حياة السلف بين القول والعمل

Concealing and keeping good deeds secret: Wuhayb ibn al-Ward, may God have mercy on him, said: A learned man met a man who was more learned than him, and he said to him: May God have mercy on you, what should I make public of my work? He said: O servant of God, enjoining good and forbidding evil. [Al-Hilya (its abridgment) 3/34].

Concealing and keeping good deeds secret: On the authority of Al-Hasan Al-Basri, may God have mercy on him, he said: O son of Adam, you have words and deeds, secrets and public actions, and your deeds are more important to you than your words, and your secret is more important to you than your public actions. [Al-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad / 476].

Concealing and keeping good deeds secret: On the authority of Al-Rabi’ bin Subaih, he said: We were with Al-Hasan Al-Basri, may God have mercy on him, and he gave a sermon, and a man sobbed. Al-Hasan said: By God, God, the Almighty and Majestic, will ask you on the Day of Resurrection: What did you intend by this? [Al-Zuhd by Imam Ahmad / 459].

Beware of feigning asceticism and obscurity: Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, may God have mercy on him, said: Be inclined to obscurity out of aversion to fame, and do not show that you love obscurity, lest you elevate yourself. For your claim of asceticism is your departure from asceticism, because you are drawing praise and commendation to yourself. [Sifat al-Safwa]

Beware of feigning asceticism and obscurity: Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, may God have mercy on him, said: Let a man fear God. If he is ascetic, let him not make his asceticism a torment to people, for it is better for a man to hide his asceticism than to make it public. [Al-Siyar (its abridgment)].