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Showing off, Hypocrisy, Self-Admiration, and Conceit
الحسن بن محمد عن أبي حمزة عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: سمعته يقول: إن داود النبي صلوات الله عليه كان ذات يوم في محرابه إذا مرت به دودة حمراء صغيرة تدب حتى انتهت إلى موضع سجوده فنظر إليها داود وحدث في نفسه: لم خلقت هذه الدودة؟ فأوحى الله إليها تكلمي فقالت له: يا داود هل سمعت حسي أو استبنت * على صفا اثرى؟ فقال لها داود: لا قالت: فان الله يسمع دبيبي ونفسي وحسي ويرى أثر مشيي فاخفض من صوتك.
5.Al-Ḥasan ibn Muḥammad narrated from Abū Ḥamzah, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) whom he heard saying, “Prophet Dāwūd (a) was once in his prayer niche when a small red worm crept by until it came to the place of his prostration. Dāwūd looked at it and said to himself, ‘Why was this worm created?’ So Allah inspired it ‘Speak!’ So it said, ‘O Dāwūd, have you heard my sound as I move, or have you noticed my tracks on the smooth earth?’ Dāwūd replied, ‘No.’ So it said, ‘Verily Allah hears my crawl, my breathing, and my sound, and He sees the tracks of my movement [on the earth], so lower your voice [in humility].’”
النضر عن درست عن بعض أصحابه عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن الله بعث ملكين إلى أهل مدينة ليقلباها على أهلها فلما انتهيا إلى المدينة وجدا رجلا يدعو الله ويتضرع إليه فقال أحدهما للاخر: إما ترى هذا الداعي فقال قد رأيته ولكن أمضى لما أمرني به ربى فقال: ولكني لا أحدث شيئا حتى ارجع إلى ربى فعاد * إلى الله تبارك وتعالى فقال: يا رب انى انتهيت إلى المدينة فوجدت عبدك فلانا يدعوك ويتضرع إليك فقال: امض لما أمرتك فان ذلك الرجل لم يتغير وجهه غضبا لي قط.
6.Al-Naḍr narrated from Durust, from one of our companions, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Verily Allah sent two angels to the people of a city in order to overturn it upon its inhabitants. When they arrived at the city, they found a man supplicating to Allah and beseeching Him. So one of them told the other, ‘Do you not see this supplicant?’ He replied, ‘I see him, but I will proceed to do as my Lord has commanded me.’ ‘I, on the other hand, will not do anything before returning to my Lord [and asking about the man],’ said the first angel. So he returned to Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, and said, ‘My Lord, I went to the city and found Your servant so-and-so supplicating to You and beseeching You.’ He said, ‘Do as I have commanded you, for indeed that man’s face has never changed out of anger for My sake, ever.’”
النضر عن محمد بن هاشم عن رجل عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن قوما ممن آمن بموسى عليه السلام قالوا: لو أتينا عسكر فرعون وكنا فيه ونلنا من دنياه فإذا كان الذي نرجوه من ظهور موسى صرنا إليه ففعلوا فلما توجه موسى ومن معه هاربين ركبوا دوابهم وأسرعوا في السير ليوافوا موسى ومن معه فيكونوا معهم فبعث الله ملائكة فضربت وجوه دوابهم فردتهم إلى عسكر فرعون فكانوا فيمن غرق مع فرعون.
7.Al-Naḍr narrated from Muḥammad ibn Hāshim, from a man [who reported it] from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Verily a group of people who believed in Mūsā (a) said, ‘If we were to go to the army of Firʿawn and join it, we would acquire some of his worldly wealth, and then when what we hope for from the arrival of Mūsā transpires, we will go to him [and join him].’ So that is what they did. When Mūsā and those in his company turned to flee [from Firʿawn], they mounted their horses and speedily rode towards Mūsā, hoping to catch up with him and his companions in order to join them. But Allah sent angels who struck the faces of their mounts thereby causing them to return towards the army of Firʿawn. Hence, they were among those who drowned with Firʿawn.”
محمد بن سنان عن يزيد بن خليفة قال: سمعت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام يقول: من عمل لله كان ثوابه على الله ومن عمل للناس كان ثوابه على الناس ان كل رياء شرك
8.Muḥammad ibn Sinān narrated from Yazīd ibn Khalīfah who said, “I heard Abā ʿAbdillāh (a) say, ‘Whoever does a deed for [the sake of] Allah, his reward is upon Allah, and whoever does a deed for [praise from] the people, his reward is upon the people. Verily every act done to show off is [a form of] polytheism.’”
محمد بن أبي عمير عن فضالة عن جميل قال: سألت أبا عبد الله عليه السلام عن قول الله تبارك وتعالى: فلا تزكوا أنفسكم هو اعلم بمن اتقى فقال: هو قول الانسان: صليت البارحة وصمت أمس ونحو هذا ثم قال عليه السلام: ان قوما كانوا يصبحون فيقولون: صلينا البارحة وصمنا أمس فقال علي عليه السلام لكني أنام الليل والنهار ولو أجد بينهما شيئا لنمته
9.Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated from Faḍālah ibn Jamīl who said, “I asked Abā ʿAbdillāh (a) about the verse wherein Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says: Do not assert your own virtue. He knows best who is truly virtuous (Q53:32). So he said, ‘It is when a person says: I prayed last night, and I fasted yesterday, and other statements such as these.’ Then he (a) said, ‘There were some people who would say in the mornings, “We prayed last night and we fasted yesterday,” so ʿAlī (a) said, “But as for me, I sleep at night and in the day, and were I to find between them any other time, I would have slept in it as well.”’” [1]
ابن أبي البلاد عن سعد الإسكاف عن أبي جعفر عليه السلام قال: كان في بني إسرائيل عابد فاعجب به داود عليه السلام فأوحى الله تبارك وتعالى إليه: لا يعجبك شئ من امره فإنه مراء فمات الرجل فاتى داود فقيل له: مات الرجل فقال: ادفنوا صاحبكم قال فأنكرت ذلك بنو إسرائيل وقالوا كيف لم يحضره؟ قال: فلما غسل قام خمسون رجلا فشهدوا بالله ما يعلمون الا خيرا فلما صلوا عليه قام خمسون (آخرون) رجلا فشهدوا بالله ما يعلمون الا خيرا فأوحى الله عز وجل إلى داود عليه السلام ما منعك ان تشهد فلانا قال: الذي أطلعتني عليه من أمره قال: إن كان لكذلك (ذلك كذلك) ولكن شهده قوم من الأحبار والرهبان فشهدوا بي: ما يعلمون الا خيرا فأجزت شهادتهم عليه وغفرت له مع علمي فيه (عليه).
