A man came to the Prophet ﷺ, and he was a handsome man. He said, "Messenger of Allah, I am a man who has been given a love for beauty, and I have been granted of it what you see, to the point that I do not like anyone to surpass me, even" — he either said, "in the strap of my sandal," or said, "in the thong of my sandal." "Is that from arrogance?"He replied, "No. Rather, arrogance is rejecting the truth and looking down upon people."
أن رجلا أتى النبي ﷺ وكان رجلا جميلا، فقال: يا رسول الله إني رجل حبب إلي الجمال، وأعطيت منه ما ترى حتى ما أحب أن يفوقني أحد، إما قال: بشراك نعلي، وإما قال: بشسع نعلي، أفمن الكبر ذلك؟ قال: لا، ولكن الكبر من بطر الحق، وغمط الناس.
Abu Dawud narrated it (4092), and Ibn Hibban graded it sahih (5467), and Hakim (4/181–182), all of them via Hisham bin Hassan, from Muhammad bin Sirin, from Abu Hurairah, who mentioned it. Its isnad is sahih. Hakim said, "This is a hadith with a sahih isnad."His saying, "But pride is [the pride of] one who rejects the truth" means, but pride is the pride of one who rejects the truth, with a word elided, like His saying, Most High, "But righteousness is [the righteousness of] one who believes in Allah" [Baqarah 2:177], meaning, but righteousness is the righteousness of one who believes in Allah.His saying, "belittling people" means despising people. It is said "ghamt," with the mim either carrying a kasra or a fatha. Khattabi mentioned this.Of similar meaning is what Abu Rayhana narrated, saying, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, "No trace of pride will enter Paradise." He said, Someone said, "O Messenger of Allah, I like to adorn myself with the strap of my whip and the lace of my sandal." The Prophet ﷺ said, "That is not pride. Allah is beautiful and loves beauty. Pride is rejecting the truth out of folly, and looking down on people with contempt."Ahmad narrated it (17206) from Abu Mughira, who said, Hurayz narrated to us, saying, I heard Saad bin Marthad Rahbi say, I heard Abdul-Rahman bin Hawshab narrate from Thawban bin Shahr, who said, I heard Kurayb bin Abraha, while he was sitting with Abdul-Malik at Dayr Marran, and they mentioned pride, so Kurayb said, I heard Abu Rayhana say, and he mentioned it.Abdul-Rahman bin Hawshab and his teacher Thawban bin Shahr are unidentified (majhul) narrators mentioned among the men of Tajil al-Manfaa, and no one besides Ibn Hibban rated them as reliable. Haythami relied on this and said in Majma al-Zawaid (5/133), "Ahmad narrated it and its narrators are reliable."