The term hubris, in ancient Greece, meant a description of an action which a powerful figure, puffed up with overweening pride and self-confidence, treated others with insolence and contempt. The individual seemed to derive pleasure from using his power to treat others in this way, but such dishonouring behaviour was strongly condemned by Hellenes (David Owen 2008). In a famous passage from Plato’s, Phaedrus, a predisposition to hubris is defined: ‘When desire irrationally drags us towards pleasures and rules within us, its rule is called excess’ [Hubris].
However, in modern times some people consider it as a glamorous virtue of post or position, the way a current in a circuit is associated with magnetic field. The various symptoms of hubris syndrome identified by Owen (2008) include: a narcissistic propensity to see the world, using power for self-glorification; an almost obsessive focus on personal image; excessive self-confidence accompanied by contempt for advice or criticism of others; loss of contact with reality; speaking as a messiah with a tendency to exaltation in speech and manner; reckless and impulsive actions; exaggerated self-belief, bordering on a sense of omnipotence and many more.
David Owen, a neurologist and member of the House of Lords, UK and Jonathan Davidson, a psychiatrist in Duke University Medical Centre, USA (2009) describe that the hubris syndrome is manifested through a variety of symptoms and is set off by a trigger, which is power. Hubristic traits and the hubris syndrome appear after the acquisition of power. It is more likely to manifest itself the longer and greater the person exercises power. Owen (2008) described hubris syndrome as an acquired personality disorder that can be caused by holding high office. Dictators are particularly prone to hubris because there are few, if any, constraints on their behaviour.
Power is always associated with position and possession. A political leader, celebrity, a top executive or judicial officer, scientist, defence/police officer, lawyer, flourishing businessman/ industrialist, media person, or an artist, enjoy the power of different grades, therefore, exhibit all sorts of pride, vanity and conceit. However, hubris syndrome in politicians is a greater threat than conventional illness to the quality of their leadership and the governance at world level.
Nineteenth century English scholar, Cambridge Professor and historian Lord Edward Dalberg Acton in a letter to Bishop, M. Creighton on April 5, 1887 about how historians should judge the abuse of power by past rulers especially popes writes, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Acton’s observation is interpreted to mean that the more power someone has, the more his/her sense of morality is weakened. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority. Power enables people to commit – and get away with – horrible atrocities. In his letter, Lord Acton cites the Spanish Inquisition (1478-1834 AD) in which around 3000-5000 people were executed and 150,000 prosecuted, and execution of Mary, the Queen of Scots, by Queen Elizabeth I in 1587 AD as examples.
In his book ‘The Arrogance of Power’ J. William Fulbright, an American senator, writes that the United States went to war in 1898 AD for the stated purpose of liberating Cuba from Spanish tyranny, but after winning the war – a war which Spain had been willing to pay a high price to avoid – the United States brought the liberated Cubans under an American protectorate and incidentally annexed the Philippines, because, according to President Mc Kinley, the 25th US President, the Lord told him it was America’s duty “to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellowmen for whom Christ also died”. The author while commenting on this act writes that the words used by the President were actually those of Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and Admiral Mahan, those ‘imperialists of 1898’ who wanted America to have an empire just because a big, powerful country like the United States ought to have an empire.
Arrogance and conceit are not liked by Allah (SWT). Prophets are innocent, but human beings. Allah (SWT) corrects and guides them at every step. It once happened that Prophet Mohammad (SAW) was engaged in a talk with the non-believing leaders of Quraish. Abdullah Ibn Umm Maktum, arrived there. Being blind by birth and unable to see the surroundings, he did not realise that the Holy Prophet (SAW) was occupied with others. He requested the Prophet (SAW) to teach him a verse of the Qur’an and insisted an immediate enlightenment on the question. The holy Prophet (SAW) disliked the intrusion and showed his displeasure by turning aside from Ibn Umm Maktum and continued his discourse with the Quraish leaders. When the assembly broke up, the Quranic verses (80:1-10) were revealed upon Prophet (SAW) to record Allah’s (SWT) dislike for this attitude which was neither pride nor an act of snob.
Insolence or arrogance or undue elation at our powers or capacities is the first step to many evils. Allah (SWT) has commanded the people to abstain from pride, conceit and boastfulness by reminding them of their humble origin from dust and then from sperm drop. In Qur’an (17:37) Allah says, “Do not walk on the earth with insolence (arrogance): for you cannot rend the earth asunder, nor reach the mountain in height” and in (4:36; 31:18-19; 75:23). Allah (SWT) advises us not to boast, as He doesn’t love the arrogant and any vainglorious boaster. In the holy book of Quran (18:32-44) Allah (SWT) narrates a parable of two men, who were visiting twin orchards of grape belonging to one of them, to make us understand the quantum of punishment one receives if he is boastful of his fortunes. The one who was boastful of his fortunes and progeny was punished by Allah (SWT). His orchards were tumbled to pieces and he remained twisting and turning his hands over what he had spent on his property.
Russia’s full scale war against Ukraine, which started in 2022, has had a disastrous impact on civilian life, killing thousands of civilians including children, injuring many thousands more, and destroying civilian property and infrastructure. Russian forces committed an unending cascade of violations of international humanitarian law, including indiscriminate and disproportionate bombing and shelling of civilian areas that hit homes, healthcare and educational institutions. In occupied areas Russian forces terrorized civilians by making their life unsustainable, committed war crimes, including torture, summary executions, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and looting of cultural property. The Russian President Vladimir Putin, besotted with might and power, is a clear case of Hubris syndrome, not ready to feel shame and remorse for all he has committed, and even repeatedly he has been ignoring the strictures passed by International Court of Justice. The capture of Palestine by Israeli forces and the devastation of Gaza in the name of curbing Hamas by indiscriminate bombing and killing of thousands of people including women and children is the by-product of President Netanyahu’s succumbing to gross personality distortion caused by extreme power that has been identified by Owen (2008) as ‘The Hubris Syndrome’.
