The best introduction to this topic is to remember that the rational soul is a simple, spiritual, and eternal essence; a ray of God’s radiant light. It is the essence of humanity in man, and indeed, the seed of divinity in the land of his human existence.

It is what God distinguished man with, above all other living beings, to make him the master of this existence and the goal of its meaning. God honored man with reason so he may understand himself and all other existing things, and understand his knowledge of the Straight Path. He further honored him with freedom, making him the only creature who moves with a free movement that allows him to choose his actions of his own free will, without coercion or force. Thirdly, He honored him with responsibility; for he is the only creature accountable for his actions because they stem from a free will that executes the teachings of a free mind that distinguishes between right and wrong. For this reason, man was the only moral creature in this existence capable of distinguishing between dignity and humiliation, between loftiness and baseness, between being drawn toward justice, chivalry, courage, nobility, and generosity, or being drawn toward all forms of desires, greed, avarice, and stinginess, which cause him to lose the truth of his existence as an inherently social being. God has set a purpose for human existence; if man wishes to realize his humanity, he must strive toward it with all the moral and material strength he has been granted, which is the knowledge of God Almighty through knowing his own soul as a simple, spiritual, and eternal flicker of God’s light. The body is merely a tool used by the soul to acquire knowledge and perform deeds through its senses; however, most people have been drawn by comfort and indulgence and have chosen the path of baseness until their souls’ essences became cheap to them. They sold their minds and renounced their duties and responsibilities, becoming like cattle, or even further astray in their path.

Al-Mutanabbi said:

Live with dignity or die while noble, amidst the piercing of spears and the flapping of banners.

For the proud soul does not yield to injustice or tyranny.

Antarah said:

Do not give me the water of life in humiliation; rather, give me the cup of bitter colocynth with dignity.

Al-Akhtal al-Saghir said:

The soul of the noble, despite poverty and harm, soars in the expanse with the eagles.

The soul is a subtle essence, and the subtle ascends, is attracted to, and lives with the subtle. As for those who humiliate themselves with desires and greed, their souls become dense essences, and the dense descends to the dense and perishes.

Al-Mutanabbi said:

It is easy for us to have our bodies injured, as long as our honor and our minds remain intact.

If a human loses his mind, he loses his identity as a human and becomes a name without a meaning; whereas if he loses a limb of his body, he remains a sound human who thinks and expresses himself. Through common sense, the virtues of his rational essence, and the logic and life experiences he has acquired, man knows that justice is a virtue and injustice is a vice, and that chivalry is a virtue and cowardice is a vice. How then, after all this, can a human exchange that which brings happiness to his soul for pleasures he thinks bring happiness to his body, while they inevitably rebound upon him, based on the rule that every action has an equal reaction in force? The thorns of injustice do not grow roses, and lies do not bear grapes and figs; but man wrongs himself before he wrongs others, and he is held accountable for what his hands have wrought.

Since habit, when it lasts long enough, becomes nature, those who become accustomed to humiliation find their nature molded by cowardice and absurdity.

Al-Mutanabbi also said:

Whoever is accustomed to humiliation finds humiliation easy; for the dead feel no pain from wounds.

Thus, pride, which is the ability to discern, cannot be halfway.

The poet Dante said: “Between the arrogant man with his wealth and the proud poor man, I choose to be the latter.”

Al-Samaw'al was truthful when he said:

If a person’s honor is not stained by blame, then every garment he wears is beautiful.

And if he does not burden his soul with indignity, then there is no way to reach high praise.

Can we hold our heads high, which is one of the fruits of dignity and pride, in this time dominated by reckless extravagance and an unending need for money, where no matter how much man is given, he is never satisfied?

I wish I knew if this speech still holds any meaning, as the people of this miserable nation drink the cup of discord and opposition to the very brim. They are fragmented in their approach and contentious in their hearts, as if they have not read that the hand of God is with the group, or as if they have not heard that the people of reason have a light with which they walk among the people. It is the light of harmony, solidarity, love, and support; it is the light of the “Firmest Bond,” which we have been commanded to hold fast to, so that we may have a place under the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, where supreme happiness lies. It is order, regularity, balance, harmony, affinity, longing, and attraction to the highest ideals.

Source