سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ آيَاتِي الَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَإِنْ يَرَوْا كُلَّ آيَةٍ لا يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الرُّشْدِ لا يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلاً وَإِنْ يَرَوْا سَبِيلَ الغَيِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلاً ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ كَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا وَكَانُوا عَنْهَا غَافِلِينَ .

I shall keep away from my verses those who show arrogance on the earth with no right to do so. Even if they were to see every sign, they would not believe in it; and if they see the Path of guidance, they do not take it as their way; and if they see the path of misguidance, they would take it as their way. That is because they have rejected our signs, and have been neglectful of them. Sura Araf, 7:146

Modesty is the virtue of angels, while boasting is the nature of the devil. Satan was expelled from Paradise due to his pride. Therefore, there is no place for pride in Paradise. The angels near Allah are entirely devoid of pride; they devoutly worship Him, obey His commandments, and engage in tasbih day and night.

اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُوْنَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهٖ وَ يُسَبِّحُوْنَهٗ وَ لَهٗ يَسْجُدُوْنَ.

Surely, those who are with your Lord (i.e., angels) are arrogant against His worship, and they proclaim His purity, and before Him they prostrate themselves. Surah A'raf (7): 206

Those who are true believers have this quality of modesty, and as a result, they submit to Allah's law and wholeheartedly adhere to all of His commands. To this quality, it is referred in the following verse of the Holy Quran-

اِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُوْنَ الَّذِيْنَ اِذَا ذُكِرَ اللهُ وَ جِلَتْ قُلوْبُهُمْ وَ اِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ اٰيٰتُهٗ زَادَتْهُمْ اِيْمَانًا وَّ عَلٰي ر َبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُوْنَ.

The believers are those whose hearts are filled with awe when the name of Allah is mentioned, and when His verses are recited to them, it makes them more developed in faith. And in their Lord, they place their trust. Surah Anfal (8): 2

On the other hand, those who are infidels, who are followers of Satan, have pride and arrogance badly. When they are called to the path of guidance, they turn up their noses in pride. They despise the prophets, who are the bearers of truth, because they excel in worldly means, fame, and social status. It is as if they want to say, 'who are they to explain truth from false, right from wrong? We are the leaders of the society, and we know very well what is right and wrong.' Because of this egotism, leaders of all ages have been deprived of divine guidance. Allah is the truth, the Messenger is the truth, the Hereafter is the truth and the religion and Shariah that the Messenger brought is the truth... But they are not given tawfiq to accept this truth.

They demanded evidence for the truth of the Prophets and Messengers. The Prophets provided that proof, but despite seeing it, they persisted in disbelief and shirk, refusing to accept Islam. The fact that they could not accept the truth despite seeing clear proofs is actually a punishment for their egoism. This is the punishment for rejecting the truth.

Those who arrogantly deny the message of truth and its bearer, even if they see a thousand signs, their hearts will not open. Because of their crime, Allah sealed their hearts. As a result, the message of truth can never reach their hearts. Their hearts are locked forever. No signs can shake their hearts. Neither the verses of the Quran, nor the vast pages of the world open their eyes. Nothing awakens in them the thought of Rabbul Alamin….

Their policy becomes such that, when they see the path of guidance, they do not accept it. However, as soon as they see the path of Hell, the path of misguidance, they accept it. This is essentially a punishment for their pride and a consequence of arrogantly rejecting the truth and its bearer.

A common disease of leaders during the time of any prophet is egoism. Because of their egotism, they were not given Tawfiq to accept hidaya. Rather, they were seized by divine punishment.

Allah has repeatedly mentioned the arrogant language they used to deny the truth in various surahs of the Qur'an and also described the dire consequences of this arrogance. A comprehensive account of this phenomenon can be found in Surah al-A'raf..

In the above-mentioned verse, Allah the Exalted said about one of His Sunnahs and infallible rules. That is, those who deny the Prophets in arrogance, turn away from the Book of Allah, Allah also turns them away from His Signs and clear proofs, from Tawfiq of understanding His revealed book, from contemplating the signs He has left in the midst of His creation. As a result, they neither see, nor hear. An invisible wall is created between them and the truth, which they cannot penetrate to reach the truth.

By pondering over this verse, Quran lovers, scholars and thinkers of Quran have been able to uncover many truths. They find many Quranic principles and Sunnatullah here, which are very expensive. Some such principles are:

1. Because of pride and arrogance, people are deprived of the blessing of understanding the Quran.

2. A shy and arrogant person cannot attain knowledge.

3. In this verse, we get the answer to the question-why the scholars and researchers do not understand the truth of Islam and the truth of the Qur'an.

4. Modesty is a virtue that opens the door of the Qur'an for man, the door through which he reaches Allah!

[Note: Tafsir Ibn Kathir 3/426; Tafsir al-Qurtubi 7/283; Ruhul Ma'ani 5/58; Albahrul Muhit 5/173]