April 11': Religious People & Ostentation (Article of the Month)
Last Updated on Sunday, 03 April 2011 20:51
Religious People and Ostentation
Adopted from “Mi’yar-ul-Ulema” of Akbar Shah Khan Najeebabadi
Translated by Mubashir Nazir
Allah, the Almighty, says in the Qur'an:
Whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him do good deeds and join no other deity in the worship of his Lord. (Al-Kahf 18:110)
It is apparent from this verse that the person who worships his Lord but also wants to display his worship to people so that he develops a reputation of being pious, is making a deity with the One God. (S)he has included the creatures of God in His worship.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) described the condition of three persons who will be brought in the court of Allah. God will ask, “What have you done for me?” One will reply, “I have been killed for your sake.” Allah will say, “You are a liar. You struggled to achieve a reputation of a brave man. You have achieved it. So take this person to the hell.” A person who spends his money for the purpose of showing off and the one who recites the Qur'an for being deemed honourable in his society will be treated in a similar manner.
The practice of religious scholars to seek a good reputation by showing their good deeds is the most dangerous form of ostentation. It is the worst in misleading people because they consider it essential to show their knowledge. They try to find opportunities to conduct a debate on issues. As a result of that, they try to divert their audience from the real requirements of the religion.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “I am not conscious about anything more than the minor form of polytheism.” People asked, “What is this minor form of polytheism?” He replied, “Showing one’s deeds to get admiration.” (Musnad Ahmed)
Ali (RA) said, "An ostentatious person has three symptoms: When he is alone, he will be lazy in doing good deeds; When he finds that people are looking at him, he becomes happy; When they admire him, he does more good deeds and when they criticize him, he stops that.”
Translator's note: We should not start finding these symptoms in other people. We should only analyze our own personality that whether we have these symptoms or not.
Taken with thanks from www.mubashirnazir.org
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