Ali Ibn Abi Talib - Volume 1 of 2

'Ali ibn Abi Ttlib 449
cloak or drives his car in a certain manner. It may be in physical
terms, such as looking thin and wan so that people will think that he
is serious in worship, fears Allah ( g) a great deal and is filled with
sorrow. There are many other forms that showing off may take, by
means of which the show-offs seek to attain high status in people's
hearts and minds.461
In general, adhering to righteous deeds, remembering and
worshipping Allah a great deal, fearing Him alone and not fearing
people when devoting oneself to Allah, loving the righteous people
and so on - all of these are good and righteous deeds that are
necessary. But it is essential that they should all be for the sake of
Allah (g), because showing off means doing the righteous deeds for
someone other than Allah (g). It is imperative for the believer to
correct his intention and make it for the sake of Allah ( g) alone. He
should not give up doing righteous deeds for fear of showing off. Let
those people beware of the seriousness of the disease of showing off
and remember the words of the Messenger of Allah (g): "Whoever
seeks to acquire knowledge in order to debate with the jurists and to
try to compete by means of it with the scholars or to divert people's
attention to him, Allah ($$) will admit him to the
Amir al-Mn'mineen 'Ali (&) warned against showing off
and explained that deeds cannot be accepted unless they are sincerely
for the sake of Allah (g) and in accordance with the Sunnah of the
Messenger of Allah (g). On many occasions, he urged people to
adhere to the Sunnah. He said: "Follow the guidance of your Prophet
(g), for it is the best of guidance, and follow his Sunnah, for it is the
best of ways."463
3.6.4. Self-admiration
Amir al-Mu'mineen 'Ali ibn Abi Taib (&) said: "Selfadmiration
is the most serious of problems."464 Self-admiration is