At this point, Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) thumped his hands on his knees, and said:
"O Abu Huraira, on the Day of Resurrection [Yawm al-Qiyama], those three will be the first of the creatures of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) to be scorched by the Fire of Hell!"
Abu Huraira (may Allah be well pleased with him) also said: "This report came to the attention of Mu'awiya (may Allah be well pleased with him). On hearing it, he experienced an intense bout of weeping, then he said: 'Allah (Exalted is He) has spoken the truth, and His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) has spoken the truth.' Then he recited these Qur'anic verses [ayat]:
As for those who desire the life of this world and its pomp, We shall repay them for their deeds therein, and therein they will not be wronged.
Such are those for whom there is nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire. All that they contrive here is vain, and all that they are used to doing is fruitless. (11:15,16)
Such are those for whom is the worst of torment, and in the Hereafter they will be among the greatest losers. (27:5) "
According to another traditional report, transmitted on the authority of 'Adi ibn Hatim at-Ta'i (may Allah be well pleased with him), Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:
On the Day of Resurrection [Yawm al-Qiyama], the order will be given for some of those destined for the Fire of Hell to be herded toward the Garden of Paradise. They will be allowed to get close enough to smell its fragrant perfume, to view its palatial mansions, and to see what Allah (Exalted is He) has prepared for its inhabitants. Then they will hear the call: "Take them away! In this they have no share." So they will return whence they came, with a sense of distress and remorse, the like of which was never experienced by anyone making a return journey, in ancient or later times. They will say: "O our Lord, if only You had caused us to enter the Fire of Hell directly, before showing us what You have just shown us, meaning the reward You have prepared for those others!"
Allah (Exalted is He) will then say: "That is how I saw fit to treat you. When you were in private situations, you would brazenly affront Me with heinous sins ['aza'im], but when you met with other people, you would approach them modestly and humbly. By making a show of your deeds, you would give people an impression contrary to what was hidden away in your hearts. You were in awe of other people, but you did not regard Me with awe. You honored other people, but you did not honor Me. You abstained, to please other people, from things you did not abandon for My sake. Today, therefore, I am giving you a taste of My painful chastisement, combined with a glimpse of My abundant reward, of which you have been deprived."
As reported on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be well pleased with him and with his father), Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once said:
When Allah (Exalted is He) created the Garden of Eden [Jannat 'Adn], He created within it that which no eye has ever seen, of which no ear has ever heard, and the very notion of which has never occurred to the human heart. Then He said to it: "Speak to Me," and it responded by saying three times:
Successful indeed are the true believers. (23:1)
Then the Garden went on to say: "I am forbidden [haram] to every miser [bakhil] and ostentatious hypocrite [mura'i]."
A man once asked Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace): "In what does salvation reside, tomorrow [at the Resurrection]?" He replied:
You must not try to deceive Allah (Exalted is He).
The man then asked: "How could I be guilty of trying to deceive Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He)?" The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) explained:
By doing what He has commanded you to do, but doing it for some purpose other than to obtain the gracious favor of Allah (Exalted is He).
All of you must therefore beware of hypocritical display [riya'], for it is tantamount to associating partners [shirk] with Allah (Exalted is He). Indeed, on the Day of Resurrection [Yawm al-Qiyama], the ostentatious hyprocrite [mura'i] will be summoned by four names, over the heads of all the assembled creatures: "O unbeliever [ya kafir]! O shameless liar [ya fajir]! O traitor [ya ghadir]! O loser [ya khasir]! Your work has gone astray, and your recompense has been canceled, so there is no share for you here today. Apply for your wages to those for whom you used to work, O deceiver!" Let us therefore take refuge with Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) from hypocritical display [riya'], from promoting an undeserved reputation [sum'a], and from hypocrisy itself [nifaq], for that is the work of those who are doomed to the Fire of Hell. Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has said:
Surely the hypocrites will be in the lowest depth of the Fire [of Hell]. (4:145)
In other words, they will be in the Pit [al-Hawiya], in the company of Pharaoh [Fir'awn] and Haman and their people. As someone might well see fit to interject at this point, it seems be suggested, in at least one of the traditional reports [akhbar], that there is actually no harm in having our religious practice noticed by our fellow creatures. According to the report in question, it was Abu Huraira (may Allah be well pleased with him) who said: "A man came to Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) and said: 'O Messenger of Allah, I perform my religious practice, intending to keep it private, but I find that people are watching, and that pleases me. If such be the case, am I entitled to any reward?' To this he replied (Allah bless him and give him peace):
"'You are entitled to two rewards: the reward for the secrecy, and the reward for the publicity.'"
To resolve what may appear to be a contradiction, this should be construed as follows: What made that man feel pleased, was the fact that people followed the example he was setting, in the performance of his religious practice. Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) was aware of this, so he told the man, in effect: "You are entitled to two rewards: one reward for your righteous work, and one reward for having people follow your good example." As he once said (Allah bless him and give him peace):
If someone establishes a good custom [sanna sunnatan hasana], he is entitled to the reward for it, and also to the reward of all those who practice it, until the Day of Resurrection [Yawm al-Qiyama]Š.
