A handsome, nice-looking man once stood boasting before Socrates, who told him to 'speak so that he could see him', which indicates that a man's true essence lies in the way he thinks and acts, not in his looks. Fake appearances have been tearing our GCC societies apart and everybody is now talking about the latest world-famous brands in GCC markets in order to purchase them, though a wise man once said "famous brands are nothing but a promotional lie invented by smart people to rob the rich, but ended up believed by the poor!"

I recently attended a wedding held in a hotel adjacent to a famous shopping mall and after the wedding, a friend asked to go into the mall to buy something for his wife. Going into a store full of famous international brands, he asked about the price of a pair of shoes, and to our surprise, the salesman said it was KD 500. "Does anybody actually pay that much for a pair of shoes?!" I asked the salesman, who smiled and asked me to check the price of another pair, which was even higher.

"Many people like boasting by buying such expensive shoes. They even brag about purchasing certain items from certain places. Some of them may borrow to buy such things or even use credit cards to show others that they are wealthy enough and have no problem in buying whatever they want, while they are really penniless," said the wise salesman, adding that stores such as his would have closed down if it had not been for such customers. My friend and I left without buying anything, of course.

It really makes me sad how some people are keen on false appearances and pretense without knowing that an arrogant person is like someone standing on top of a mountain, seeing people as tiny, without realizing that they, as well, see him as tiny!

Going to such malls, one can see examples of such sick-minded people without knowing any reason for their sickness. This reminds me of a story when a rich arrogant man saw a poor man approaching. "As usual, these scum - poor people - keep following me for charity," he said, but was astonished when the poor man reached out handing him his wallet. "You dropped this, sir", said the poor man.

Finally, we have to know that our Prophet (PBUH) was very modest and stressed that Allah does not like arrogant people because we will all be buried under the same dirt one day, leaving nothing behind but good memories and reputation.

- Translated by Kuwait Times from Al-Anbaa

By Sami Al-Khorafi