Not Wanting Fame
Compiled & translated By Abbas Abu Yahya
Allaah Ta’ala said:
الَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَائِرَ الإِثْمِ وَالْفَوَاحِشَ إِلاَّ اللَّمَمَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَاسِعُ الْمَغْفِرَةِ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ الأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ فَلا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَى
<< Those who avoid great sins and Al-Fawâhish (illegal intercourse, etc.) except the small faults, verily, your Lord is of vast forgiveness. He knows you well when He created you from the earth (Adam), and when you were fetuses in your mothers’ wombs. So ascribe not purity to yourselves. He knows best him who fears Allaah and keep his duty to Him [i.e. those who are Al-Muttaqûn (pious)].>> [Najm: 32]
Allaah Ta’ala said:
لاَ تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْرَحُونَ بِمَا أَتَوْا وَّيُحِبُّونَ أَن يُحْمَدُواْ بِمَا لَمْ يَفْعَلُواْ فَلاَ تَحْسَبَنَّهُمْ بِمَفَازَةٍ مِّنَ الْعَذَابِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
<< Think not that those who rejoice in what they have done (or brought about), and love to be praised for what they have not done,- think not that they are rescued from the torment, and for them is a painful torment.>> [Aala Imraan: 188]
Allaah Ta’ala said:
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ يُزَكُّونَ أَنفُسَهُمْ بَلِ اللَّهُ يُزَكِّي مَن يَشَاء وَلاَ يُظْلَمُون فَتِيلاً
<< Have you not seen those who claim sanctity for themselves. Nay – but Allaah sanctifies whom He pleases, and they will not be dealt with unjustly even equal to the extent of a Fatilâ (A scalish thread in the long slit of a datestone). >> [Nisa’:49]
1 – From Ubaad bin Tameem from his uncle from the Prophet :
” يا نعايا العرب ! يا نعايا العرب ! ثلاثا , إن أخوف ما أخاف عليكم الرياء و الشهوة الخفية “
‘O Arabs beware, O Arabs beware, (he said it thrice) indeed what I fear for you the most is ar-Riyaa (showing off) and hidden desires.’
[Collected by Tabaraani in ‘Mu’ajam al-Kabeer’, Ibn Adee in ‘al-Kaamil’ & declared Hasan by Albaani in Silsilah Saheehah 2/34/508]
Ibn Atheer said:
‘Verily the hidden desire is to love that the people see your actions.’
[an-Nihaaya 2/516]
2 – It has been mentioned about Umar
أنّه عاتب أبيّا عندما رأى الناس يمشون خلفه ، فنهره و زجره قائلا : ” كُفَّ عن هذا ، فإنها فتنة للمتبوع مذلة للتابع
That he rebuked a person when he saw that the people were all walking behind him, he said: ‘Stop this, it is a Fitnah for the one who is being followed, and a humiliation for those who follow him.’
[Collected in ‘al-Itissam’ by Shaatibi]
3 – Shu’bah said that Ayoob as-Sakhtiyaani said:
ذُكرتُ و لا أحب أن أذكر
‘I am mentioned, and I do not like to be mentioned.’
[Seera Aa’laam 6/22]
4 – Bishr ibn al-Harith said:
ما اتقى الله من أحب الشهرة
‘Whoever loves fame does not fear Allaah.’
[Seera Aa’laam 11/216]
5 – Shu’bah said:
ربما ذهبت مع أيوب لحاجة فلا يدعني أمشي معه ، و يخرج من ههنا و ههنا ، لكيلا يفطن له
‘Sometimes I would go out with Ayoob for a need, but he would not allow me to walk with him, and he would walk out this way and that way, so that he would not be trialed.’
[Seera Aa’laam 6/22]
6 – Imam Ahmad said to his student, when he came to know the praise of the people for him:
يا أبا بكر ؛ إذا عرف الرجل نفسه فما ينفعه كلام الناس
‘O Abu Bakr, if a person knows himself, then what the people say about him does not benefit him.’
[Seera Aa’laam 11/211]
7 – The people praised Abu Bakr as-Siddique so he said:
‘O Allaah You know me better than I know myself, and I know myself better than the people know me. O Allaah make me better than what they reckon of me, and do not take me to task with what they say about me, and forgive me with Your mercy for what they do not know.’
[Collected in ‘Kitaab as-Zuhd’ by Ibn Mubarak p.14, ‘Shua’b al-Eemaan’ by Bayhaqi 4/228 & Saheeh al-Adab al-Mufrad no. 585 & Albaani authenticated the Isnaad]
8 – Ibn Hazm said:
‘Whoever is trialed with being amazed of his own self, then he should think about his faults, if he is amazed by his virtues, then he should check his disgraceful and vile manners, if his faults are hidden from him generally, so much so that he thinks he has no faults, then let him know that his problem is until eternity, and he is the foremost of the people in his deficiencies and the greatest of them in faults, and the weakest of them in determining his faults.
The first of that is: he is a weak minded ignoramus, and there is no fault more severe than these two. Because the intelligent one is he who can determine faults by himself, and he overcomes them and he tries to correct them.
A stupid person is ignorant about his own faults: either due to having little knowledge, and his lack of understanding and determining, and his weak thought, or because he regards his faults as noble characteristics.’
[Collected in ‘Akhlaaq wa Seer’ p.66]
9 – A man said to Maymoon bin Mahraan: ‘O Abu Ayoob, the people will continue to have goodness as long as Allaah keeps you with them.’
Maymoon said:
‘Go about your business, the people will continue to have goodness as long as they fear their Lord.’
[Seera Aalaam 5/75]
Please share: Download the Benefit Card