Good Character: Inspiration or Cultivation, Showing Off, and the Means of Improving It
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
This is a statement containing questions. Among his questions, he asks: Is good character an inspiration from Allah? He has a second question: If a man improves his character in order for people to praise him, is that shirk (associating partners with Allah)? And he has a third question: What are the means that improve character?
The Shaykh:
We will address them one by one.
The questioner:
He asks: Is good character an inspiration from Allah?
The Shaykh:
The ruling on character is divided into two categories: one is inspiration from Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, and the second is cultivation and habituation to this trait. A person habituates himself to this through practice and following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and following the people of good. This is called cultivation. As for the original nature of character, it is from Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Yes.
The questioner:
If a man improves his character in order for people to praise him, is that shirk?
The Shaykh:
Yes, every deed a person performs from what he seeks the Face of Allah with, while he intends the praise of people, is riya' (showing off), and riya' is shirk. Riya' is shirk.[Al-Kahf 18:110] This includes riya'.
The questioner:
The third point: He asks, what are the means that improve character?
The Shaykh:
The means, as mentioned earlier, are that a person learns the character of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Book and the Sunnah, and from the biography of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and also from the company of the righteous. He learns from them good character and good treatment. If he keeps the company of the righteous, he benefits from them and is influenced by them.
The questioner:
May Allah bless you,
This is a statement containing questions. Among his questions, he asks: Is good character an inspiration from Allah? He has a second question: If a man improves his character in order for people to praise him, is that shirk (associating partners with Allah)? And he has a third question: What are the means that improve character?
The Shaykh:
We will address them one by one.
The questioner:
He asks: Is good character an inspiration from Allah?
The Shaykh:
The ruling on character is divided into two categories: one is inspiration from Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, and the second is cultivation and habituation to this trait. A person habituates himself to this through practice and following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and following the people of good. This is called cultivation. As for the original nature of character, it is from Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Yes.
The questioner:
If a man improves his character in order for people to praise him, is that shirk?
The Shaykh:
Yes, every deed a person performs from what he seeks the Face of Allah with, while he intends the praise of people, is riya' (showing off), and riya' is shirk. Riya' is shirk.
So whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord - let him do righteous work and not associate in the worship of his Lord anyone."
فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًاThe questioner:
The third point: He asks, what are the means that improve character?
The Shaykh:
The means, as mentioned earlier, are that a person learns the character of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Book and the Sunnah, and from the biography of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and also from the company of the righteous. He learns from them good character and good treatment. If he keeps the company of the righteous, he benefits from them and is influenced by them.
The questioner:
May Allah bless you,
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-059-خلق النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ووجوب الاقتداء به|صالح الفوزان — youtube.com (1:12:29)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.