On the other hand, if someone enjoys the pleasing sensation in and of itself, and not on account of the good example he is setting for others, he is not entitled to any reward, because vain conceit ['ujb] can only cause the servant to fall from grace in the sight of Allah. It was al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him) who said: "If you wish, you may choose a companion with a fair complexion, but with crude manners, one who has a smooth tongue and a sharp eye, but who is dead at heart. You see physical bodies, not hearts. You listen to the sound of music, but not to a close friend. Tongues have grown fertile, while hearts have turned barren. "As a matter of fact, several Companions [Ashab] of Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) have told me that this Community [Umma] will remain beneath the hand of Allah, in His protective custody, but only as long as its Qur'an-reciters [qurra'] and its commanders [umara'] do not lose interest in their work, as long as its honest members [sulaha'] do not join the ranks of the lying scoundrels [fujjar], and as long as its best representatives keep the worst at bay. As soon as they reverse their positions, Allah (Exalted is He) will remove His protecting hand from them. He will smite them with poverty and want. He will fill their hearts with terror, and He will subject them to the rule of tyrants [jababira], who will make them suffer dreadful torment." He [al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him)] also said: "What a bad servant [of the Lord] is he! I am speaking of a servant who fits the following description:
* He asks for forgiveness [maghfira], while he is actively engaged in sinful disobedience [ma'siya].
* He behaves in a humbly submissive manner, so that he may be credited with loyalty [amana], but he is only pretending, to hide his disloyalty [khiyana].
* He forbids what is wrong, but does not refrain from it himself [yanha wa la yantahi].
* He enjoins what is right, but does not act upon his own instructions.
* If he gives, he does so very stingily, and if he withholds, he offers no apology.
* If he is in the best of health, he feels secure, but if he falls sick, he becomes remorseful.
* If he is impoverished, he feels sad, and if he gets rich, he is subject to temptation.
* He hopes for salvation, but does not act accordingly.
* He is afraid of punishment, but takes no precautions against it.
* He wishes to receive more benefit, but he does not give thanks [for what he has received].
* He likes the idea of spiritual reward, but he does not practice patience.
* He expedites sleep [nawm], and postpones fasting [sawm]."
He [al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah bestow His mercy upon him)] spoke one day to Farqad as-Sabakhi, who was sitting in attendance at his meeting [majlis]. In sharp contrast to al-Hasan, who was dressed in very smart attire, Farqad was wearing a jubba made of wool [suf]. "My clothing," said al-Hasan, "is the clothing of the people of the Garden of Paradise, while your clothing is the clothing of the people of the Fire of Hell. They lodge their pious abstinence [zuhd] in their clothing, and their arrogant pride in their breasts. By Allah, any one of them is far more conceited about his wool [suf] than a fashionable shawl-designer is about his fancy shawl. What is wrong with competing together in excellence? Why not dress outwardly in the style of kings, and kill your hearts with fear [of displeasing the Lord]?"
'Umar [ibn al-Khattab] (may Allah be well pleased with him) once said: "You should dress in a style that will neither cause the Qur'an-reciters [qurra'] to treat you as a laughingstock, nor make silly idots deride you."
As they used to say: "Be woollen [sufi] at heart, and cotton-made [qutni] in clothing." To put the subject in a nutshell, the people [who matter to us] fall into three categories, where clothing is concerned: (1) the devout [atqiya'], (2) the saints [awliya'], and (3) the spiritual deputies [abdal].
* The clothing of the devout [atqiya'] is that which is lawful [halal], in the sense that none of the wearer's fellow creatures have any claim on it, and that it does not violate the sacred law [shar'] in any respect. As for whether their clothes are of cotton [qutn] or wool [suf], and whether they are white or blue, that is neither here not there.
* The clothing of the saints [awliya'] is determined by the [divine] commandment. At the very least, it must be sufficient to cover the genital area ['awra], and any other part of the body for which it is essential. Some form of clothing is called for, of necessity, to ensure the discouragement of their passionate desires, so that they may attain to the degree of the spiritual deputies [abdal].
* The clothing of the spiritual deputies [budala'] is whatever destiny [qadar] brings to the individual concerned, always with due respect to the limits set by the sacred law [hudud]. It may be a plain shirt worth a mere qirat [one twentieth of a dinar], or a fine suit worth a hundred dinars [gold coins], for there is no self-will involved. They have ascended to the highest height, and there is no passionate desire to be discouraged at the lowest level. For them, it is simply a matter of accepting whatever the Master [Mawla] graciously confers, whatever He allows and bestows, without trouble or concern, and without respect for the lower self [nafs] and personal preferences. Aside from these perspectives, any other approach to the subject can be traced to the ancient Time of Ignorance [Jahiliyya], to the frivolous inclination of the lower self [nafs], and to the influence of passionate desire [hawa].