10.Ibn Abī al-Bilād narrated from Saʿd al-Iskāf, from Abū Jaʿfar (a) who said, “There was a worshipper among the Banī Isrāʾīl with whom [Prophet] Dāwūd (a) was impressed, so Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, revealed to him, ‘Do not be impressed by anything [you see] from him, for verily he is a hypocrite [who is only showing off].’ Then the man died, so they came to Dāwūd and said, ‘The man has died.’ He said to them, ‘Bury your companion.’ This caused some discontentment among the Banī Isrāʾīl and they said, ‘How could he not attend [this pious man’s funeral]?’ After the man had been washed, fifty men stood and bore witness, [swearing] by Allah, that they knew nothing but good [about him]. After they had prayed over him, another fifty men came forward and bore witness, [swearing] by Allah, that they knew of nothing but good [about him]. So Allah, the Almighty, revealed to Dāwūd (a), ‘What prevented you from testifying for so-and-so?’ He said, ‘[I was prevented by] what you had informed me of his affair.’ He said, ‘Though he was truly such, since a group of rabbis and monks have testified, swearing by Me, that they did not know anything but good [about him], I have accepted their testimony regarding him and forgiven him despite what I know about him.’”
محمد بن الفضيل عن أبي الحسن الرضا عليه السلام قال: كتبت إليه أسأله عن مسألة فكتب إلى: ان الله يقول: (ان المنافقين يخادعون الله وهو خادعهم إلى قوله سبيلا) ليسوا من عترة رسول الله وليسوا من المؤمنين وليسوا من المسلمين يظهرون الايمان ويسرون الكفر والتكذيب لعنهم الله.
11.Muḥammad ibn al-Fuḍayl narrated from Abū al-Ḥasan al-Riḍā (a) saying, “I had written to him asking him about a [religious] question, so he wrote back to me saying, ‘Verily Allah says: Indeed the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah but it is He who causes them to be deceived. When they stand up for prayer, they do so sluggish, to be seen by the people, and remember Allah only a little, wavering all the time between this and that, belonging neither to one side nor the other. And whoever Allah leaves to stray, you will never find for him a way (Q4:142-3). These [people] are not from the progeny of the Messenger of Allah, and they are not from the faithful believers, and they are not [even] from the Muslims. Rather, they manifest belief [outwardly] but hide disbelief and rejection [of faith in their hearts] – may Allah curse them.’”
النضر بن سويد عن القاسم بن سليمان عن جراح المدائني عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام في قوله تعالى: (ولا يشرك بعبادة ربه أحدا) قال: هو العبد يعمل شيئا من الطاعات لا يطلب به وجه الله إنما يطلب تزكية الناس يشتهى أن يسمع به فهذا الذي أشرك بعبادة ربه وقال: ما من عبد أسر خيرا فتذهب الأيام حتى يظهر الله له خيرا وما من عبد أسر شرا فتذهب الأيام حتى يظهر الله له شرا
12.Al-Naḍr ibn Suwayd narrated from al-Qāsim ibn Sulaymān, from Jarrāḥ al-Madāʾinī, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said regarding the verse wherein Allah, the Exalted, says: …and does not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord (Q18:110), “It is [a warning to] the servant who performs an act of worship without seeking the pleasure of Allah; rather, he only seeks the commendation of people [for his piety] through which he desires renown. That is the one who associates others in the worship of his Lord.” Then he added, “There is no servant who hides a good [deed] and days go by, but that Allah manifests good for him and there is no servant who hides an evil [deed] and days pass, but that Allah will manifest evil for him.”
حمد بن أبي عمير عن عبد الرحمن بن الحجاج عن أبي عبد الله عليه السلام قال: إن العبد ليذنب الذنب فيندم عليه ثم يعمل العمل فيسره ذلك فيتراخى عن حاله تلك ولان يكون على حاله تلك خير له مما دخل فيه.
13.Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al- Ḥajjāj, from Abū ʿAbdillāh (a) who said, “Verily the servant may commit a sin and then feel remorse for it, and later [he may] perform a deed by which he is pleased such that he becomes remiss and turns away from his previous state [of remorse and humility]. Indeed, it would have been better for him to remain in that previous state of his, rather than what he later entered into.”
محمد بن أبي عمير عن منصور بن يونس عن الثمالي عن أحدهما عليهما السلام قال: إن الله تبارك وتعالى يقول: إن من عبادي من يسألني الشئ من طاعتي لأحبه فاصرف ذلك عنه لكي لا يعجبه عمله.
14.Muḥammad ibn Abī ʿUmayr narrated from Manṣūr ibn Yūnus, from al-Thumālī, from one of the two [Imams] (a) who said, “Verily Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says, ‘Indeed among My servants is one who asks Me for [the ability to perform] certain acts of worship so that I may love him, but I turn that away from him so that he would not be pleased with [himself and] his deed.’”
