superior to others. To speak to a person of lesser standing with disdain is arrogance.
However, when someone speaks to you in a wrongful manner, it is an act of self-respect that you do not quarrel with them, but rather get up from there and leave. This is the reason that Allah the Almighty has stated in the Holy Quran that when someone hears vain talk, they should turn away from there and leave. This will be an act of self-respect, whereby you protect yourself from bad things while also maintaining your respect. Self-respect simply means maintaining one’s own respect. Arrogance, which is to become boastful or to consider oneself superior to others, is a completely different thing.
As for humility, a person should consider all their achievements as a result of the grace of Allah the Almighty and show even greater humility. We should also help the poor and meet people with kindness, without any arrogance. When there is no arrogance, there will be humility. Simply put, humility is the opposite of arrogance. You can differentiate between the two yourself.
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