Chapter on Displaying One's Work So Others May Follow It

As is narrated from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:

"She is Safiyya."

And that is because she came to him while he was in i'tikaf (spiritual retreat). [damaged] He said: "I feared that Satan might enter upon you." O Messenger of God, would we think anything but good of you? He said: [damaged] he might say that he has already entered upon you.

And Ibrahim [al-Nakha'i] and al-A'mash wanted to be seen together on the road, and people would say "a one-eyed man and a bleary-eyed man." Al-A'mash said: "What does it matter to us? We are rewarded and they sin." Ibrahim said: "What does it matter to us? We are safe and they are safe."

So as long as you do not diminish any good, there is no harm in showing compassion toward them, without severing his evil from them. Most often that is out of anxiety about blood and the loss of standing, so let not the intelligent, discerning servant be deceived by that!!

Chapter on Displaying Deeds So That Others May Follow One's Example

I said: What do you say about displaying deeds so that others may follow one's example therein? Such as the deed of the Ansari man who came while people were following one another in giving gifts, and the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whoever establishes a good practice (sunna), he shall have its reward and the reward of [all who act upon it]."

I said: Is one keen to display deeds of this kind — in prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, military expeditions, and other things?

He said: As for charity, people are close to one another in emulating it, because it is compassion and kindness, and assistance to the distressed.

So when the servant displays that to others, there is in it encouragement for others and an inducement to give charity. However, it is not befitting for a servant to deliberately display it until he knows that God, Exalted and Glorious, has intended that for him, and that he was not too weak to conceal it, and that he did not love displaying it due to a lack of contentment with God's provision and out of love that

but rather out of anxiety (jaza') lest the great reward pass him by and lest it befall someone other than him, "feeding people with his charity" so that his reward would be upon his charity.

Thus he was not content with the reward of charity alone, until he loved to urge others by his action to perform it, so that he would be rewarded through others as well.

[damaged]

There has been disagreement regarding the saying of God, Exalted and Glorified: «Do not nullify your charities with reminders of generosity and injury» — for abandoning injury to the believer is more excellent, even though it harms and displeases him.

Some of them said: "It is that you speak about what you gave him in charity, and it reaches him, and that injures him."

Most of the scholars said: "It is that you injure him by your action. If you do not find in yourself a firm resolve for God's sake in displaying it as an example for others, then concealing it is more excellent, even if you are safe from ostentation (riya') in displaying it."

Have you not heard what is related from the Prophet ﷺ, narrated by Sulayman and others, that he said:

"Seven will be shaded under the shade of the Throne of God on a Day when there is no shade but His shade" — and he mentioned one of them and said: "A man who gave charity with his right hand and concealed it from his left."

And he said in another hadith:

"Charity in secret is more excellent — unless he were able to conceal it from his left — except when he displays it as an example."

And a hadith is related:

"A deed done in secret is more excellent than one done openly by seventy-fold."

Performing a deed openly, as an example for others, is more virtuous than doing it secretly by seventy-odd degrees.

I said: I find the heart capable of what you say and desiring it, and the increase of reward and recompense is warranted from God (blessed and exalted). Yet the nafs (the self) is never free from the insinuations of the enemy, and among its whims is that it contends. So what distinguishes sincerity of conscience in that from self-deception therein?

He said: You should present to it the following: if you had attained the reward among them without their knowledge, would you be content with the sustenance of God (mighty and glorious) alone and be satisfied with this reward?

If you see the heart content with that, then it is truthful. But if you see that it is not content with that, then it is deception and a ruse from the nafs, which displays deeds before them so as to win their praise, while it deludes the one so deceived into imagining that it sincerely seeks God (mighty and glorious) in order to accumulate more reward.

I said: What about fasting, prayer, the pilgrimage, and military expeditions?

He said: As for that, I do not prefer it for anyone, and I have not found the generality of people practicing it, except the strong man, sincere in will, strong in repelling insinuations regarding the deed after he has completed it. The enemy may follow him and an insinuation may occur to him in a moment of heedlessness, and it strikes him down. So there is no harm in his displaying it as an example for others.

What is commanded for people is that they conceal that as much as they are able, because the nafs is deceitful, and Satan lies in ambush with his stratagems.

There was a man who would raise his voice so as to stir some of his neighbors in the depths of the night, and that was when his resolve was strong and it was insignificant to him that those who heard him would praise him, and he had no desire in their deeds thereby other than to attain the reward of God (mighty and glorious) in his stirring them to obedience to their Lord.

As for military expeditions, that is an outward deed, and hastening to it as an example for others is more virtuous when one's resolve is strong — that a man should charge ahead of the company so as to urge them to fight and to rouse those with him to fortitude. That is