Hubris syndrome is not new. It was only because of power, that too for a longer duration, that Nimrod, the king of Babylon, claimed himself God, the arrogance of highest degree, and tried to burn Prophet Ibrahim (AS), the dearest prophet of Allah, alive in fire for challenging his authority, had not the Almighty Allah saved him by commanding the fire to cool down and become harmless for him (Al-Qur’an 21: 68-70).
Prophet Mohammad (SAW) has been given a clear certificate by the Almighty in Holy Quran (68:4), ‘You are certainly on the most exalted standard of moral excellence’. On the occasion of conquest of Mecca (630 AD), which has the distinction of being a capture without bloodshed, the Islamic troops were commanded by Prophet Mohammad (SAW) to enter the city reciting some specific verses of Quran, and not to commit even a smaller mistake of plunder, tyranny, immodesty etc. It was a day of mercy and forgiveness. Holy Prophet (SAW) then addressed the very people who had oppressed and slandered him and who had persecuted and killed his companions. He asked them what they thought he would do with them, to which they replied, “We expect nothing but goodness from you”. Prophet Mohammad (SAW) replied that he would do the same to them what Yusuf did to his brothers, which the noble book of Quran (12:92) has so beautifully narrated “This day let no reproach be cast on you: Allah will forgive you, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy”.
The battle of Karbala and that of Harra, the worst tragedies in Islamic history that took place in 680 AD and 683 AD respectively, almost 49 years after the death of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW), were the extreme manifestation of intoxication of power by Yazeed ibn Mu’aawiyah, He had all hubristic traits, even beyond, who dissolutely ruled the Arab with pride and might for four years and subjugated the companions of the Prophet Mohammad (SAW) through pseudo-khilafat.
Arrogance of power or overestimation of one’s abilities is proportional to the quantum of power and the period one is vested with. Everyone, except for some exalted ones, irrespective of gender, age, caste, creed, race and religion, educational or technical qualification enjoys it with pomp and pride. It acts like a food chain that exists in biological systems where every smaller and weaker is eaten by a bigger and stronger creature, a phenomenon revolving around the dictum ‘eating and being eaten’. Among many check points that prevent the perpetuation of this syndrome, the most effective include a firm belief in the hereafter, where every good and bad deed, how smaller it may be, will be reckoned, and the inner conscience. It is quite visible on occasions where a person comes across with his/ her inferior and a superior; an authoritative and conceited personality on one side, and a submissive and timid one on the other side respectively.
What a sycophancy! If this is called an administrative compulsion, okay, the real test of one’s temperament could be checked while facing common masses. The pride and conceit displayed by law enforcing agencies, even under normal circumstances is never a hidden fact. The temperament of political leaders changes with victory after every election. They are very susceptible to the ‘power virus’ that blooms into Hubris syndrome. After acquiring the power their body language changes and their priorities change. Common man is unheard, even victimized. People who act as rungs for their success ladders get trampled away.
Power, which results into pride, is determined by position, wealth and progeny. Allah (SWT) has cautioned the believers in his holy book of Qur’an (63:9), “Don’t let your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah; if any act thus, surely they are the losers”. Pride originates in the misconception that we permanently own the things that we only temporarily possess: talents and abilities, positions and possessions. It infatuates us and sends us off on a dangerous ego trip, being propelled by the imagination that we are superior to others. From the moment we become proud, we sentence ourselves to loneliness. The pride ride is even more perilous in the end. Why? Because when pride unceremoniously dumps us off, that is when we lose our source of pride, we wake up to the horrifying reality that we have hugely alienated ourselves from all those who loved us.
History stands testimony to the fact that many powerful political leaders across world who used to roar in Parliament or legislative assemblies became persona non grata after some time. I well remember some top obsessed bureaucrats going into oblivion, after getting relieved of their payload. In Bhagavad Gita (16:4), Krishna, while addressing Arjuna advises him to refrain from pride, arrogance, conceit, anger, harshness and ignorance and calls such attributes as demonic.
VIP culture, a false sense of privilege and an offshoot of hubris syndrome, reflects a feudal mind set of assuming self-importance. Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, when detained at an US airport in 2016 was outraged, and a high media publicity of the incident lead US state department to tender an apology. Delhi Bureau Chief of a Japanese prominent newspaper, Nikkei, remarked that such an incident would not even have made it to an ordinary newspaper in Japan. Contrary to this, I was moved by a video of Professor Giuseppe Conte, who served as Prime Minister of Italy during 2018-2021, travelling by a taxi and opening the car door to alight, and shutting it himself to meet the country’s President to present his credentials after being nominated as PM in 2018. What a modest and kind approach!
The Almighty Allah (SWT) has made the life of this world temporary and passing enjoyment, whereas He has made the Hereafter an abode of recompense and reward. Allah (SWT) says in Holy Qur’an (57:20; 29:64; 18:45-46) that worldly life is no more than a play and a delusion of enjoyment. It is like rain that causes plants to grow but later they dry up and get reduced to chaff. Wealth and sons are allurements of life of this world, and only good deeds are best in the sight of Allah (SWT).
Nothing is perpetual except Almighty Allah (SWT). Today, a person on one side of table, enjoying all powers and amenities, will tomorrow be on the other side. Even the brightest stars, after some time, meet their fate and get collapsed to white dwarf or neutron star.
(Author is Principal (Rtd.) J&K Higher Education Department. Feedback: [email protected])
