How does a person avoid showing off?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Showing off.
The Shaykh : Showing off.
The questioner : I mean, for example, events happen to a person repeatedly, and he becomes doubtful, meaning he fears that showing off will overtake him while he is not aware. For example, if you board a public bus, you find a person holding a Qur'an, memorizing, for instance. He is sitting, for example, reading. Perhaps everyone is looking at him. This person is showing off to people by reading the Qur'an. I mean, what is the answer? There is precision in this. How does one avoid showing off completely? How does one know that he has not entered the realm of showing off? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : First, is showing off a physical act or a heart act?
The questioner : It is a perception in the heart.
The Shaykh : So it is a heart act, then?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So who acts upon the heart? It is the owner of this heart. The treatment comes from you and is within you. Your Lord knows, as He said in the Noble Qur'an, "the secret and even what is more hidden." So the one who reads the Qur'an in the presence of a group, that is not the first or only image that a Muslim can imagine where showing off might occur. This image can be repeated in all our religious undertakings. And I tell you now, I and you are exposed to showing off. Can anyone say no?
The questioner : He cannot.
The Shaykh : So how do we treat that? We fear Allah, we are mindful of Allah, we are sincere in our deeds for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and then we do not care if people look at us and imagine that we are reading for the sake of showing off, or that we are teaching for the sake of showing off. We do not care about people. Even one of the specialized scholars of the past in what is called today the science of spiritual conduct, meaning ethics and upbringing and the like, said that among the forms of showing off is leaving off worship out of fear of showing off. Is that clear?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So what does that person say, "And leave it all... greed"? It is Sufi talk. The point is, imagine that the group present with you while you are reading is gone, no one is there. Fear Allah and proceed, that is all.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, here is a point for the sake of reminding, as part of the completeness of the answer, that sometimes Satan whispers to the servant that his deed is showing off.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is it. That is why.
The Shaykh : Showing off.
The questioner : I mean, for example, events happen to a person repeatedly, and he becomes doubtful, meaning he fears that showing off will overtake him while he is not aware. For example, if you board a public bus, you find a person holding a Qur'an, memorizing, for instance. He is sitting, for example, reading. Perhaps everyone is looking at him. This person is showing off to people by reading the Qur'an. I mean, what is the answer? There is precision in this. How does one avoid showing off completely? How does one know that he has not entered the realm of showing off? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : First, is showing off a physical act or a heart act?
The questioner : It is a perception in the heart.
The Shaykh : So it is a heart act, then?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So who acts upon the heart? It is the owner of this heart. The treatment comes from you and is within you. Your Lord knows, as He said in the Noble Qur'an, "the secret and even what is more hidden." So the one who reads the Qur'an in the presence of a group, that is not the first or only image that a Muslim can imagine where showing off might occur. This image can be repeated in all our religious undertakings. And I tell you now, I and you are exposed to showing off. Can anyone say no?
The questioner : He cannot.
The Shaykh : So how do we treat that? We fear Allah, we are mindful of Allah, we are sincere in our deeds for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and then we do not care if people look at us and imagine that we are reading for the sake of showing off, or that we are teaching for the sake of showing off. We do not care about people. Even one of the specialized scholars of the past in what is called today the science of spiritual conduct, meaning ethics and upbringing and the like, said that among the forms of showing off is leaving off worship out of fear of showing off. Is that clear?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So what does that person say, "And leave it all... greed"? It is Sufi talk. The point is, imagine that the group present with you while you are reading is gone, no one is there. Fear Allah and proceed, that is all.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, here is a point for the sake of reminding, as part of the completeness of the answer, that sometimes Satan whispers to the servant that his deed is showing off.
The Shaykh : Yes, that is it. That is why.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.